Within this task, I will be analysing the restaurant scene from Francis Ford Coppola's 1972 film The Godfather. More specifically I will be taking a look at the editing choices made in this scene and how these edits further enhance the scene as well as how it affects the audience.
The above scene, starting at 2:46 until 8:06, is from Francis Ford Coppola's 1972 film The Godfather. As the scene starts there is a distinct lack of background music, instead, there is only ambient noise within and around the restaurant, this causes a sense of discomfort and unease, highlighting that both parties do not seem like they want to be having this conversation. Before the start of the proper conversation, Virgil Sollozzo (Al Lettieri) is conversing with the waiter, as he does so we cut between him and Michael Corleone (Al Pacino). While Sollozzo's frame stays the same when cutting back to him, every time we cut to Michael the camera gets closer to his face, creating a further sense of unease. When the two begin their proper conversation in Italian they both adjust themselves in a way where they each fill up large portions of the frame, creating a very tight frame giving an almost suffocating effect. Later on in the scene, Michael excuses himself and goes to the bathroom to grab a hidden gun that was stored there. As he tries to grab the gun we hear a lot of noise being made, subsequently we also cut back and forth between Michael struggling in the bathroom and Sollozzo looking in the direction of the bathroom wondering why he's making so much noise. This creates a sense of tension for the audience as we don't want Michael to get caught. After Michael comes back from the bathroom with the gun we notice he does not immediately shoot Sollozzo instead he sits there almost with a sense of hesitation, that is until the passing subway blocks out all other sounds, he disconnects himself from the outside world and finally, pulls the trigger. We cut back to a wide shot of the restaurant interior as we see Michael walk out, it's only when he drops the gun that music starts playing in the background, as if he's just realised the actions that he's taken.
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