Composition in The Godfather

 

The famous first shot of The Godfather trilogy is the extremely slow zoom out from the undertaker's face. The shot begins fully zoomed into his face, with only his forehead and cheeks directly lit. Slowly, as he speaks, the camera zooms out. 

 

The shot finishes behind The Godfather's shoulder. The undertake is positioned just off centre, and the Godfather fills almost the entire left-hand third of the shot. The only lighting is an overheard source which barely lights the undertaker's face. 

During the car sequence, Michael Corleone is centred in the shot, portraying his isolation. He is in a car with his greatest enemies with no help. In the background, his enemies are shrouded in darkness, their faces hidden. Only Michael is on show, with a low light illuminating him. In this sequence, the film-makers created the sense of being in a moving vehicle by having the actors sit in a car and lights were moved behind them to portray headlights.

At the undertakers office the lighting is minimalistic. Gordon Willis' lives up to his Prince of Darkness nickname by only lighting the actors, using a single, overhead source. The undertaker's eyes are shrouded, masking his soul.

The same is true for the Godfather himself. His skin shines in the light, but his eyes are masked. It is only by the movement on his face that one can tell his emotions. Even his suit fades into the background.

Almost all conversations in this film take place sat at a table. Once Michael becomes the Don, he dresses in suits and relaxes back in his chair.

The film finishes with a repeat of his opening, an iconic zoom, as Michael is revealed as a true Mafia Don.

Gradient Filter

The Godfather works so well as a piece of cinema because of Willis' work. His choice of amber tones throughout gives the films their period setting (influencing period films ever since) and also gives the films' their own identity. To recreate such work it is important to understand how to create that.

The image above was shot using an orange gradient filter (http://www.mattcornock.co.uk/photos/image/1192). A relatively grey sky has been turned to a burnt orange colour, matching the same tones in the godfather. As such, this is a possibility for my work. 

Orange

Orange is especially important in The Godfather. Not only is it the primary colour in most indoor scenes, the physical fruit is also an important part of the film. The following website records all the uses of orange in the films http://www.jgeoff.com/godfather/oranges.html.

Examples:

• Right before he was shot, Don Corleone bought 2 oranges
• When sitting with his father after he returns home from the hospital, Fredo sits next to a fruit basket of oranges. He later betrays the Family
• Kay wears an orange coat when she comes looking for Michael at the compound.
• Carlo gets beaten by Sonny, while wearing an orange suit

Notice the oranges at the table. Opposite Duvall is a man who, by refusing the Godfather, suffers.

Carlo wears an orange suit before being beaten up. Notice also that the hue of the entire image is orange, adding to the period look of the film. 

The Don who goes onto die sits in front of an orange. This foreshadowing is prominent throughout the film. 

Creating the 70s Look

Youtube is full of examples of others recreating the 1970s film look using domestic and industry technology. One such example is below:

The video maker used a standard video camera and Sony Vegas to create the look of this film, which is something I hope to recreate.

A Study of "Annie Hall"

Annie Hall is a 1977 from Woody Allen. It won several Academy Awards, including best picture. As such it is brilliant to further continue the study of Gordon Willis. Annie Hall differs from The Godfather, here the "The Prince of Darkness" has created a much brighter work. The film is bright, with pastel colours dominating the pallette, and one suspects this might have been Allen's influence on the cinematographer, but you can still see Willis' at work.

The Godfather Look

The Godfather trilogy is famous for its warm tones and underexposure - trademarks of Gordon Willis, the cinematographer on all three films. If we examine a still from the first film we can see Willis at work.

A Look at Gordon Willis

American cinematographer born 28 May 1931, in Queens, New York.

Willis is most famous for his work on The Godfather trilogy, with director Francis Ford Copolla, as well as All The President's Men (1976) and Annie Hall (1977).

 

An important aspect of Willis' work is his underexposure, and specifically, not allowing actors' eyes to be seen. His dark footage, with warm tones, creates a fantastic period look to the films he works on. 

It is amazing to note that in seven years from '71-'77, over seven films he worked on, there were a combined thirty-nine Oscar nominations and nineteen wins. However, Willis himself did not receive a nomination, despite critics and peers positive reviews of his work.