Citizen Kane (1941) brought about change to the way Hollywood made movies. It is likely the most famous and highly-rated film due to the extraordinary innovative cinematic techniques used throughout this black and white film by its star, director, and producer, Orson Welles. This paper will discuss some of these techniques and provide a few examples from this remarkable movie. Orson Welles, in his film Citizen Kane (1941) challenged the traditional narrative and technical elements of classic Hollywood through innovation with techniques such as deep-focus, moving through objects, wiping, low angle shots, inventive use of light and shadow, and storytelling.
Deep Focus Deep-focus is one of the most significant advances in cinematography.
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In Citizen Kane the camera takes us from a picture of Susan Alexander up the side of the building to the roof. On the roof we see the nightclub sign, El Rancho and the camera takes us directly through the sign to a skylight looking down into the nightclub at a forlorn Susan Alexander. Once again the camera takes us thru the skylight into the nightclub (Fraley, …show more content…
They are useful in wiping from full-scale sets to miniature sets. An excellent example is during Susan Alexander’s opera debut. As she starts to sing, the camera moves up to a catwalk above the stage, and one stagehand turns to another and reviews her performance by holding his nose. Only the stage and the stagehands on the catwalk are real. The middle portion of this shot is a miniature built in a model workshop. The model is invisibly wiped in by the stage curtains, as we move up past them, and wiped out by a wooden beam right below the catwalk (Ebert, 2004)
Low-Angle Shots Low angle shots made the characters appear larger and Welles used them frequently to indicate the mammoth personality of Charles. In order to do so, Welles cut holes in the floor of the studio allowing for the lowest angle shots possible, which now revealed lights and microphones up above. In order to conceal these items, he used muslin as ceilings (another innovation of Welles) to hide the equipment (Brady, n.d.). The use of low-angle shots and ceilings is especially evident in the sense with Welles and Joseph Cotton after Kane lost the election.
Light and
Citizen Kane begins the movie with an interesting opening of a man dying while saying his last words. This began the mystery of who was this man and what did he mean by his last words “rosebud”. In the next scene it jumps to a news article
One of the most famous scenes in film is the beginning where Charles Foster Kane dies after saying rosebud. What makes this scene so great was the camera angle. The snow globe that Kane drops after his death created an angle never before seen. This angle allowed for the intensity of the scene to increase as it emphasizes the nurse running in the room and the broken globe to show Kane’s world as comes crashing down on him. Another interesting camera angle is when Kane is being taken away from his mother where both her and Kane are visible and in full focus. Along with this angle it also has a smooth transition from the angle of the mother and sliding through the window to allow for the new scene. These
The lighting there is much darker than outside without any light. There is a medium shot from low angle facing the cellar door. Then, Lila opens the door and slowly walks down the stairs and proceeds to another basement room. The scene of walking steps from the door down into the room generates a mysterious mood and it symbolizes that Lila is going deeper into the hidden secrets. The shot then edited to another brighter room with lights on and a worn out setting continues with Lila opens the door producing a creaking noise. Then, it shows a medium shot of a back of a woman sitting on a chair with her hair-tied in a bun. Lila then walks closer to the woman and call Mrs. Bates. When she is walking, the camera is constantly stay and Lila is getting closer and the focus point changes from the hanging light bulb to her face. Her facial expression shows that she is curious about the appearance of Mrs. Bates in the cellar. She taps on the right shoulder of the woman and the body of the woman slowly jiggles back and turns over. There is still medium shot when she taps on her shoulder and audience can see the shadow of the woman reflected on the wall behind. Then, the shot is cut to a close-up shot with the skeletal of the woman’s corpse with empty eye
The film was made in 1941 and won best screenplay at the Oscars and was also nominated for best picture, best director, best actor and best cinematography. It was directed by Orsen Welles and its main actors were Joseph Cotten , Dorothy Comingore and Agnes Moorehead. The film has aged incredibly in the last 75 years from its release and has defined film in how good it really was. Citizen Kane changed the way movies are made because it became the starting point for many filmmakers first learning about how films are made and how a director can give a film a particular style. The editing (by Robert Wise) was as innovative as the cinematography by Gregg Toland - add these two talents to the talent of director Orson Welles not knowing how to direct properly and you have stylistic flourishes and a film that still impresses today. It didn't immediately change how movies were made citizen Kane was actually a somewhat forgotten film for several years until it was rediscovered in the late 50s - but it was definitely ground-breaking and many of the techniques used were copied and used by later directors.
He created the Mercury theatre, which was a success back then, but ended it due to financial problems and settled down on filmmaking. After these many activities, he filmed the famous Citizen Kane in 1939 but released in 1941. Then the movie’s audience rated it as one of best films ever made.
