The Godfather- The Family Business

The Godfather

“Family Business”

In the first movie of The Godfather Trilogy, we are introduced to all of the characters and the way of their world, that they live in and the rules they live by. We are introduced to the family, the enemies and everyone else that plays a factor in this world. Throughout this process we are introduced to the “Family Business”. Through being introduced we realize how important it is to be in the Family Business and honor the Family.

We realize how important Vito “Don Corleone” is to the whole equation, the way things operate and the way things work out, all final decisions and their impacts trickle down from the top spot of “Don”. The interesting points to notify are the family tree and how they relate to Family Business and how they effect the positions that are held. Another thing to pay attention to is the top spot of “Don” and who falls in line to take over that spot. The importance of Michael to the Family Business as it is foreshadowed throughout the whole film, you get a glimpse of how much more he is important to the existence of this cycle, as opposed to how much Freddo or Santino is.

In the first point we talk about is the Family Business and the Family Tree; how do they relate? First, at the top, we see Vito “Don” Corleone and this he is the Father therefore he is the leader of the pact of the Business. He has three sons, four counting Tom. Two sons hold smaller positions under him and are technically in line to be the next “Don” starting from oldest to youngest. Then you have Tom Hagan who is not a biological son, but he has been a part of the family, so he also is given a position, which is counselor to the “Don”. The rest of the roles are given out to friends and people who are close to the Family, or a part of the Family in another way. So, as the Family Tree goes down these roles are given out. We see that when people use this term, like Michael did in the first scene, “Family Business”, it is literal in most part because it is kept in the Family.

Bringing me to my next point, the position and importance of the “Don”. If we had to compare the “Don to someone in our society it could be a number of people, because his role is so interesting. Obviously being a father, we can directly relate his position as a parent, but then having the business aspect going on we would thing of him as a boss or manager. In their world no word is bigger than the “Dons”, in this aspect he kind of reminds me more of a President, or even more so a dictator. More of a dictator because his word is final; in the Family Business when it comes down to it, it is not so much of a Democracy than a dictatorship. Which is interesting, for the people who live in this world this is their government, these are their laws. It’s more than just a Family Business it is their way of live. They live and die by it.

Finally, the point of Michael taking over and how it is foreshadowed since the beginning of the Film. At the start of the Film, we pretty much get a glimpse of everybody who is involved in the world. When the Family gets together to take a picture we are notified through Vito’s words that Michael is not around and no picture will be snapped without him. So, instantly we get the idea that Michael has some kind of importance, whether we know what it is or not yet. Then we see through the course of the movie that all of Michaels brothers are either made unable or are discredited to take over as the “Don” of the Family Business. So, gradually through this movie we are eased in to the thought or idea that Michael will take over as the new Don. Flashing back to the beginning of the movie where Michael says that is his Family, not him. We see a little irony and we see the transition of him becoming more like his Family, into the position that was once held by his father.

This whole idea of the Family Business is relatable in our society in many ways, there are plenty of Family owned businesses in our economy that are passed down from generation to generation, but we must explore the difference between these businesses. In our world, Family businesses are just that, they are means of making money and a means of survival. In the Corleone world this is also their means of money, but it is their way of live and it cannot be changed nor disputed without great consequences; it’s just the way it is.

-Kendrel Dickerson

Allison Emery: Silent Film Analytical Review

Allison Emery

November 15, 2012

Group Three

Silent Film Analytical Review

Camera perspectives within cinematography represent what the film wants viewers to recognize and notice. The way a camera moves through the scene, the perspective of the lens, and the camera angles of a scene are all aspects of making a movie transpire—they are all facets in the art of cinematography. The vision a camera depicts effects what is being communicated for the entire film; it shows audiences what is important in that scene, and what one should pay attention to. Group 4 presented, Oh God, No…, by telling a story of woman who gets killed by an evil cat while she is watching the cat for a friend. They use the element of cinematography in regards to how the camera captures a scene to communicate and foreshadow that the cat is not as friendly as it looks. My argument exclaims that the way they use close ups, camera angles, and camera movement —all aspects of cinematography, portray how the cat is manipulating the woman and ultimately plans to complete the fate of the movie. All of these different camera aspects are used in the film to communicate to spectators the importance the scene has on the overall film meaning.

