EPTMise en scene, also known as what's on stage, is a way that movies paint a picture to display meaning. Cinematography is equivalent to the perspective of a painting while the actual objects within the painting is the mise en scene (or more specifically the objects and the lighting). To better understand any movie the audience has to visualize certain pauses within movies and analyze the things within the movie as well. In The Godfather the objects can be instrumental (or taken for face value) but sometimes there are objects repeated or used to have a certain effect thus creating a metaphor.
At the beginning of the movie we see the darkness. "I believe in America" is the first sentence spoken in the movie. We then are drawn to Don Vito's first client. The light is soft and warm and yet everything behind him is darkness. The lighting is to draw us as an audience to this man and to have an empathetic relationship with him. If the director instead just showed him in a medium or even long shot, the effect would be different (see how cinematography illuminates mise en scene [yes that pun was intended]=). The audience wouldn't feel the draw, the pull towards the first client.
Within that first scene we pull back and see the office. We see that it's "all business." The line between business and family is a very important theme within the movie and translates through this room. The place is dark connoting a sense of shadiness to the room (you should assume by now that all these puns are intended). The detail to the office is not insignificant either. There's the large desk planted near the window of the room (which some say promote a sense of power, I just say it's for an ego boost but it's to the same effect). There's even a part where children run through the office. Light shines upon them. Then they're rushed right out. There is more of a symbolism there because they would have taken that out of the movie (since it doesn't contribute to the storyline) if it wasn't metaphorical.
Setting is integral to mise en scene and there are multiple examples of this that contrast one another. The classiness of the office where the Corleone family meets vastly contrasts the place where Sollozo is meeting with Tom (a more dingy part of town where the paint is falling off and the place looks like a mess). Everything seems to be more than precise when it comes to what is on the scene and how does everything contribute.
If there wasn't a need for preciseness then there would be no need for the costume designer so let's give Anna Hill Johnstone and Francis Ford Coppola (the director) some props(now I must say that was by far the worst pun). The rose on Don Vito Corleone was a metaphorical object used to foreshadow his death. That one I am certain of because they all used the same roses during his funeral to pile onto his grave. The color crimson is a symbol that's been used since the beginning of time to represent death. Even though I can say with certainty that the rose was symbolic I can't say the same for all the flowers worn during the wedding. Sonny and Fredo were both wearing white roses in their tuxedos and they had nothing to do with each other.
The other part of the costume design during the beginning of the movie that sort of betrays itself symbolically is the war uniform that Michael wears at the beginning. The costume establishes that he is a war hero but it also establishes how different he was at the beginning of the movie to the rest of his family. His wife even has a dress on that no one else wore. They were simply different and the things they wore told that tale. The thing that strikes me most is that Kay was wearing a red dress throughout the whole movie until she converts to being Michael's wife. It seems to tell a tale of how different she is to the family throughout the movie and then when Michael takes over both her life and the family business she changes into a more formal dress showing her own transformation.
Placement is another part of mise en scene and it's a subtle part of mise en scene that goes thoroughly unnoticed. During the meeting with Vito and Sollozo, we see that Tom is on one side while Vito is on the other. The point of this is to show that Tom has a more all-business no-heart sort of attitude while Vito has a more tenderhearted and more compassionate take on trying to kill people and beat up others. The fact that they are not side by side is not a coincidence at all and the fact that they are on opposite sides during the conversation conveys they are on opposite sides of the spectrum.
Body movement is also a subtle part of mise en scene. When discussing Sollozo and how his business is "dirty" we see Vito brushing off the seat that Sollozo touched, almost as if Sollozo is dirty himself. Another part where body movement or graphic blocking takes place is when Michael proposes to kill Sollozo and McClusky. He stands between Tom who is bent on selling the narcotics and joining with Sollozo and Sonny who must protect the honor of his father's reputation and business. He stands in between them figuratively and literally.
Mise en scene paints a picture. The picture of how business and family always gets muddled is shown throughout the movie and with the help of the costumes, the people, and the lighting, there is a grand picture, one that shows a message; a moving picture
