In the year 1990 Warner Bros released a motion picture titled Goodfellas. Directed by Martin Scorsese, the narratives main strand dealt with the issue of a misguided youth enjoying his rites of passage from within the inner sanctum of the Italian gangland of the early sixties New York. The narrative continues in a narrated biographical form, following the protagonist through highs and lows before eventually reaching a cocaine induced downfall at the climax of the 1970’s.
The scenes that I have chosen to discus within the context of my essay will provide the reader with an insight into the un-orthodox lifestyles enjoyed by our protagonist and his comrades.
The opening scene I have chosen portrays the protagonist Henry Hill (Ray Liotta) and Tommy Devito (Joe Pesci) performing grand theft auto at an airport. From here the narrative flows into the next scene. In this scene Henry acquaints us with his underworld clique from within the location of a restaurant.
The opening of the airport scene presents the viewer with an E/S of the airport and a non-diegetic text informing the audience of the scenes setting (Idlewild).
We then cut to a C/U of a man’s smart footwear. The camera performs an upward tilt from the shoes to reveal Henry before tracking back to show Tommy and their current surroundings. They are leant against a car in the car park of a fifties/sixties style diner. This confirms the anchorage date line of 1963 shown at the beginning of the film. The black suits are intertextually reminiscent of classic film noir and also give off notions of confidence, authority, class and menace. In the aforementioned upward tilt, Henrys significance is also reinforced. The camera then pans around to reveal the truck and follows the driver as he gets out and walks towards the diner. We see this through the eyes of Henry.
The Term Paper on The Last Leaf by O. Henry
In a little district west of Washington Square the streets have run crazy and broken themselves into small strips called “places.” These “places” make strange angles and curves. One street crosses itself a time or two. An artist once discovered a valuable possibility in this street. Suppose a collector with a bill for paints, paper, and canvas should, in traversing this route, suddenly meet ...
This gives the audience a feel of voyeurism and puts the truck driver at risk. When he reaches the place at which Tommy and Henry are standing the camera changes direction, tailing them as they approach the truck. This shot provides the end of the take and the camera cuts to the driver sat in the diner. The diner’s set has been designed in the style of a classic sixties diner (Happy Days) this reinforces peoples stereotypes and puts them at ease by providing them with what they expect. The camera tails the driver as he steps into the car park only to realise his truck has been stolen. The camera then follows him as he runs into the diner to use the telephone. Daytime provides the backdrop for this scene. This is a subtle way of demonstrating just how powerful these underworld figures are: they have the power required to perform grand theft auto in broad daylight, right underneath the driver’s nose.
Scorsese’s use of contrapuntal sound is displayed in this scene. The truck driver’s obvious anger and state is not matched by the music, which is soulful and upbeat. The music seems confrontational to the driver’s mood. The point of this is that the confrontation is there intentionally as we are seeing the theft from the point of view of the gangsters, therefore it is being portrayed as a victory, consequently, the music needed to match this happiness. Through the use of contrapuntal sound Scorsese is playing around the stereotype ideals regarding good and bad. Perhaps there is a little Robin Hood meaning here?
The transition between the former and the following scenes is provided by a sound bridge: the final shot of the last scene in the diner is the view out of the window of a building with cars driving past. The music paying at this time in the narrative carries straight through the cut to the opening of the next scene, an E/S of the restaurant. The music doesn’t change even though location, time, and sky colour do. Post E/S the camera cuts to the inside of the restaurant. The restaurant is busy and everyone is wearing smart, formal, almost business-like clothing. The use of red lighting filters give off many signifiers pointing to various dangerous things such as passion, love and blood. Through the use of colour Scorsese introduces the dangling cause, as all three of the connotations I have mentioned above appear somewhere within Goodfellas narrative. A long take is used in this scene as the camera tracks through the restaurant as the characters are introduced. Non-diegetic sound is used when we hear a voiceover of Henry telling us a little about each character as the camera is focusing on them.
The Essay on music today
Television, system of sending and receiving pictures and sound by means of electronic signals transmitted through wires and optical fibers or by Electromagnetic radiation. These signals are usually broadcast from a central source, a television station, to reception devices such as television sets in homes or relay stations such as those used by cable television service providers. Television is ...