            The beginning of the film starts with two friends greeting each other while one drops off her cat so the other friend can cat-sit. The camera placement eighteen seconds into the film puts the audience into the scene setting. The video clip below portrays the part of the film I am referring to. The lens predicts the “field of view” for the scene.. This film shot is important because it makes the audience feel a part of the action. The audience consistently has to decide what is taking place in the scene, especially since it is a silent film, and through the perspective of the lens we can see that we are emotionally involved in the film action because of the camera angle and the lens focusing on these two women. This camera aspect in this scene represents the decision the director made to emotionally involve the viewer in the storyline. This is important to the overall film because we consistently make assumptions of what is going to take place in the film based on what we can see as the audience.

Now that the camera angle and placement have let the audience have an emotional attachment to the film, the directors focus in on a certain contender in the film. Focusing to a different character implicates that our concentration throughout the film should be on the cat and what it does for the plot. The video snippet below shows that the camera has done a vertical pan downwards to focus on the cat at 26 seconds. This camera movement and focus tells the audience that the cat should be a major contestant to something that happens in the film. Further into the film, camera angles and close-ups of the lens are used to show that the cat took part in an action that just took place. The second video snippet below is just after the cat-sitter goes outside to water plants and she gets locked out of her house. We assume that no one else is in the house because we have only been introduced to three characters, and now only the cat-sitter and cat are in the scenes. The close-up on the cat looking outside where the cat-sitter is locked out gives the audience a clue that the cat could be the one that locked her out, which foreshadows future events. 

            An abundant use of camera movements, lens perspective (close-ups), and camera angles in the next scenes in the film allow us to note that the cat is trying to harm the cat-sitter. Focusing in on the cat, as indicated at one minute, 21 seconds, helps communicate something to the audience even though there are no words vocalized in the film. The decision to use lens perspective to make the audience feel an emotional attachment to the film helps a viewer become involved in the storyline. The camera movement from the girls to the cat gives us an indication that the cat is a major focus throughout the film. Also, the close-up of the cat after the girl is locked our gives us a perspective that the cat is the one involved in the evil action. We can see that the cat is planning the actions because of the camera angle, focus, and perspective, but the cat-sitter is clueless of the cat’s schemes. All of these camera aspects of cinematography are used to hint where are focus should be on in the film and help us plan the story out as it is happening. These elements of camera focus, perspective, and movement are a major importance to Oh God, No… because it lets the audience know where the focus should be, and allows us to understand something that people in the film may not be aware of.

Caroline Downer - Individual Analytical Movie Review

Caroline Downer

14 November 2012

ENG 281 – Group Three

Analytical Movie Review

            Group Four’s Film, titled “Oh God…No” was able to mislead the audience.  This group was able to use mise-en-scene and cinematography to develop suspense and intrigue within the viewers.  Since this was a silent film, how the elements of cinematography were used must have been carefully considered and used in order to help tell the story, without words.

            The group’s use of mis-en-scene allowed the viewer to be able to relate to the characters and the familiar situation.  The setting was a very realistic setting as just an apartment in a town; a very average interior.  The opening scene presents very bland, white walls which suggests nothing out of the ordinary and makes it seem as though this apartment will be just like all the others.  The interior has decorations in it like most apartments do that suggest a very warm and inviting environment, not grounds for a murder. The costumes as part of the mise-en-scene in this film also seem like clothes the ordinary person would wear.  The girls are dressed as average college students not hinting to the audience that anything strange will soon happen.  The lighting throughout this film is very prominent and they exploit the use of natural light towards the beginning, representing a bright average day with seemingly nothing to fear.  The cat seems like an innocent animal at the start of the film because it is the first character seen in the first few scenes, so the audience knows where it is and what it is doing at the beginning of each scene, leaving no room for suspicion.  For example when The Cat Sitter is about to water the plants, the cat is just sitting on the coffee table minding its own business when that scene opens, which makes the audience think that the cat is innocent.  However, as the scenes move on, the lighting is not as bright and the cat is not always the first thing seen on the screen, so that the audience does not know what the cat is doing and where it is.  In the use of mise-en-scene, this cat for example, was a key addition to the film because it is different from other films and creates another sense of suspense since humans cannot easily relate to cats and do not know what they’re thinking.  Since the cat is a darker cat, when the scenes begin to get darker, as when The Cat Sitter is sleeping, the cat seems to slowly appear out of the darkness, now creating an ominous feeling and therefore a sense of suspense.  The use of mise-en-scene develops the story as an ordinary day, but then slowly changes to something more foreboding. 

