The opening scene of The Godfather starts with a black screen which has an overplay of an instrumental piece of music. There is a title with the name of the film with the directors name. 12 seconds after the title disappears we begin to get a picture of a man sitting in a room, with only a black background with a light shining on the actors face. The use of this would help the audience capture the dialogue being used and also question where this man is.
Editing
There is not much use of editing within this scene, however there is the use of fade in, fade out. This may be used to go with the continuous instrumental playing at the beginning of the scene, he is telling narrating something that has happened so it is quite smooth.
Camera
There is no major camera use in this scene other than the close up of the actors face, which then slowly pans out so the audience can see what surrounds him and begin to ask questions, making them curious.
Sound
Within the clip a non-diegetic background music begins the scene right through to 0:21 when the actor first begins to use dialogue 'I believe in America...'
Boo. Good analysis and good reasoning. Try to use more media terminology xo
ReplyDeleteyou're awesome at denoting the opening scene but it would be awesomer to look into the connotation of each point. E.g. When you talk about the light shining onto the mans face, you could add why this is and why its important.
ReplyDeleteYou know your editing and camera effects ;)
Www. Sheila is right. You have made a good start at denotation and described what we see and hear well.
ReplyDeleteEbi. However, you must now look to develop this further by explaining how meaning is created by the shots, sound, mise en scene and editing. Though the camerawork is simple as you say, it is also subtle and powerful - think how our opinion of the man speaking alters as the camera tracks back a way from him to reveal that he is talking to someone far more powerful than he.