This juxtaposition of picture/narration gives the audience a feel of familiarity in relation to our characters, almost as if Henry is chatting to us as friends. The characters all look into the camera and speak back as if the camera is Henry. As I mention above, this style of editing put the audience into the role of Henry and gives them a deeper sense of involvement in the narrative. The camera carries on panning around the restaurant before following a man into the kitchen. At this point Henry comes into shot from behind the camera. Henry is involved with a rack of illegitimate fur coats: we assume they aren’t legitimate due to the common sense fact that there is no legitimate reason one can think of to explain away a rack of fur coats being stored in a restaurant kitchen. The camera follows Henry through the kitchen as he talks to another man about the coats, again, this man is dressed smartly in a suit. The following cut presents us with a high angle shot of the restaurant table. The camera tracks up the table until focusing on Henry. The camera stays focused on henry, however, the audience can hear the character sat next to Henry talking.
The fact that the camera stays trained on henry again shows his significance to the main strands of the narrative. Scorsese then presents us with an eye-line match. This is portrayed through Henry looking over to signal a friend, Jimmy Conway (Robert DeNiro) to come over to the table. As he begins walking over the camera zooms in on him, over this non-digetic music starts to play. The music however, begins to blend into that of the music already playing in the restaurant, consequently, the sound now becomes diegetic. By blending these together we come up with a hybrid which blurs the borders between the film world and the real world. This weakens the distinction of where reality lies within this particular narrative. This shows, again in Scorsese’s understated, subtle style, that the film is based on true events, providing reference points scattered along history. Now together, the trio form a huddle and discuss a seemingly important but nameless topic. They are now the only people in shot, the background is out of focus. This connotes certain haziness, perhaps a visual metaphor for the secrecy of their conversation? The points of view of each character and the quick fire style of conversation are reinforced through a series of shot-reverse-shots.
The Essay on Representation Of The Character Film Audience Characters
For my practical project I will aim to produce a short film following the codes and conventions of the crime genre, the film will be around 5-10 minutes long. The audience I will aim my film at will be males in the 15-30 year old age bracket, I have chosen this age range because I feel as the producer of the film I am aware what elements of a film, the audience will enjoy and how to target ...
The mise-en-scene of the restaurant scene exudes, as Scorsese always does, timeless cool and an intuitive understanding of the genre within which he is operating: low lighting, smoky film noir atmosphere, lounge music, sharp suits, shady characters and lairy jewellery are all prominent here. This however could be seen (in some people’s eyes) as lazy and stereotypical, giving the audience exactly what they expect and playing it safe rather than pushing boundaries. The music throughout seems to be dominated by a distinctly Italian theme, this gives the audience and idea of the characters roots while at the same time following the pattern for the kind of music that would be played in these places.
Goodfellas as a narrative is, in places, restricted. Throughout there is not one point were we are allowed to no any more than the characters. This follows SC (characters know more) school then we would have been presented with a very different outcome. As an audience we would have been let into things other characters didn’t even know about. For example, if we had known about any one of the murder scenes prior to them occurring then we, as an audience, would have been full of suspense and tension regarding the characters getting up to speed and finding out things we already knew. Also the loss of a narrator would have changed things immensely, If Henry were just a character we would have had no ideas or pre-conceptions regarding his fate. The sheer fact that he was the narrator already sealed his importance and therefore safety within the narrative.
The Term Paper on Othellos Character Shakespeare Audience Macbeth
Shakespeares tragedies were extremely popular in Elizabethan times and today. A tragedy is described as a sad, serious story or play, usually ending with the death of the hero. A disastrous, fatal or dreadful event. By comparing the three plays, Macbeth, Hamlet and Othello it is possible to see how he has used techniques appropriate to tragedy and how he applied them to his plays. The opening of ...
As for the shooting, there are many alternative ways in which these scenes could have been tackled. For example, Scorsese’s use of long takes: the use of shorter takes could have been used with fades and dissolves rather than cuts. Shorter takes would have quickened the pace, giving the piece more energy and an altogether more rough and ready aesthetic. As the camera moves around the restaurant Henry could have actually been placed in the scene and shot moving the restaurant. A documentary feel is given to the scene through the character’s piece to cam style delivery and the lack of the narrator screen presence. Henrys voice over could be removed here, this would rid the audience of Henrys biased views and allow them to make their own judgements on what was before them based on what they had just seen.
To conclude, my stylistic and narrative changes are coherent and viable but there would always be a risk of filling the mise en scene with “directorial masturbation”. Through the use of advanced techniques and tricks you gain technological praise but at what price? Too many distractions can take the focus from the narrative and therefore remove or alienate the audience from the intended aims of the original storyline.
