Title: The Godfather
Writer: Francis Ford Coppola
Director: Mario Puzo
Year: 1972
Actors: Marlon Brando (Don Vito Corleone), Michael Corleone (Al Pacino), Sollozzo (Al Lettieri)
In films, there are three basic types of sound – dialogue, sound effects, and music.
Dialogue consists of the narration (or words) which are spoken by the characters in a scene. The purpose of dialog is to further the development of the plot; enhance the characters; and, establish the details that the audience needs to understand about the story Goodykoontz & Jacobs, 2014). According to Goodykootz & Jacobs (2014) dialogues in films influence everyday personal communication, such as reciting various film phrases. Some of The Godfather film memorable phrases include: “I’m gonna make him an offer he can’t refuse”; “Keep your friends close and your enemies closer”; It’s business, not personal.” In fact, the extensive dialogue within The Godfather film established the theme that everything within the Corleone mafia family is considered “not personal, but strictly business”. The following clip from The Godfather shows one of the quotes within the film by Michael Corleone (Al Pacino).
Sound effects include artificially produced sounds that enhance a film. Popular sound effects include: crowd noises, screams, gun shots, nature sounds, etc. Sound effects, in The Godfather film, utilized various sounds to reflect the realization to the theme of violence that is associated within organized crime. For instance, one scene that stands out is where Michael Corleone kills Sollozo in the Italian restaurant. The characters frisk Corleone for weapons, but they do not find any. Their conversation over dinner is very uncomfortable and they speak Italian through some of it – which does not include any subtitles. Michael requests to go to the restroom, and that is where he grabs a revolver that has been strategically taped by the toilet. As he grabs the gun, Michael places his hands on the side of his head and a train sounds thundering by outside. The train sound effect represents the terrible thoughts that are occurring inside his mind and racing heart. The sound of the train returns when Michael sits back down at the table. While Sollozo speaks, the train sound effect becomes ever so louder. Then, Michael pulls out the gun and the loud gun shots (sound effect) kill both Sollozo and the police officer. The sound effects were carefully placed within the scene so that viewers could identify with what they are seeing (Goodykoontz & Jacobs, 2014. Michael was now considered a true Corleone man as he had just crossed over from pureness to the now pure evilness. Here is a clip of the scene:
Music is key to a successful film, and includes score and soundtrack. The score is background music that accompanies the action on the screen, and the soundtrack are collections of songs used in the film (Goodykoontz & Jacobs, 2014). In addition, there are diegetic and non-diegetic sounds. Diegetic sounds occur within films and include natural sound effects that match the sources on the screen (sound of the films world), and non-diegetic sounds refers to background music of which the characters do not hear (outside of the films world) (Goodykoontz & Jacobs, 2014). There is a scene in The Godfather that uses the score, diegetic, and non-diegetic sounds – the horse head. The scene of “the horse head” uses the score of a non-diegetic sound, which is the waltz music; and, the diegetic sounds include the crickets and screaming.
The use of sound in The Godfather film really creates the dark and solemn mood the filmmakers were going for. They used Italian accents and also include a lot of gunfire and explosion sounds. There are also soundtracks that were included throughout the movie. All of the sounds encompass the feeling of the authenticity of the Italian mafia gangster theme. The gangster genre often includes sounds of opera instrumental music, and of loud gun fire and explosions. The sounds were realistic and practical to the theme of the film. The opera music was perfectly selected as well.
The film utilized every important element of sound that was needed to authentic the theme and genre. If the film was missing a key category of the basic sounds, the film would have negatively been impacted. For instance, if the score was removed, the film would not have flowed in its continuity. The proper use of the score emphasized the precise gangster mood of the film.
References
Goodykoontz, B., & Jacobs, C. P. (2014). Film: From watching to seeing (2nd ed.). San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc.
Lakedaimonios Sparta. (2011, Nov 7). It’s strictly business. Retrieved from YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bo7zkd0kRS4
Movieclips. (2011, November 22). The Horse Head – The Godfather (1/9) Movie CLIP (1972) HD. Retrieved from Movieclips: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VC1_tdnZq1A
Zapfinger, D. (2012, June 22). The Godfather – Michael shoots Sollozzo and McCluskey. Retrieved from YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSQqv2UuvC0
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