The Godfather Notebook: Pages Of A Master
What does a masterpiece look like?
In its humble beginnings. Before the gloss and polish? Before the Rave reviews, and golden statues.
Perhaps something like this:
The photo above comes from Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather Notebook. This “notebook” is actually a 700+ page breakdown of Mario Puzo’s Novel.
Before shooting a single take, Coppola picked apart every page of the source material: mining it for themes, setting, and images to use in the film.
The books is not only a treat for Godfather fans, but a reminder of the raw work that kicks off the creative process.
Great art feel natural, almost effortless: every piece placed impeccably in the correct order. This is both the ruse, and magic of art. When its good it transports us, we forget what we are seeing was meticulously planned.
Coppola’s notebook shows the scrawling foundation that led to one of the greatest movies ever made. May your scribbles someday, too, shine on the silver screen.