            Some elements of cinematography are used in this film to create suspense and intrigue to cause the audience to be anxious and unaware of what will happen next.  The most prominent example of the shot creating suspense for the viewers is in the scene when The Cat Sitter is sleeping and she wakes up to find the cat sitting very close and staring at her.  It is dark and she is sleeping.  The shot only includes The Cat Sitter in the frame which does not allow the audience to see what is beyond the camera or “behind the camera.”  The camera angle is above her, as if someone is watching her.  The combination of these elements instills a sense of the unknown.  This is used just as the scene in Psycho when Detective Arbogast is walking up the stairs inside the house before he is murdered.  The audience is looking at him, unaware of what’s in front of him/“behind the camera” or offscreen space.  This Psycho scene referred to is evident in this clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvPqSRLO5Ms.  In the scene where the door becomes locked after The Cat Sitter is gardening, the camera focuses on the cat with a close-up, allowing the audience to be suspicious of the cat and the locked door.  This creates another element of suspense, in wondering when the cat will strike again.  The very end of the movie uses a long shot on the characters of The Cat Sitter’s “friend” and the cat.  This long shot is able to incorporate the surrounding elements of the scene which are very normal.  This contrast between the normal setting and the suspicious characters creates more of a sense of intrigue in the audience wondering if those characters really did conspire against The Cat Sitter.

            The combination of mise-en-scene and cinematography used in this film allows the audience to at first relate with the realistic scene of an average, happy day, and then to gradually feel anxious and in suspense.  The mise-en-scene worked more to create the familiar setting of a normal apartment at the beginning, while the use of things such as lighting, camera angle, and camera distance began to change and caused the feeling of suspense and intrigue to set in.     

Psycho Blog - Caroline Downer

Norman Bates is quoted in the film, Psycho by Alfred Hitchcock, saying “I think I may have one of those faces you can’t help believing.”  This is very interesting because it is very true.  Norman Bates is not someone that people would normally think was psycho.  This statement also seems accurate when addressing Marion.  She does not seem like a person who would steal $40,000 from her boss’s client on a whim.  In Psycho situations and particularly people are disguised in order to create such an eerie atmosphere and twisted plot. 

This film is all about disguise.  There is a detective and murders involved, so there is obviously a sense of disguise.  However there is also a sense of disguise that is a little more subtle.  Norman Bates is a well dressed, attractive, young man.  When he first meets Marion, he is very peppy and enthusiastic.  There is absolutely no reason to suspect him of anything strange or out of the ordinary.  He even asks her to dinner at his house, and seems innocent when we hear a voice that sounds like a mother telling him that she can’t eat with them, and he then promptly tells Marion he cannot eat with her in the house.  We see a “momma’s boy” as innocent, loyal, and very trustworthy.  However in the end we find out that this seemingly innocent man’s situation with his mother is actually extremely creepy and psychologically unstable, to say the least.  When there is an extreme close-up on Norman Bates, the camera shows him sweating, stuttering and avoiding eye contact, which gives the detective further reason to question him, although their meeting begins with a calm and casual Norman.    

At the beginning of the movie, the audience sees Marion as a woman with a good job, who is comfortable with her boss and co-worker.  She is dressed nicely and seems to have a routine at work, from which we can infer that the people that work with her have reason to trust her.  However, Marion steals the $40,000 that her boss trusted her with.  Using another extreme close up view, the camera allows the audience to look straight at Marion as she is avoiding the police and looking in her rear-view mirror at the town and life she left behind her.  The audience now sees her as a criminal. 

