The Godfather

My class was set another task; identify visual parallels and contrasts from the scene of “The Godfather” where Michael Corleone is at his son’s baptizing and his family kills the Dons’ of the other families.

If you are not familiar with this movie, there are five families who are at rivalry with each other. The heads of each family is called a Don. Michael Corleone is head of the Corleone family, after the death of his father.

This scene shows two stories at the same time, but spotlights the same “people” (The Corleone family). This scene uses montage, throughout the scene, the audience is presented with the baptizing of Michael Corleone’s son and his mobsters. There is a basic contrast between these stories, the Holy setting of the church and the murderous killing that the mobsters perform.

During this specific scene, there was a lot of focus especially on the hands and also handkerchiefs. For example, when the father of the church whips his hand and places water onto Michael’s baby and then cuts to several mobsters who whips their head with a handkerchief as if they are sweating.

The scene is very fascinating because of it’s editing. The father of the church recites his words while Michael replies, at the same time, the mobsters of the Corleone family are preparing and killing the Dons’ of the other families.
One of the best editing of montage in this scene is where Michael is asked, “Do you renounce Satan?” and Michael replies, “Yes”. Then, the audience sees the Dons’ of the other families getting shot and killed. This shows great contrast and a parallel because of his innocence in the way he replies while the audience knowingly sees his family kill the other Dons’. This effect shows how much power Michael Corleone has that even if he lies in the house of God, he is a Holy man and is protected because he has organized the killings of the other Dons’.

"Quantum of Solace" and detail

Quantum of Solace was an excellent movie, however, what I've noticed from the two James Bond movies that actor Daniel Craig has stared in is the lack of gadgets. Frankly, the essence of James Bond has died off, and reincarnated into a more forceful version of James Bond, where he kicks down the door and begins firing shots. The more recent James Bond is also less of a "Ladies Man", which is also known as "Playa" in the 21st century.
One of the main problems with Quantum of Solace is detail. This is also involved in other action movies, character names, locations and in the case Quantum of Solace, organizations. When watching Quantum of Solace, I had a hard time with understanding what was going on, and when characters were mentioned, I always had to refer to my friends and ask them who they are talking about. Memory is also a key factor of when it comes to comprehending what on earth is going on. You especially had to remember what happened in the previous movie Casino Royale and even character names.

Battleship Potempkin

1. Rewatch the up to 0:45. What atmosphere do the contrasting shots create? How does Eisenstein create a sense of foreboding alongside the overriding atmosphere?
Sergei Eisenstein uses a series of shots to convey happiness and excitement using various shots of people waving and smiling with joy. The obvious text that suddenly pops up saying “Suddenly...” (0:44) communicates to the audience that “Suddenly...” something bad happens. Also the “...” express a long pause or an interruption.

Another part of the montage scene that Sergei Eisenstein uses to cause a sense of foreboding would include the clip of a flag that seems to belong to a boat or a battalion (0:29). This helps build up to the sudden text because through the use of montage, the audience thinks that the people associated with the flag are in the city to rescue them, when “Suddenly…” something contradictory happens.

2. Watch the rest of the clip again. How does Eisenstein create a contrast between the soldiers and the people? How and why does our view of the people's feelings towards the soldiers change?
One noticeable contrast between the soldiers and the people is the colour of clothing, the soldiers are dressed in white, and the people are dress in black (or assorted clothing such as white shirt, black trousers). This is a clever contrast because the film is in black and white, therefore, there needs to be a stand out between the two different groups.

The people in the film also showed emotions such as fear, sadness and worry. The soldiers however are emotionless like robots; they follow commands and continue to fire at the people.
The audience’s views on the feelings the people have in the direction to the soldiers are significantly changed from the point of 0:46. Sergei Eisenstein uses a series of techniques to help illustrate how these feelings change. He changes the tempo of the music from a slow pace to a faster pace to make the audience think that the people are unorganized and it has changed into an action sequence. The music orchestra was also changed from strings (high and peaceful) to drums and wind instruments (low and fearing).