Citizen Kane is filled with symbolic imagery. In most of the movie you can pick out scenery, character actions, lighting, camera movement, and the composition within the frame of key shots that help tell the story without the character orally telling the full story. However, because of its new and experimental use of mise-en-scene, the movie did not do well in the box office. In time Orson Welles movie would become one of the best movies of all time and would even come to change filmmaking in
Orson Welles’ 1941 classic film Citizen Kane tells the story of Charles Forster Kane. The turning point of the film is when Jim Gettys attempts to blackmail Kane. The scene demonstrates Kane’s fall from grace through pride. His reactions to the other characters in this scene (Mrs. Kane, Susan Alexander, and Mr. Gettys), the angles that are shown in his perspective, and the lighting of the scene helps to demonstrate this point. It is after the blackmail scene that, in desperation, Kane tries to regain his credibly with the public and
When discussing the greatest films of all time, Citizen Kane, directed by Orson Welles, usually comes up. It’s influence in American cinema can still be felt today, but at the time the film was not released without controversy. The main character in the movie, Charles Foster Kane, is undeniably based of the real life figure of William Randolph Hearst, a famous American newspaper publisher. Hearst was very aware of this fact and tried to hinder the success of Welles’ picture by denying it any sort of press in his newspapers. Despite the smear campaign Kane’s influence lives on through Welles’ revolutionary filmic techniques and its presence in pop culture.
Citizen Kane is one of the world's most famous and highly-rated classic film masterpiece. Although it was not a commercial success at the time of its release it has always been praised by film critics. The film had a budget of $800,000 and was directed, produced, as well as acted by the twenty five year old Orson Wells. Wells used innovative and unique cinematic techniques in Citizen Kane that would influence the film making for all eternity.
For citizen Kane, the most important assets of his life are not the political ambitions, successful newspaper business, nor his relationships with the significant others. Judging by his last word, “Rosebud,” the most important piece of his life is memory from his childhood. Although his life is changed for what appears to be better, from a materialistic viewpoint, it actually leaves him vulnerable and alone. Kane’s life is ultimately destructed by his lust to fulfill the American dream of fame, power and wealth. The inevitable struggle of Kane is reflective of the struggle of many must confront in this materialistic world, as one on his or her quest to find the true meaning of
In Citizen Kane, Welles is attempting to expose the great influential political and social power that someone has as the head of many newspaper chains. This narrative drama explains the life of Kane and how different people viewed it. From the way the way the characters were telling the story to the way shadows, lighting and the laco of color was used, this film fits into the drama genre. Being the “greatest film of all time”, Citizen Kane brings the the world of newspaper tycoons to
One thing I noticed throughout the film was the use of reflections. The movie starts off with a montage of images of Xanadu, Charles Kane’s personal estate. One of the shots includes a beautiful reflection of the building in the water. When Kane dies and drops the snow globe, you see the nurse’s reflection in the glass as she walks into the room. After Kane convinces the men from the Chronicle to come work for him at the Inquirer, he throws a party; we can see him dancing in a reflection of a window. When Kane is in Xanadu, he walks through
One such flashback begins at Thatcher’s building where the reporter Thompson enters an exaggeratedly large room and begins to read about Kane. This is one of the scenes in which cinematographer Greg Toland’s deep focus technique of filming and use of unique lighting, in which the only light source hits
Citizen Kane is a movie that can be rewritten and implemented into any film created today. In many ways, the storyline tells us more about ourselves than anything else and it relates to each one of us who has ever wished for a better life. From his flamboyant adventures to the blah blah to his political agenda in his later years. Every film that came after Citizen Kane owes a great deal to Orson Welles because of the way he used special effects, music, and shadows and lighting, which without a doubt makes it one of the finest movies ever made. Some even call it the Mona Lisa of its time because Orson Welles was the first to implement all of these techniques, which revolutionize cinema forever.
The absolutely stunning film, Citizen Kane (1941), is one of the world’s most famous and highly renowned films. The film contains many remarkable scenes and cinematic techniques as well as innovations. Within this well-known film, Orson Welles (director) portrays many stylistic features and fundamentals of cinematography. The scene of Charles Foster Kane and his wife, Susan, at Xanadu shows the dominance that Kane bears over people in general as well as Susan specifically. Throughout the film, Orson Welles continues to convey the message of Susan’s inferiority to Mr. Kane. Also, Welles furthers the image of how demanding Kane is of Susan and many others. Mr. Welles conveys the message that Kane has suffered a hard life, and will