The long and intense musical undertone in the Godfather Part II serves a unique role in the flow of the film. The diegetic music sets the scene throughout many different changes in scenery as well as plays a huge part in setting the mood and tone of the characters with their different changes of emotion. In this paper, I will demonstrate how the musical score creates transitions within the film, identifies with the characters and creates underscoring for moments in the film when there is not much going on.
While conspiracy theories ran rapid and organized crime was at the forefront of
large city government, The Godfather Part II accomplished something matched only by one other film in American history by making the AFI top 100 greatest films as a sequel.
This American crime novel, turned film, covers the trying life journey of Vito Corleone and his family from his escape on a near attempt of his life and the death of his father, to his survival and the uprising of his family business in New York City. As the Corleone family tries to make a large business deal with another New York Crime family, the Roth family, things get complicated as Pentangeli who was what mobsters call a capo regime, or a high up employee of the gang, asked his boss (Michael Corleone) to help defend New York against the Rosato Brothers. Seeing as though, the Rosato brothers were associates of the Roth family and he didn’t want to mess up their business dealings, Michael refused and later had an assassination attempt on his life, in his own home. Later, Michael finds out that Roth is the one behind all of the attempts on him and his business’ life, but not before Roth figures out a well built plans to peg Michael on extortion with Pentangeli as the key w...
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...to get across. I believe that this describes the usage of his composition perfectly in the Godfather.
Above all the criticisms or affirmations that Rota received throughout his career, one thing is fairly unanimous throughout most critics, film viewers and musicians. The Godfather Part II is one of the most successful works that he has ever composed for despite all of his triumph and successes. Rota transformed his work into a musical score that created transitions within the film, identified with the characters and created underscoring for moments in the film when there was a lack of action. He created the music that many strongly believe joins with the film, to encompass the Wagnerian concept of total art.
Works Cited
Dyer, Richard. Nino Rota: Music, Film, and Feeling. New York: Palgrave Macmillan on Behalf of the British Film Institute, 2010. Print.
music to analyse—in fact, the music runs almost constantly throughout the film without very little
To fully understand the relationship between a filmmaker and a composer, it is helpful to take a closer look at the filmmaker’s position towards music in film in general; these can of course differ substantially from one director to another. It seems, one must think, that the complete narrative and emotive potential of film music is not yet fully recognized and appreciated in many film produc...
The films musical score alerts the viewer to an approaching attack of the shark and they automatically build this association with the music in their mind. Horror films often make use of high string instrument notes that irritate viewers and increase tension. Music plays an important role in film editing and the editor must choose its placement wisely to ensure its intended effect on the viewer’s mind and
In ¾, the leitmotif with its astonishing feel, evokes the audience to focus on the dialogue between Don Coreleone (Marlon Brando) and a father who came to ask the godfather to avenge his daughter who have been raped. With the combination of Marlon Brando’s charismatic acting, the Godfather Leitmotif immediately sets the dark, charismatic, almost expressionist feel of the film. Gangs of New York begins with the sound of the Priest shaving with a knife. Howard Shore gently places strings followed by marching music. The beginning of Gangs of Newyork introduces many characters that will lead the film and throws the audience into the battlefield that is portrayed more like the dark ages or the middle ages than the 19th century new york. For audiences who must have expected the movie to have a dark, gritty Noir feel, the raw and barbaric feel of the opening scene and the music comes as surprising and
The gangster genre within films in America has accomplished numerous positive criticisms and constant willing audiences due to containing outstanding spectacles and mind-blowing action. The Godfather, being second on the IMDb Top 250 Movies, has set a new popular concept to life within the Mafia from their point of view. Doing so, creating a positive association. Yet within Italy, the same topic contains a complete different view. Movies such as I Cento Passi demonstrate unenthusiastic view by those whom are outside yet negatively affected by those members. Unlike American films, the gangsters are not as often viewed at the protagonist and are the main causes for the problematic events. But how different is Italian Mafia and American Mafia in cinema?
The Godfather is most notably one of the most prolific films of its time. This "gangster" film displayed many transformations of permeating color to give the viewer observable cues in its mise en scene that drew one right into the movie. The dramatic acting set the tone of the film with a score that lifted the viewer right out of their seat in many scenes. The directing and cinematography made The Godfather ahead of its time. The nostalgic feel of family importance and the danger of revenge lets us into the life of the Mafia. Even though no other techniques would have given the viewer a feeling of inside the mob like the mise en scene of the power the godfather held, the characters are reinforced literally and figuratively because the story views the Mafia from the inside out, and the cinematography of the film gives it a dangerous and nostalgic feel.
