Citizen Kane Film Techniques

An example of deep focus appears in this sequence. A young Mr. Kane is visible in the background by the window in the middle ground while Mrs. Kane signs over custody of him to Mr. Thatcher in the foreground of the shot. There is a great significance to Kane appearing at the background of the frame. The narrative perspective captures Kane being present, but almost pushed to the literal and symbolic background as decisions are made to determine his future in the foreground. The use of deep focus turns what would’ve been a flat cinema screen into a three-dimensional world with a strong sense of realism. Although our attention is not immediately forced to any specific aspect of the mise-en-scene, a certain important moment is noted just as Mrs. Kane signs the paperwork. Young Kane while playing a childish game of “civil war” screams “Union forever;”

Identity is an essential part of all our lives. Our actions determine our identity, and in turn, our identity structures our actions. One’s desire to seek a self-identity is an essential for the alignment of his or her pursuit of happiness. However, when such desire to fulfill one’s standards grows too strong, one might neglect other parts of his or her life. This neglect could lead to graver consequences, such as one’s sensations of failure and even his own downfall. In movie Citizen Kane, the director Orson Welles presents a complex and pessimistic theme of a spiritually-failed man, Charles Foster Kane, through discovering his life story from several perspective by different characters, to tell a tragic epic story of a “rags-to-riches” child

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

In Citizen Kane, Orson Welles blends camera movement with the drama of the scenes. A good example is the introduction to El Rancho. This is where Kane’s second wife sings. The camera begins on a sign outside the restaurant and from there is moved with a crane towards the roof of the building. From there it is moved through another sign and approaches the skylight. When it reaches the skylight, the camera goes through the skylight and we are presented with a high-angle shot of the El Rancho. The shot establishes space and sets up the scene, but it does this in a plain and noticeable way.

Why was Citizen Kane so different from the traditional Hollywood Films? Citizen Kane defies the traditional narrative and classic elements of Hollywood cinema by uniquely setting up the story in a different fashion from what the typical storyline would usually follow. It took on an approach of arranging the events of the story as it unfolds in a nonlinear pattern, while using multiple narrators while leaving the suspense of what did the meaning of a dying man’s last word open to the audiences’ interpretation.

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

For instance, Cloverfield uses a deep focus by zooming in on Rob as he enters the door to his surprise going away party, indicating our focus at hand is on Rob. The aesthetic, deep focus, explores the moral truth of where attention should be directed at a certain time. In this case, Rob is the most important person at the party and everyone should be focused on cherishing time with him before he leaves the country. The purpose of the truth is to give viewers insight in doing the same during certain events in their life with the people they love. Additionally, Thin Blue Line uses the realist aesthetic of deep focus when camera shows a motif of a hypnotic swinging clock followed by a zoom of the license plates from different kinds of Blue Vega’s at the time. This deep focus reveals the truth of why remembering certain things around you can be very important at a certain time. This truth is shown when Officer Wood’s female partner had trouble following procedure when Officer Wood was shot and didn’t remember the license plate of the shooters car, hypnosis was at play, but failed to help her remember a precise plate number. This truth could be important in case of similar personal conflict. Deep focus is a great realistic aesthetic in Cloverfield and Thin Blue Line because they both reveal truths that serve to impact an audience view on how to appreciate time and use time wisely in certain

It is only in the reaction shots (a “shot that shows how one character is responding to what another is doing or saying”) that the angle is shifted to a high angle. (Lewis) Mr. Kane is still under the belief that he can control the situation around him. The use of a high angle, when in Mr. Kane’s perspective, could also elaborate on his prideful thoughts that he is better

When his second wife leaves him Kane realizes the corruption wealth has done on his life and says “rosebud” because he wants to return to his sled, his childhood, to return to the beginning when wealth has yet to corrupt him. Citizen Kane is the story of a man’s great ideas to make the world better, but unable to because of the corruption wealth brought him.

The scene we’re analyzing starts off with a shot of the New York Daily Inquirer. It’s a close shot, taking up the entire screen. I feel this close up is to show the viewer that the newspaper company is going to be the primary focal point for Kane, and his two partners at this point in the film. After the close up, the camera pans down to show Kane and Leland sitting in a car looking up at the building. Kane says “Take a good look at it Jedidiah, it’s going to look a lot different one of these days.” Despite the look on Kane’s face being one of optimism and promise, this statement gives leeway to all of the bad things to follow. Kane specifically says, “look a lot different” as opposed to anything else (i.e.

Wells also like to use deep focus, where both foreground and background can be kept in focus simultaneously. This cinematic technique gives the audience a choice of where to look at rather than them being guided to see what the director wants you to focus on. One of the many scenes that used deep focus was when the mother is signing off her son Kane. In this particular scene all three planes are in focus- the mother at the front, father at the door, and young Kane

As the camera pulls in and, later, out, the character appears to be sitting there almost like a picture. Another great film technique that both films used is the foreground, middle ground and background the scale of their components, often correlates to the dominance in an image, and those were in focus all the time, this is called deep focus. In both films the directors uses this deep focus to show some kind of control in the character, the audience will be able to see what the characters such as Kane were able to manage. Deep Focus gives a good understanding of things that Kane has control of things in which he has no control. A great example of this would be the scene where Kane’s parents are signing him off; it shows us that he has no control of the outcome of his future.

Citizen Kane takes place in many different settings so this affects the unity of place. There are scenes

The beginning of Citizen Kane starts off with a ‘News Flash’ that is giving a quick history of Charles Foster Kane’s life and news that he has died. After that, it then goes into a storytelling but not in a usual way. There are different people narrating the movie throughout it. It shows different journalists asking multiple people about Charles Kane from when they knew him throughout his life. The main purpose of this interviewing by these journalists is to find out what ‘rosebud’ meant to Kane, since it was the last thing he spoke on his death bed. Throughout the movie, the time flips from what is currently happening to what has happened in the past. Flashbacks of Kane’s life are a primary way of explaining his childhood and history. This type of narrating is known as the parallel narrative structure which was not common for the time.

Depth of field is an element in cinematography that means a range of distance between objects and how they are being shot in sharp focus. Depth controls the perspective relations by depicting what planes will be in focus. There is also a director’s decision to choose a selective view. It is used to focus on only one plane and the others being blurred. Selective focusing automatically makes us pay attention to one area equally visibly but not all being in sharp view. It also examines deep focus and racking focus. Deep focus is a tight shot of an object; it’s a shorter lens and offers better lighting to be focused on. Attention is on several areas all being visible. Racking focus also known as “pulling focus”. The point of this focus is to transfers the attention from the foreground and the background. It overall makes one action blurred and another in a sharp focus.