Camera techniques cause the audience to be unsure of what will happen next in the scene.  The use of backlighting in the scenes where the murders take place combined with the ominous music, add to the suspense.  The backlighting allows the audience to be able to focus on the single character without distractions of many props.  For example when Detective Arbogast is on the stairs trying to find Norman Bates in the house, there is some backlighting and a severe camera angle from above to make it seem as though someone is watching him and he is walking into an extremely undesirable situation, like a trap.  The camera is looking at him and not what’s in front of him, so the audience is unaware of what he is seeing or what is going to occur. 

The main disguise of this film is Norman Bates’s split personality.  The audience does not discover the real truth until the end when the psychiatrist explains that Norman’s mom murdered Marion, although it was physically Norman.  The lighting from the house in the window and the voice that sounds like a woman coming from the house causes everyone to think that Norman’s mom also lives there.  When he carries “his mom” to the cellar to hide her, the audience thinks that she is alive.  However, when Al Chambers says she died a few years back, the audience is confused.

The disguise of Norman’s real life is what makes this plot so intriguing.  Hitchcock’s use of disguise, causes the audience to be in suspense and allows the main characters to be misleading in the initial vibe they give off to others. 

Director's commentary audio file

Silent Film

Silent Film Script

A Deadly Charade

Script

A Deadly Charade

By: Kendrel Dickerson, Caroline Downer, Will Edwards, Allison Emery, Luke Fegenbush, and Taylor Gilliam

As the scene opens, a hand appears in a kitchen, after having poured drinks for a group of people who are playing charades in the living room. Holding an ominous bottle of poison, the hand empties its contents into a cup containing a drink which will soon be served.

Next scene: The aforementioned group plays charades in the living room. The scene is light, happy, and friendly.

Will stands, selecting a folded paper on which is inscribed the act he is soon to perform as part of the game. The paper reads “BEING POISONED,” so he proceeds to act it out, not realizing that he really has been poisoned from drinking the cup offered by his host. His act provides a laugh for all his friends; he falls to the ground. Soon his comrades discover that it’s not an act and that he is dead. The game is over. Deducing that he has been poisoned by someone in the house, Taylor, the host, walks to the door and locks it, announcing,

“No one is allowed to leave until one of you admits to killing him.”

Taylor covers the body of Will with a blanket so as to not have to look at it henceforth. Everyone is frozen with fear until from outside, a thunder crash and lightning flash which causes the electricity in the house to go out and each person to scatter, hoping to find his/her own hiding place in the house.

Caroline runs down to the basement where she hides behind the washer and dryer. She doesn’t know that The Killer has followed. She pulls out her phone to dial 911. The Killer creeps up to Caroline and snatches her phone away. Caroline screams. The Killer draws a knife and attacks Caroline, adding her to the victimized.

Taylor, having heard Caroline’s screaming, runs down the stairs toward the basement to help, but as he reaches the top of the stairs to the dark and dismal basement, The Killer approaches from behind with knife in hand. Taylor is stabbed in his back from behind and falls, arriving to join the dead at the bottom of the stairs into the basement.

Luke emerges on the scene, finding Allison, with the knife, standing in the doorway leading to the deceased below. Luke’s surprise coincides with that of the audience as The Killer’s identity is revealed.

Allison backs away in horror at her now-thwarted plot to kill all present in the house.

Shocked, yet pleased with himself at solving the mystery, and escaping certain death, Luke addresses the murderer,

“I didn’t want to believe it was you. But I must ask:  why?”

Allison defends herself,

“You just don’t know what it’s like to live without love.”

Luke retorts, “Oh, but I do.”

The camera resumes on Luke and Allison in the hallway. Allison, having been enlightened and now hoping to offer penitence over the heartache of Luke, entreats,

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know you felt this way. Maybe it’s not too late.”

Luke, unmoved by her forged regret, firmly replies,

“You had your chance.”

Luke raises his arm, holding a revolver pointed at Allison. Thunder crashes, lightning flashes, and the scene ends.