There are three basic categories of sound, they are dialogue, sound effects, and music. Each three categories are different.
Dialogue is when you have two or more characters in a movie talking to each other.
Sound effects are sounds in movies that are used to accelerate action. Recording natural sounds in a usable way is considered a sound effect. Murmur of crowds in the background natural sounds, mechanical noises, and door creaks are also used as sound effects.
Music in movies is broken up into two categories, score and soundtrack.
Musical score in a movie is the music that plays in the background of a scene while action takes place.
Soundtrack is the band of optical, magnetic, or digital data containing the sound of the film.
The movie The Godfather covers all three categories of sounds. The whole movie is full of dialogue, the movie is about rival mobster families that work together to make deals, or they try to talk out their differences. The beginning of the movie starts out with Don Vito Corleone having dialogue with a few people who were asking for favors.
There are also numerous scenes throughout the whole movie that are solely full of dialogue, like when Michael is sitting down with Moe Greene, trying to buy him out of his casinos.
The movie The Godfather is also full of various sound effects, the sound of physical fighting is full of sound effects, doors creaking, gun shots, the hum of people talking during Connie’s wedding, bird chirping while Don Vito is playing with his grandson in his garden.
In this scene, Connie gets a call from her husband’s mistress, she throws a tantrum and starts breaking dishes and her husband, Carlo, starts to beat on her with a belt. Obviously the sound from him beating her with a belt is a sound effect.
The musical score is incredible in this movie. In the scene where Michael murders Sollozzo, the scene is quiet, except for some background noise, like a train, and common noises in a diner, up until he murders him and then the music starts playing. Letting you feel the intensity of the scene.
The soundtrack of the movie The Godfather is full of intense music. The music really lets you feel the scenes that you are watching. In the scene where Michael is in Sicily and finally gets to meet Appollonia for the first time the song that is playing is “Le Parrain”. This song gives a very romantic feel to the scene, letting you feel Michael’s interest in Apollonia. http://youtu.be/JCOaI06zAvg
While Michael is becoming his nephew’s Godfather, the song that is playing is called “The Baptism” by Nino Rota. The music is just instrumental but it conveys the feeling of anxiety, tragedy, and suspense, and at the time the baptism is going on there are also numerous hits going on.
This movie utilized dialogue and sound effects mostly. The use of dialogue and sound effects made the movie feel realistic and it also easily lets you know that the movie is of the gangster genre. I think that this movie uses very realistic sound effects, and because of this you are able to feel as if the movie is real. Removing any of the elements of sound in this movie would pretty much kill the movie. Without the dialogue in the movie, the viewers would have no idea what was going on. Without the sound effects, the movie would lose all of the intense action feelings. Without the music the movie would be boring and wouldn’t feel as intense as it does, and would even lose its realistic feel.
Sources:
Bill Goodykoontz, C. J. (2011). Film:From Watching to Seeing. San Diego: Bridgepoint Education.
Coppola, F. F. (Director). (1972). The Godfather [Motion Picture].
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