Michael Kelleher
Professor King
Com 241
16 September 2012
Mis-en-Scene The Godfather
In
a thirty second scene from The Godfather,
Mama Corelone steps up from the crowd at her daughter Connie’s wedding to sing.
While the scene may seem trivial, it features many aspects of mise-en-scene.
The scene begins with a wide shot of the band, two male wedding singers, and
some wedding guests shown all near the dance floor. The director uses the rule
of thirds, focusing on the wedding guests in the left third of the frame, the
band in the back middle, and the two male singers closer to the right of the
frame. The director also gives a sense of depth perception, as the band is
further back than everyone else in the scene.
The
set for this scene is mostly focused on the dance floor and the stage behind
the dance floor where the band is playing. However, in the beginning of the
scene, there are bushes and vibrant green plants and flowers shown in the
corners of the top frame, which contrast well with the cream-colored dance
floor. There is also a stone wall that goes from one side of the frame to
another.
The
first noticeable image of the scene is right as the scene begins, a little girl
wearing a yellow dress comes out from the right of the frame and begins dancing.
Your eyes are immediately focused on her as she moves across the dance floor
and frame. This was the first noticeable costume decision made by the director.
All the other guests are wearing colors that don’t really stand out (mostly black
and some khaki) but the little girl in the yellow dress is a notable standout.
The yellow attracts the eye immediately on the frame, and the girl’s dark hair
contrasts with the dress, and makes her pop. She also has a large yellow flower
in her hair as well, which even more adds to her standing out in the
frames.
From beginning to
end of the scene, when Mama Corelone is in the scene, she is shown in the
center of the frame. After the frame with the girl in the yellow dress, we see
Mama Corleone for the first time in the scene; she is in the center and happily
clapping to the music with mostly men surrounding her. As one of the male
singers comes out on the dance floor to grab her and get her to sing, there is
great use of mise-en scene shown. She is surrounded by men all around her
trying to get her to go up and sing, and they continue to accompany her as she
reluctantly walks up to the stage. Firstly, the men she is surrounded by are
all shorter than her, and Mama Corelone is probably heavier than most of them
as well. With this setup, along with her being in the dominant center of the
frames, it gives the audience the impression that Mama Corelone is a woman of
power. However, as she is wearing a light pink simple dress, it gives the
impression that she is gentle, as opposed to if she were wearing a fire-engine
red or black dress. Her hair is also pulled back in a sort of bun type
hairstyle, with areas of gray hair showing, presenting the impression that she
is aging, and not completely focused on
her looks, as she is also wearing light make-up. The last ten seconds of the
scene are one take of Mama Corelone singing with a man on both sides of her. As
she remains in the center of the frame, the shorter men by her sides are
positioned and angled in a way that shows that they are inferior to her. For
this sequence, the director again uses the rule of thirds, and effectively uses
two men in the background playing instruments to focus on Mama Corelone even more
than before (see picture).
One of the most
important factors in this scene is the lighting. The scene was obviously taken
outside and not in a studio, and the director utilizes the sunny day, as the
whole scene is incredibly bright and highly lit. While I’ve only seen some
scenes from the movie The Godfather,
the scenes I have scene are mostly dark, or use chiaroscuro lighting. However,
I believe for this scene, the director chose the scene to be so bright because
it fit well with the high energy and happiness of the scene.
The design
influences for the scene are most closely shown to be Italian neorealism. The
film is based off of an Italian family, so that design influence would be the
best choice to use for the film. The scene also depicts mostly open framing, as
it would have been very difficult to get all of the wedding guests into one
frame, so some of the non-important faces are cut off during the scene. The
scene mostly uses static composition instead of dynamic, however there is one
scene where one of the male sings cuts diagonally across the dance floor to
retrieve Mama Caleone.
The lastly most
important aspect to the scene is the movement; the whole scene depicts a lot of
movement from the characters. The beginning of the scene, which features the
most people shown in a frame, shows almost everyone either dancing or clapping
along with the music that is playing. Even as Mama Coreloeone sings and is
standing still, she continues to clap her hands and bob her head hapilly.
