Shot-By-Shot Analysis and Paper on The Godfather
Conduct a close reading of a specific scene or sequence from a film you feel is significant to the film as a whole. You will need to provide an accurate shot-by-shot breakdown of the passage you wish to analyze (detailing salient components in each shot, and how those shots are articulated through montage).
After this shot-by-shot analysis, using the breakdown of the sequence and your careful viewing of the film in its entirety, you will then need to provide a thoughtful assessment of how the two relate to and shape each other.
You will want to be cognizant of the following concerns:
FORM: what specific techniques are being utilized, and how do those concrete elements of film construction relate to narrative, theme, etc.
ATTRIBUTION: cinema is above all a collaborative medium; it is important that you know who is responsible for what part of the production process, and that you correctly identify whom has done what for the sequence.
INTRATEXTUALITY: How does this scene or sequence relate to the film as a whole? How does it develop the narrative or the themes of the film?
EXTRATEXTUALITY: films aren’t made just by individuals and organizations, but by the mechanisms of genre, history, politics and economics. Some consideration of the things beyond the borders of the frame that might be influencing the making of or reception of the film you are discussing might be useful to you.