By Hope Sardella, 2019
Editing : The Baptism Murders, The Godfather (1972)
The Baptism Murders – The Godfather (1972), begins with Micheal Corleone (Al Pacino), taking part in a ceremony for the baptism of his godchild. Micheal is going to be a godfather to Connie’s son, but at the same time is becoming the actual Godfather or “Don” of his Italian mob gang. As Micheal is holding his godson, he starts to have flashbacks of the murder’s he executed to become the Godfather of his gang. The Baptism Murders is edited in the form of a montage theory. A montage links separate scenes from a film together to formulate a new interpretation of a part of a film Goodykoontz,( & Jacobs, 2014).
The montage theory is demonstrated by linking scenes from the murder’s Micheal committed to becoming the Godfather, and the main scene where he is in a literal sense becoming a Godfather to his Godson by using parallel editing. Parrell Editing is observed by showing two different scenes occurring at once (Goodykoontz, & Jacobs, 2014). These two scene connections show a metaphorical relationship by parallel editing between Micheal becoming a Godfather, and him becoming the Godfather of a gang. The two scenes presented in The Baptism Murder’s would be considered a juxtaposition (two things put together that are the opposite). The scenes are opposite because his path to becoming a Godfather to his gang was quite an evil one, and his path to becoming a Godfather to Connie’s son is religious and sanctified. The result of this editing to The Baptism Murder’s was to demonstrates that Micheal is fully aware of his new reality. Thus, he is no longer the person he used to be.
Cinematography: Miriam’s Last Breath – Strangers on a Train
In the Scene of Miriam’s Last Breath, we immediately notice that the film is in black and white color and the setting is nighttime. Our first scene is a Medium Close-Up of a mysterious man driving a boat into an amusement park ride called “The Tunnel of Love,” which then transitions into an Extreme Long Shot of the man’s boat entering the ride. Throughout the entirety of the clip, there is minimal lighting or low-key lighting making the film have an ominous tone, despite the opposing fact the man is going on the romantic ride. The third scene shows the shadows on the wall (created by low-key lighting) of the ride, and voices of a young couple laughing and having a good time in the Tunnel of Love.
Next, we see the couple exiting the ride, and the mysterious man following them in the boat behind the couple. In the fourth scene the couple comes to a water’s edge, they dock the boat and exit the long shot scene. The mysterious man enters the same scene as they exit to follow the couple. The following scene again had very little light, only coming from the amusement park across the day and we see the couple chasing each other having fun. The woman then run’s in another direction, then the man and enters an extreme close-up scene. We see a look of shock on her face, and a hand enters the right-hand corner of the close-up, and all we sit is a gas lighter lit by the hand to illuminate the woman face. The voice of the hand in the right-hand corner of the screen then asks the woman if her name is “Meriam” and Meriam replied ‘Why, Yes.” Quickly a man enters the scene, and all we see is the back of his head and his hand’s on Meriam’s throat. Meriam’s glasses fall on the ground because the man is chocking her, and we see the screen of her last breath through the reflection of the glasses. We may be able to say that this scene can be considered Mise en scène. A Mise En scène is a term that means’s to angle the camera just so, to capture the scene with only certain part of the frame (Goodykoontz & Jacobs, 2014). The Mise En Scène in Meriam’s last breath indeed gives’ the viewer and early feeling like we aren’t supposed to be watching her murdered since the audience isn’t directly viewing the murder but through the reflection. The final scene shows Meriam’s body lying face down in the grass and the hand’s that killed her picking up her glasses and his lighter he dropped. The cinematography implies that the man that followed Meriam, murdered her, but by not showing the man’s face during her murder it leaves the audience still wondering.
Lighting : “Bob and Charlotte Meet” (2003), Lost in Translantion
In the movie, Lost in Translation- scene of “Bob and Charlotte Meet” (2003), we see Bob and Charlotte sitting near each other at a high-rise bar. The lighting focusses on Bob and Charlotte but still allows the audience to understand that its night time by not putting too much light from behind them. The focus of the light on them symbolizes to me that the two have something in common and they both seem sad or depressed about their lives. Although I stated this isn’t the brightest scene, it’s almost as if the director used high-key lighting on Bob and Charlotte. I say this because there are only maybe three instances where I see a shadow created by the characters, except for the natural darkness behind them. I believe flat lighting is used in the scene. Flat lighting, is described by Goodykoontz and Jacob, “is used intentionally, because its lack of shadows enhances a mood the director is looking for” (section. 6.4, para. 3).
References
Goodykoontz, B., & Jacobs, C. P. (2014). Film: From watching to seeing (2nd ed.) [Electronic version]. Retrieved from https://content.ashford.edu/ (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. (Links to an external site.)
The Baptism Murders – The Godfather (8/9) Movie Clip (1972) HD
Miriam’s Last Breath – Strangers on a Train (4/10) Movie Clip (1951)
Lost in Translation (7/10) Movie Clip – Bob and Charlotte Meet (2003) HD
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