It seems that in ever scene where there is some sort of violence, the film goes into an orange tint. It is a very subtle motif that is hard to notice without re-watching some scenes over again.
A subtle orange tint seems to appear whenever there is a death scene or a scene of violence in the Godfather. The part with Michael is sitting at the table right after he got the gun. Before he shot Sollotzo in the face and the crooked police chief in the neck and then in the face the screen had taken on a orange tint. In the Godfather, orange seems to represent death. Again in the scene with the attempted assassination of Vito Corleone, right when the guys were coming down the street and drew their guns, the orange tint came on screen.
In another scene, the one where Sonny gets gunned down by seven people with machine guys, he had just payed the fare at the cause way. The fare man just closed the door on Sonny and then the orange tint came on as all of the guys came out and started shooting.
It is obvious through the examples above and other death scenes in the movie that the orange motif is used to simulate death in the Godfather. I would also speculate that it is used in the other movies of the Godfather.
