The document provides analysis of parallel editing in the film The Godfather. It summarizes scenes from a baptism ceremony with warm lighting and religious music, contrasted with scenes of men preparing guns and vehicles in bare, cold settings as ominous music plays. These juxtaposed scenes portray the dichotomy of good versus evil and new life versus death. Michael's shifting eyes at the baptism imply his connection to the men's criminal activities happening elsewhere. The contrasting lighting - low at the baptism, bright for the crimes - shows the criminals do not fear consequences and suggests the baby enters a dark world through his new family ties.

1. The Godfather
Micro Essay.

2. The church is very grand and is full of warm,
autumn colours such as brown and yellow.
The whole atmosphere during this time in the
church is joyful as they are gathered together
for a joyous occasion, celebrating the new life
that has been brought into the family and the
world. It is an extremely religious moment and
everyone is surrounded by family love. The
church is fairly dark and the key lights shine
down mainly on the priest and the baby. This
could suggest that the two are the most purely
innocent and are important. The music
throughout this part in the church is quite slow
and high pitched. The music sounds very
religious by using an organ/piano to create
such an atmosphere.

3. As the scene cuts to another man, he is
seen assembling a gun. It looks as though
it is a routine for him as he seems used to it
and he also knows what he’s doing. The
room he is sitting in is extremely bare and
looks as though no one lives there. At this
moment, the music suddenly becomes
lower to signify that something bad and evil
is happening/about to happen.
It then cuts to another man walking to his
car, he is seen with a box and he wipes
down his car a little before getting in. The
outside, of what we can assume is his
house, has been well looked after and
gardened –it looks quite civilised. This
suggests that the appearance is important.

4. The camera then cuts back to another man
about to get shaved, also contributing to the
message of ‘appearance is everything’. The
non-diegetic music suddenly becomes
extremely low once again, suggesting that
this man is, along with the others, about to
be involved in something.
The Priest’s voice can always be heard
behind the music which is a constant
contrast between something good and pure
against a violent and evil act. As the
audience, we also see the contrast
between new life being brought into the
world and the family, against the brutal
taking of someone else’s. Michael’s eyes
are often seen moving around or looking
guilty, as if he’s got other things on his
mind, this makes the audience realise that
he has something to do with the men with
guns.

5. The whole sequence has parallel editing as it
shows two events happening at the same time
but in different places. This makes the audience
aware of everything that is going on and they
automatically contrast the two events against
each other. In this case some of the themes
would be good versus evil, life against death
etc.
The baptism has very low lighting and it creates
a warm atmosphere and the murders and brutal
acts of crime are committed in bright daylight.
This shows that they do not care about the
consequences they may have to face. The dark
lighting in the baptism clips could maybe
suggest that the baby has no choice but to enter
a dark world full of murder and betrayal. It could
also mean that the baby is now part of the
darkness that the family holds.