Within my oral film commentary on Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather (1972), I believe I used a reasonable amount and accurate film language to analyze the elements of the 5 minute extract I chose. However, at times I did confuse some of the terms when explaining certain aspects that are significant to the scene, such as diegetic vs. non-diegetic sound in terms of musical score. I did, to the best of my ability try to utilize specific terms relating to the three film styles of realism, formalism and classicism. I related each concept to how they all come together to form one bigger, thematic meaning in terms of how it correlates to the film as a whole. I additionally, discussed the importance of how the film's reinvention of the conventions in the gangster genre affects the socio-cultural and Italian American aspect of the films historical context. In terms of the cinematography, I talked about how the influences of the sense of noir-esque in the extract. Although lighting does play a significant role in the noir aspect, however within my commentary, I did not discuss how it is an important element that compliments it, which probably brought down my score in this certain criteria. When it came to giving my rationale as to why I chose this specific extract, I stated that it was a very pivotal moment within the film due to how it consists of a clear transformation for Micheal's character while bringing out a more apparent, larger theme which is loss of innocence due to how this is Micheal's major murder. I could have went more in depth on why I chose this by relating it to the significant elements that are incorporated within the extract such as musical score and lighting. Although I think I did spend an appropriate amount of time discussing the influences that impacted the reinvention of the gangster genre I could have gone further in depth in explaining the socio-cultural aspects that influenced the films in relation to the time period. This could have improved my chances go me getting a better score. I additionally could have been stronger in the area of my delivery and in the way I articulated my analysis of the chosen extract.
