Goodfellas Mise En Scene Analysis

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Mise En Scene: Goodfellas I have chosen to use “Goodfellas” as my movie of choice. I believe this movie was a great decision for this paper based on Martin Scorseses intelligent and unique use of staging, lighting, props, characters, voice-overs (unlike most due to the fact that this movie contains two occasional narrators), freeze-frames and many other important elements of cinematography that ultimately contribute to this movie’s incredible use of mise en scene. Henry Hill was an Italian from New York. He got involved with the mob since he was young and proceeded to become a very established gang member. After a crazy and emotionally-hectic (due to stress with his wife, stresses of the mob/police, and drug use) he eventually betrayed all…show more content…
As Henry, Jimmy, and Tommy sit at Tommy’s mothers dinner table with the dead body in the trunk, Henry appears to be very anxious, and Tommy’s mother inquires him about it. This uncertainty and fear can also be remembered in the very first scene in the movie when he is the only one who appears alert and ready as his two “co-workers” drift off in the passengers with a dieing man in the trunk. I also believe this is why the movie begins with this scene and is then shown again at the end of the flashback. It is another very important scene, in addition to the scene near the beginning with Henry and Karen entering through the secret entrance. Many other examples can be observed in short, such as the first person view of a pistol looking down your face from Henry Hill’s wife after she discovers he is cheating, when Henry is strung out on drugs the day of his arrest and we get a first person view of a helicopter above, and the focus on Henry Hills cross necklace as he picks up Karen for their first date. The scene with the cross is especially enjoyable and ironic to me because of all the “sinful” acts that Henry commits on a daily basis, and the fact that Karen’s parents are a different religion and do not respect
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