Method acting

If you have been following my blog or simply just reading for enjoyment, you can probably figure out that this week I will be writing about my favorite film called The Godfather. This week I will be going over different actors, Al Pacino, Marlon Brando, and Diane Keaton. Although all three are considered to use “Method acting”.   Bill Goodyknootz & Christopher P. Jacobs describe “Method acting” as “Method acting (often known as “the Method”) is perhaps the most famous type of act-ing, and the most often ridiculed and parodied. Based on the teachings of Konstantin Stanislavsky and popularized by Lee Strasberg, the Method requires that actors draw on their own memories and experiences to reach the heart of a character, so that they more genuinely feel the emotions they’re portraying instead of just pretending to (Goodykoontz & Jacobs, 2011). As you can see by their acting, they put everything they have into each shot giving their audience the best experience possible. They might transform themselves into their characters, but they do it flawlessly and gracefully.

            I would like to look at one actor more in detail, Al Pacino. Al Pacino is credited for 50 films on imdb.com. Every role he plays is flawless, plus he does not play the same types of roles, he is a well diverse actor. He played the Sicilian gangster Michael Corleone in The Godfather series, he also played Carlito in Carlito’s Way, a Puerto Rican gangster, even made people believe he was of Puerto Rican decent. Al Pacino is also a star that like me, many cannot wait to see his next film. Al Pacino received an AFI (American Film Institute) Life Time Achievement Award in 2007. I will post some clips of several movies Al Pacino has done so that you can see why he is an extraordinary actor.

The Godfather- “Don’t ever take sides against the family

http://movieclips.com/YT3yd-the-godfather-movie-dont-ever-take-sides-against-the-family/

Scarface- “Political Prisoner”

http://movieclips.com/gQSUp-scarface-movie-political-prisoner/

Scent of a woman- “Ferrari test drive”

http://movieclips.com/H5qB-scent-of-a-woman-movie-ferrari-test-drive/

 

References

AFI Life Achievement Award. (2014, January 1). Retrieved August 29, 2014, from http://www.afi.com/laa/

Goodykoontz, B., & Jacobs, C. P. (2011). Film: From watching to seeing. Bridgepoint Education, Inc

The Godfather – Don’t Ever Take Sides Against the Family. (n.d.). Movie Clips. Retrieved August 29, 2014.

Scarface – Political Prisoner. (n.d.). Movie Clips. Retrieved August 29, 2014.

Scent of a woman – Ferrari test drive. (n.d.). Movie Clips. Retrieved August 29, 2014.

 

The Godfather: Dialogue, Sound Effects, and Music.

When we watch a movie we mostly focus on what we see mostly leaving our audible sense as second sensors to what is going on in the film. As technology has changed throughout the years in the field of audio not only how we hear but as well as technology interprets audio, the use of audio in movies is a big aspect to enjoying your experience. Let’s split up what we hear in a movie into three different parts, dialogue, sound effects, and music. Directors and editors have a unique responsibility of incorporating all aspect to create an enjoyable and memorable experience for their audience.

Dialogue is the verbal communication between characters in the film. There are different ways of capturing dialogue for a film, it could be at the time of recording or during post production of the film. Editors must ensure they have clear dialogue in every part of the movie, so that the audience does not feel lost or cannot hear important information spoken by the characters. Bill Goodykoontz & Christopher P. Jacobs explain the use of dialogue in their text book Film: From watching to seeing, “In film, there are three basic reasons to use dialogue:

1. To further the development of the plot,
2. To enhance characterizations,
3. To establish very quickly important information the audience needs to know to understand the action (e.g., names, locations, dates, motivations, backstory)” (Goodykoontz & Jacobs, 2011).

