“The Godfather” (movie) stands the test of time as a work of art because of the hard work that Coppola put into the details of translating the literary work into cinema. When you think about the director lugging this notebook with him everywhere on set and using it as the singular resource for coordinating actors, production crew, etc. you get a sense of how he was able to maintain an understanding of where “true north” was at all times.

Key takeaways:

1. Record impressions as you have them. You only read the book for the first time, once.
2. Go deeper. In this case, Coppola was pressure-testing the text against the cinematic context. Figuring out what worked, what would be challenging, what could be dropped.
3. Make your learning visual. Coppola was careful to preserve the underlying text by expanding the margins, using a ruler to point to passages, and then through utilization of symbols (such as asterisks) for emphasis.
4. Synthesize, synthesize, synthesize. After understanding the text in great detail, creating a library of things he thought could work, and chunking the book into scenes of his own devising, ONLY THEN did he start mapping the scenes and elements so that they would work on screen. His notes about pacing, character development, synopses, etc. come after a meticulous exculpation of the underlying work.

Followup: Found another, even more detailed look at this notebook.