For this essay I will be looking at the work of Hans Zimmer to discuss how music in film engages the viewer and evokes emotion and pulls the viewer toward the film. Hans Zimmer is a German born music composer. Hans Zimmer’s love of music stems from his childhood when he learned how to play various instruments. Before Zimmer began composing music for films he was in a well-known band. The band was called The Buggles whom were famous for their song Video Killed the Radio Star. After the Buggles Zimmer played in other bands but never had another hit. As Zimmer has progressed as a film composer so has his list of nominations and awards. Zimmer has won 4 Grammy Awards and 2 Golden Globes and many more for his outstanding film scores. The reason I chose to write this essay on Zimmer was that his genres and music score are extremely versatile ranging from animations to comedy to dark thrillers. This is important to highlight as it shows Zimmer can create almost any atmosphere with his music whether it be sad or creating tension that all cause us to engage with the film. Zimmer's use of themes and introduction of different instruments allowed him to create these wonderful engaging film score. In this essay I will look at three films by Hans Zimmer these are The Holiday Rush and Rain Man.
... educated the average person. The Mafia, as depicted by the Corleone family, is very close knit; those that are not even actual family members are still considered part of the “family.” This movie can be watched repeatedly and each time is as enjoyable as the first. It is a cultural eye opener and lead to two sequels and several other media items, such as today’s television drama The Soprano’s. Though the world does not condone what this lifestyle is about it will always be interested, and somewhat glorify the traditions and lifestyle of something so secretive and just plain bad.
In conclusion, I have demonstrated how Coppola exploits a wide array of sound and editing to create suspense, intensity, and anxiety in the sequence to affect the audience’s emotions, using diegetic ambient sound effects, non-diegetic music, voice over and four editing types. With this sequence, Coppola has shown the savagery of war and our complicity in this violence as an audience.
Connelly, Marie. "The films of Martin Scorsese: A critical study." Diss. Case Western Reserve University, 1991. Web. 07 Apr 2014.
Music can decipher a narrative event by indicating a perspective. To unify a set of diverse images and provide rhythmic and formal continuity and momentum, a film’s structure is more often than not, directly articulated by a musical structure. Music can assist the dialogue and visuals of film and often is inaudible (e.g. music is meant to be heard unconsciously, not consciously). Music has been used by directors to reinforce or strengthen certain weak scenes in film and then on the other hand when music is not needed to reinforce a scene
As an audience we are manipulated from the moment a film begins. In this essay I wish to explore how The Conversation’s use of sound design has directly controlled our perceptions and emotional responses as well as how it can change the meaning of the image. I would also like to discover how the soundtrack guides the audience’s attention with the use of diegetic and nondiegetic sounds.
I believe the reason that, 'The Godfather', is such a great film is because it lets audiences decide whether they like the characters or not. Too many movies made about organized crime begin with some seemingly random act of violence. 'The Godfather', however, lets it be known from the start to judge the characters in the film based on what type of person they are instead of the criminal activities they may engage in.
Different from other types of films, the music in Phantom of the Opera was used by all the characters, as a way to tell their part of the story. The music created a convincing surrounding for the film, guided the audiences. The music was constantly a signifier of emotion, as the characters expressed their feelings through the songs. The music score was an emotional and scary score that tied into their diegetic/non-diegetic singing, giving the main characters an identity, specifying situations and places to help connect certain points. When we hear the dark music play throughout the movie, it plays a certain theme, that theme gives the viewers a clear hint of who or what the music is talking about. Another example of signifier of emotion was in The Devil Wears Prada, where the film used either fast upbeat songs for when Andy walks all around the city, running errands for Miranda, or romantic alternative music when Andy is with her boyfriend and true friends (The Phantom of the Opera/The Devil Wears
The importance of music in movies is highly regarded for manipulating the viewer’s emotions and helping them immerse into the story. Music is one of the prime elements in cinema. Without it a movie would feel dull and unexciting. There are three elements in a movie: one is acting, the second is picture, and the third one is music. It is a holy trinity; if incomplete, there would be a lack of sensation and excitement. Both acting and picture can stand independently from one another, but music is the one that makes the movie memorable.