Additionally to what is spoken in the film sound effect play an equally part in making an enjoyable and memorable experience for us all. Imagine watching an action film where the dialogue is clear but the sound effects are non-existent. You can see explosions, but cannot truly get captivated by the scene without hearing how violent and loud that explosion was to bring you into the film. Most of your sound effects are going to be incorporated into the film during the post-production editing. Since they cannot record every action or movement in full detail during filming, a group of individuals called Folley Artist create sound in a sound studio to recreate the missing audio or sound effects. Without sound effects you could not simply get lost and feel like you are actually part of the war in a war movie, or flying to space in a space shuttle.

Music can be used for many different reasons in a film, it can set the tone of the film, and it can fill a gap between dialogue and lack thereof. Ever wonder what bone chilling music playing in a horror film right before someone gets killed? That is called the score, a simple set of notes that create a suspenseful, hair standing, bone chilling sound intended to stay with the audience, but is not intended to be focus of the scene. Music in film have come a long way, with many artist further expanding their carriers by the use of film, music has evolved how we interpret a scene or even sets the tone for the events happening in the film. Too watch a montage without music can be boring since there is little to no dialogue, a perfect song to set the mood of the film in correlation to what the protagonist is feeling, is what bring the montage for example to life.

To accurately see how it all mixes together let’s look a few clips that will showcase the effectiveness of the use of dialogue, sound effects, and music. I have chosen to use Francis Ford Coppola’s gangster movie The Godfather. Dialogue is an important part especially in The Godfather since communication is key into knowing what is going on and why characters are acting the way they are. In this scene you will see why Don Vito Corleone (Godfather) rejects Sollozzo’s offer in rendering use to the Corleone’s connections. Sound effects you will see the clip of The Godfather were Michael Corleone is in Sicily and his wife Apollonia is killed by a car bomb meant to kill Michael. The effect enhances the explosion and gives the audience a feeling how forceful the explosion was hence throwing Michael a few feet away from the explosion. Music in The Godfather was memorable, as soon as you hear the first note you can automatically relate the song to The Godfather. This song is played throughout the movie, but one scene that I enjoyed the most was when Don Vito Corleone is talking to Michael in the garden explaining to Michael that he did not want this life for him. The music plays and sets really does set mood for the conversation taking place, enhances the emotion behind the message.

Dialogue:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yut9qPyT9jE

Sound Effect:

http://movieclips.com/V3NTu-the-godfather-movie-michael-loses-appolonia/

Music:

http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi3279030041?ref_=ttvi_vi_3

 

References

Goodykoontz, B., & Jacobs, C. P. (2011). Film: From watching to seeing. Bridgepoint Education, Inc.

The Godfather Clip. (n.d.). Retrieved August 20, 2014, from http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi3279030041?ref_=ttvi_vi_3

The Godfather – Michael Loses Appolonia. (n.d.). Retrieved August 20, 2014, from http://movieclips.com/V3NTu-the-godfather-movie-michael-loses-appolonia/

The Godfather – Sollozzo Known As The Turk 4/10 (HD). (2013, March 18). Retrieved August 20, 2014, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yut9qPyT9jE

The Godfather

This week I will going over the choice of lighting used in The Godfather more specific the part of when Apollonia Vitelli, Michael’s Corleones wife in Sicily. As you watch the clip pay attention to how they use a high-key lighting to set the tone for love. The high-key lighting makes the audience believe that Michael is safe and settled down with his wife. The use of camera angles focusing on Fabrizio, Michael’s body guard that set the bomb to kill Micheal, and they go to a close-up shot focusing on how he was scared to stay and get hurt himself. Look at the picture below. By using high-key lighting gives the audience a sense of false hope. This lighting when used in the “Gangster genre” is really used to promote the happiness of the main characters making the audience want to relate and root for that character regardless of if their style of life is crime. Probably one of the only genres that can effectively pull this off consistently. Watch the provided link to Movie Clips clip of the killing of Apollonia from YouTube.com.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWAJPB_5rSs

References

The Godfather (5/9) Movie CLIP – Michael Loses Appolonia (1972) HD. (2011, November 22). Retrieved August 15, 2014, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWAJPB_5rSs