Techniques

180 degree rule and shot reverse shot: When was this first used
and why? How is it used in The Godfather? Pick scenes to
illustrate your point
The dinner conversation in the godfather is where the 180 degree rule is
used, this was an effective technique. Mr Walt invites the godfathers
friend (tommy) to his house for dinner, the 180 degree rule is used as the
table is the imaginary axis and the two men are filmed side on and the
camera stays straight on, helping to show equal power from both men.
Another 180 degree rule was used in the dinner scene of Michael and his
wife, this was effective as the camera was always directly on the two
characters not switching ensuring the audience are knowing whats going
on and contributes to how realistic the scene is. Also a shot reverse shot is
used when Mr Walt kicks out the godfathers friend from his dinner as they
dont get along, this follows up to the horse head scene. Shot reverse shot
is used throughout the godfather, Its used during the parallel editing
scene of the wedding where it keeps changing from that scene and the
godfather meetings in his house, a shot reverse shot is used as the
godfather is sat on his chair with the camera on him not showing the man
he is talking to in the meeting and switching so that the camera is on the
man hes talking to which helps show the interaction of the two characters
to the audience.

Compare to how it was used in the break-up scene in the social

network
In the social network break up scene the way they used the 180 degree
rule was different to the way they used it in the godfather in a few ways
such as, in the godfather the camera stayed on one side of the imaginary
axis keeping Michael on the right hand side sand his wife on the left hand
side for the whole scene, whereas in the social network break up scene
the shot reverse shot stays on one side of the 180 degreee imaginary axis
which is effective and differs from the way this technique was used in the
godfather.

Genre
The genre of the godfather is crime and gangster. The film is stretched out
in time, its from the year 1945 to 1955, it shows how Michael became in

power and the death of the godfather, the first film is all about Michaels
life as he basically tells the story.
Genre is a style or category of art, music, or literature
We know the genre of the film the godfather is crime as well as gangster
throughout the film acts of crime are frequently present and its all about
the gangs and familys in New York. The godfather has many conventions
throughout the film which support to show the genre is crime as well as
gangster
Perspectives: the idea of the story being told from a characters
perspective. 500 days of summer used multiple characters. But
the godfather used one
The godfather is film is made in the idea of the story being in one persons
perspective, the Godfather did this and used on character to tell the story
which was Michael the Godfathers son. It shows how Michael became in
power and the death of the godfather, the first film is all about Michaels
life as he basically tells the story.
500 days of summer uses split screen too show different perspectives
throughout the film and uses it a lot for expectations vs reality- shows
what they expected and what actually happened, whereas the godfather
essentially film things from Michael perspectives- the use of camera
angles shows it about his and prom his perspective, this is effective as its
showing that the movie is moving on- development of timed by using
montage. The split screen used in the 500 days of summer is a more basic
way of showing split screen although it works effectively for the chosen
scene and is less complicated- people will most likely be able to recognise
a split screen like in 500 days of summer.

How does each method move the story forward?

Using the method of using one persons perspective helps to move the
story forward as in the godfather as different its all in Michaels opinion
therefore hes telling his story and its about how he became the
godfather all about his life therefore each event in his life leading up to
how he became the godfather is moving the story forward making the
story continuous. The film is stretched out from the year 1945-1955 all
about Michaels life. This is effective as it keeps the story going and
engages the audience- enabling them to keep on tact with whats
happening. Whereas in 500 days of summer uses multiple perspective to
tell the story which is always effective as its not in one opinion, its
different and may entertain due to changing the perspectives which may
be more interesting.

Parallel editing
The baptism scene from the godfather is an example of parallel editing.
Parallel editing is where you can alter between different scenes, for
example you could change to different scenes and keep on returning to
the original scene as a storys being told and the different scenes could be
a flashback.
The baptism scene in the godfather is showing two stories and is an
example of parallel editing as its starting with the original baptism scene
and the priest asks Michael if he renounces evil and Satan and through
this scene its showing flashbacks to murders which he has either
committed or been involved in which are acts of evil therefore he doesnt
renounce Satan or evil, and it keeps returning to the original scene making
it parallel as this technique is used. In the baptism scene, it keeps from the
baptism scene jumping back and forth from murder scene. Michael the godfather
son is becoming the godfather of a child at this baptism, so has to say he
renounces Satan. The parallel editing and sound effects which are church bells
make this scene effective as Michael is saying he renounces Satan every time
the church bells ring its showing a scene of which Michael is committing crimes
or acts of violence he may have been involved in and the murder scene at the
end. This helps create a juxtaposition.

At the start of the film when Tom, Sonny and Vito discuss doing business
with sollozzo shows parallel editing as its changing from this scene and
the wedding scene. Parallel editing is used in the first scene of the
Godfather during the scene where the godfathers daughter is getting
married in their family home and the other scene its playing as a parallel
effect is the godfather and his sons having meetings with people in their
family home whilst the wedding is going on, this shows that there are
different events taking place whilst the wedding is on- showing the
importance of the meeting as its their sisters and daughters wedding day
and they still have business to take care of.
Parallel editing is described as two different scenes that are playing
simultaneously. The relevant parties confront each other during the course of
the movie. It demonstrates the powerful impact of linear presentation within a
story line. Parallel editing gained prominence from Edwin &" Porter in the film
'The Great Train Robbery which became a big hit until modern day Hollywood.
This is used in the opening scene of The Godfather. Setting up the audience for
the story of business and family, of a business meeting and the wedding
happening outside. This was happening in time with each other and to show how
they coincide. The movie begins with a black screen with music playing, the title
of the movie is then slowly revealed on top of the black screen. Not too striking,
which fits with the slow calm opening. Whereas the other one is outside, bright
and a vibrant atmosphere, showing that they dont mix with each other. This is
effective as the editor is able to keep the scene interesting for the audience by
cross cutting to a different locations.

Montage
Montage is a film editing effect, in which a series of short shots are edited
into a sequence to condense space, time, and information. It helps the
audience develop more meaning from two sequential shots than from a
single shot on its own. Eisenstein introduced montage to cinema as well
as soviet directors as they used it for editing as well.
Montage originally focused on political promotion by using methods of
editing to be rhetorical to expand on the use of political propaganda to
have a rhetorical effect on the audience for political propaganda. Over time
montage altered and is more used to entertain.
The soviet montage theory is an approach to understanding and creating
cinema that depends on editing. Montage is a sequence of images where
the same one image will be linked with different images to extract
different ideas, emotions and feelings. Soviet montage is the editing of
shots instead of having a single shot. Montage influenced cinema
commercially, academically and politically.