Blog 4: GoodFellas

For this assignment, I decided to analyze how a scene from Martin Scorcese’s GoodFellas was constructed. In the scene, Ray Liotta’s character wants to impress his date, and takes her to a fancy establishment where he is treated like royalty. The entire shot is a long steadycam shot following Ray’s character and his date as they make their way towards a popular even at the Copa Cabana. The camera follows them through the service entrance, running through the kitchen and eventually the front row where the owner greets Ray and sets up a front row seat just for the two of them. The lighting is varied throughout the shot. The outside night scene leads them through the dark service entrance but once they’re in the kitchen, that place is well lit, which allows us to see all of the commotion happening at the kitchen. Once they pass the kitchen, they are at the show and the lights are darkened again, presumably to prepare for the night’s entertainment. One could say the dark shots were done on purpose because Ray’s character only gives money in the dark parts of the scene, but not in the bright lights of the kitchen, maybe adding a symbolic meaning to two sides of Ray. The entire scene is one long steadycam shot which shows Ray’s travel from relatively unknown outside of the restaurant, to superstar once inside this establishment. The sounds in the scene vary, from the music playing in the background which gives the viewer an idea of what time period this is, to the busy chattering of the people in the place.