The Godfather (1972) in Shadow Art

This year, in Dr. Peter Tong’s AP Precalculus class at Concordia International School Shanghai, we were given the opportunity to produce a transformational artwork that merged the concepts of mathematics and imagination.

Inspired by Japanese artist Kuronushi, who specializes in creating detailed shadow art on Instagram, I decided to embark on a journey of constructing my own diorama out of cardboard cutouts. Like Kuronushi’s creations, my work would use three-dimensional layering of glued cardboard to construct images that alter when viewed from different perspectives and cast against a wall with light.

For my selection of media, I chose The Godfather (1972) by Francis Ford Coppola starring Marlon Brando and Al Pacino, an iconic film with many recognizable scenes. In the end, I went with two images, one of the beginning shot of Vito Corleone in a suit on his daughter’s wedding day, and another of Clemenza’s memorable “leave the gun, take the cannoli” at Paulie’s death.

Figure 1: Vito Corleone

Figure 2: “Leave the gun, take the cannoli.”

I found some photos of these scenes on Google and adjusted their saturations so that they were black and white and easier to categorize into parts of either empty space (a.k.a. shadow) or cardboard since shadow art did not require color. I then fine-tuned some minor aspects so that the images could be transformed into cutouts that were relatively simplistic (removing excessive details such as tiny hair strands or unnecessary wrinkles) without losing distinctive features.

Figure 3: Edited photos.

First, I cut out the borders of the Vito Corleone portrait, including the outline of his face and suit jacket. I used a knife to cut out the shape of a rose on his right shoulder and glued the jacket portion to the cardboard base in a staggered position to create more room for utilizing dimensions to depict the car scene when turned. I put the face shadows away for later.

Figure 4: Rose cutout.

Next, I sketched and cut out the car in Paulie’s death scene, and halved it down the spilt of the window pane so one of each side could be attached to the flat plane of Vito Corleone’s jacket. I fashioned the disjointed hand with the gun and the top half of Paulie’s figure and glued these both in staggered position onto the further jacket piece and nearer jacket piece, respectively.

Figure 5: Car doors (left and right).

Figure 6: Staggered spacing.

The scene’s reeds were made from thin plywood sticks that I had found, broken up, and carved into distinctive peeling textures. I used little scraps of leftover cardboard to create a minuscule Statue of Liberty. This was propped onto a cutout hill furthest away from the light source, as to depict a greater distance in the scene.

Figure 7: Statue of Liberty.

Lastly, I attached Vito Corleone’s free-hanging right eye and ear onto his face frame and balanced it upright with glue and more plywood sticks.

Figure 8: Cutout (draft).

Here is the finished product!

Figure 9: Cutout (finished product).