The Godfather Opening Sequence

This is the opening ten minutes of the legendary film The Godfather. Although it is an 18 rated film, the introduction contains no bad language, violence or the like. The Godfather is a Mafia crime film and focuses mainly on the American Italiono family the Corlioni's and there involvement in the criminal underworld of the 1950's (this story isn't true but may be based on true events, but who knows, its a mafia film!) Most of the film is based in and around New York including the opening sequence.

The film opens with some mysterious and Mafia themed trumpet playing, which you hear before you even see anything, other then the slow moving introduction credits which are white on black (immediately we see binary opposites). We see the title of the film which cleverly includes a hand holding puppet strings attached to the title which instantly shows the audience there is mischief afoot which works incognito with the music. The music then stops, the screen goes black and in fades a moustached man with an Italian accent. He talks of America and his family as the camera very slowly zooms out from his head. He tells the the audience a story about his daughter and her love relationship going wrong ending in her being beaten and ending up in hospital. The man's voice then turns to one less confident, distressed (on the edge of crying) and he begins to weep as the camera zooms out to reveal a desk with a man sitting behind it. The shot is a point of view shot of this man over his shoulder.

As the man with the Italian accent is handed a drink the man we cannot yet properly see moves his hand next to his cheek in a fashion of possible irritation, impatience or to show that he is thinking. The man with the accent goes on with a more serious voice that he wants the men who harassed his wife to be 'brought to justice' and that he must go to see 'Don Corlioni' who we presume he is talking to but are not sure yet as the shadow on the mysterious man is very dark and reveals very little (only his hand and cheek). The is a pause for dramatic effect and to show the mystery man is thinking before he speaks. He then begins to speak with a very muffled accent, asking why the Italian man went to the police before him, indicating that the police are a threat to him.

He then begs for the Don (who we can presumably confirm by now) to do what he begs him to do. Them man then gets up and whispers in the Dons ear, all this time the shot has been the same but then it changes to reveal the Don's face (mid shot close up), which once again has an expression , showing that he is thinking. He is sitting in a big chair with a black suit a bow tie and a red rose in his pocket, indicating that he is of some importance. He then says shaking his head 'That, I can not do', then once again the shot changes to a long shot that reveals the entire room and the other men in dark suits who are also listening in. The Italian then begs once again and the shot goes to the Don who is stroking a cat (which is the stereotype of a villainous character, signifiers of a crime film) and he tells the Italian off for not seeing him enough, despite the fact that his wife is godmother to the Italians only child but then says that 'you are afraid to be in my debt' which indicates that this Don maybe quite sinister.

The Don then scrutinises the Italian once again saying that he has insulted him by not calling him godfather and not wanting to be his friend and then says that the Italian has asked him to do murder for money on the day of his daughters wedding. The Italian replies that he asks for justice. The Don then replies that his daughter is still alive so the Italian asks to make the men who harassed his daughter to suffer asking how much he should pay the Don (all in a close up of the Italian who is in quite a dark environment). There is a long pause for Don Corlioni to think again and he gets up in the same long shot and so do the other two men in the room. The shot then switches to a medium long shot over the Italian's with the Don on the left. The don asks why he is being treated with disrespect saying that if the Italian had come for friendship the harassers would be dealt with the very same day.

The Italian then asks for the Dons friendship, respectively calling him Godfather in an over the shoulder shot of the Don with the face of one of the other end of the room in shot with a drink in his hand. The Italian then kisses the Dons hand and the Don grants his wish as a gift on his daughters wedding day but that he may ask of his 'services' in the future. After the Italian leaves, the then tells the second man (over the second man's shoulder shot) in the room to get reliable men for this job, saying that his establishment are not murderers and he smells his rose.

All of a sudden the mood changes as the audience is bombarded with colour and music which is a complete contrast to the atmosphere of the office, There is a wide high angle shot of a big party (wedding) with people entering from there cars. There are hundred of colourful people there all very well clothed in the next shot which pans across the large crowd who are chatting and dancing to the Italian themed music. The fact that we are at a wedding is revealed by the fact that in the next shot there is a bride in a beautiful dress and her groom with many children and women holding flowers next to them preparing to have a picture taken. The Don and the other men from the office are also there with the bride and groom for the photo. The fact that a photo is going to betaken is shown to the audience by the fact that they are all posed and aligned for a photograph even before we see the photographer.

The camera then goes to a mid shot of the Don who looks distressed and asked where Michael is and delays the photograph by talking to the photographer in Italian who immediately stands down. They then all begin to leave. There are then many shots of greeting and dancing and chatting to add atmosphere to the scene and give the audience a broad perspective on the occasion. The sound is then muffled and the shot changes a man getting out of his car in what is presumably a car park, in a suit which is none too different to that of a detective in that decade and he takes out a pen and paper and starts looking at the cars noting things down. The camera then once again turns to dancing and back to note pad detective who is looking at number plates and this process of detective to party shooting happens again. Then there is a shot of the Don meeting someone and welcoming him and then back to yet another shot of the party and more dancing and clapping of men and women who have had a bit to drink. Then are rather large man call another man to get him some wine and then commands him to look around as if to protect the party or the like.

All the shooting of the party is very natural and realistic and doesn't look staged or acted. It may as well be a real wedding. There are many shot of the different family members dancing with everyone with lots of long shots strung together making the whole thing look incredibly natural. The camera then goes to the bride who is receiving present from guests and then goes to a man who seems to be analysing the gifts from afar and says that if it were to be someone else's wedding then, he says something in Italian, indicating he would steal it. He is then thrown what is presumably food from his friend who he jokingly calls a 'Jerk' (typical 1950s language!) and that's the end of the ten minutes!

Getting to the more technical part, the story and order of events happen chronologically and are connected very strongly but not to add flow to the film but to show the contrast between the dodgy dealings of the cramped office and the big cheerful innocent wedding. Between these to places there are many obvious contrast such as the lighting, the amount of people,the space and the moods of the characters. In the office there is a lot of emotion and seriousness as well as fear but all that is lost when it swaps to the wedding scene where everyone in happy, chatty and drunk (in a cheerful manor of course!)

We are only really told the identity of the main character, the Godfather, as most of the shots are based around him and what he's doing or thinking. He is introduced by the Italian and the scene in the office at the opening but the audience is made to guess that he is the main character, which is shown a lot by his attire, the way he talks and the way he is addressed by the Italian.

Not much of the story is told to the audience other than the Italian wants some people killed, however the way in which this scene is captured, with the focus on the Godfathers point of view, indicates that the actual story wont be based on the harm done to these men and more on the Godfather himself, also indicated by the film name. The way that the men in the office are dressed and there conversations show dealings of life and death, showing the film will be about crime, however the wedding scene connotes innocents and family so we can guess we are going to see a bit off both. The fact that there is a detective at the wedding only helps to further promote that the film is about crime.

At the start of a film it is crucial that a scene is set and characters are introduced otherwise not much sense of anything can be made by the audience. As a viewer a film producer cannot presume that I already know these things. I feel that The Godfather has done this with style and gets the audience thinking straight away. The scene is set exceptionally by using contrasts and introducing characters mainly through filming techniques.

Watch it! Its awsome!