Stephanie Bittar
Scene Analysis
DC 100
Citizen Kane – Room Trashing A well-known scene in Citizen Kane is when Susan leaves Kane, and Kane ends up destroying Susan’s room. As Kane realizes Susan is leaving him, he loses control of himself as he understands that he lost some sort of aspect in his life. There were three instances where Kane used violence: as child when he attacks Thatcher with his sled, verbally attacks Jim, and now as Susan leaves him he lashes out his anger in her bedroom. Orson Welles brings this scene to life with rage and anger as he uses the different stylistic components as he tells the story. These components consist of mise-en-scene, cinematography, editing, and sound which help the audience to become more emotionally and visually attached to the scene. The setting of the scene takes place in Susan’s bedroom, it is as realistic as Welles made it to be. It was a bedroom filled with home items, goods, and memories. Kane is in suit, it made him sophisticated. The workers in the house are all dressed in corresponding colors to one another. The black and white film is color coded, everything blends and contrast with one another. His movement are filled with
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The camera movement was minimal, which allowed the audience to observe and analyze as to what is going on. One can say there was a use of multiple camera as different shots were used in the scene. Moreover, the position of the camera portrays the mood of the scene. The low angle emphasized Kane’s power and rage throughout the scene. There was a use of continuity editing which created the narrative information to be smooth and concise. Scenes were broken up into multiple shots where the shots were continuous. With the use of deep focus, there was a use of more intense lighting to allow the audience to observe Kane’s surrounding. It reoccurs throughout the scene to express shows the distance between the
The first montage seen is the March of Time Newsreel. This reel is very important as it tells us that Charles Foster Kane dies and gives us a backstory on his ridiculous life. Another important montage in the story was after Kane got married to his first wife, Emily Kane. This montage shows him and his new wife happy at the table. Going through many weeks and months this montage shows the transition Kane and his wife has just through the being at the dinner table. At first, they are lovey dovey sitting close to each other, then Emily starts talking about how he is always at work which leads to them sitting away from each other by the end of the montage reading opposite newspapers. The montage are really important but the lighting allows the story to really stand
This allows the scene to create greater tension with the use of darkness diverting the audience expectations. For the camera movement, firstly it is a long shot to show the location and they are going to fight, and then it use a lot of close up, over shoulder and extreme close up to illustrate how they fight with using different Kong Fu and weapons, during they are fighting, it also has some bird s eye view shot to show how intense of their fight, because it also show the ground fault of the weapons and the struggle traces shows the suspension. As a distinctively visual technique, audiences are able to feel the suspense. The way in the shooting, the director Ang Lee has done all the details in every possible way. In the light text effect, he spent most of the low key lighting to keep the mystery of kung fu; the lens shooting, he spent a lot of The third-person perspective and two shot make the audience appreciate the traditional Chinese martial arts, and he can also take care while a lot of details, such as eye contact play against the two sides, the audience can understand the meaning of what they want to say without the dialogue. The scenes is showing a back and forth between two characters staring at each other, then that is most likely the use of the shot-reverse-shot technique.
To see what they see, and compare our own thoughts with the evolution of the characters and the story. The dexterity of the images, and the impact that each scene has in portraying this theme, guide the viewer throughout the film with little use of dialogue and action. Our central character “Jeff,” is struggling with his casted imprisonment, his need for adventure is apparent as he watches outside his window. Conflicted with his girlfriend and conflicted with his theories, his character becomes more palpable, we begin to realize what is going on not only on the outside of him, but the inside of him as well. The aspects of the outside courtyard and the visual isolation of each apartment, help depict the humanity of each individual and sympathy for even the darkest characters. Hitchcock uses his camera, just as our protagonist does, to focus with him. The camera angles are depicted in a way to which we react with the character, rather than at the character, and eventually expose the minor elements of the story that bring to fruition the suspense of the movie and the thrills of discovery.
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.
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.
Through the use of high and low angles (“a shot that is made by placing the camera above the subject angled downward” and “a shot made by placing the camera below the subject angled upward” respectfully defined by Jon Lewis, author of The Essential Cinema), are almost balanced in this scene. (Lewis) For example, during the first part of the scene, Mrs. Kane, Susan Alexander, and Mr. Gettys are seen as closer to the camera and at a low angle. This could possibly demonstrate that they are more active in the scene than Mr. Kane. Meanwhile, it appears that Mr. Kane is shorter and smaller than the other characters, again hinting at his inability to control the situation.
The aspect of the Citizen Kane’s mise-en-scene that stood out to me the most were the sets. The first scene showing the once amazing and repugnant Xanadu now in disrepair helps to portray the psychological disrepair Kane experiences over the film. The giant oversized office of Mr. Thatcher portrays the cold decrepit old men who are in it. The huge interiors of Xanadu show the isolationism of his relationship towards Susan and his own loneliness in the world. Each of the sets in the film help to show the progression of the character. The sets along with the other aspects of mise-en-scene create the effect of reality by its change. The mise-en-scene of the film is a reflection of the character progression throughout the movie. The scene where
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
Citizen Kane is set at a time in American History where the world is changing and money is at the center of that world. For example, during this period of time wealth has become more important in America has more new money arrives. Kane is a part of this new money sweep across America and like everyone else is stretching his power and wealth. He stretches it so much that he loses sight of his objection, which is replaced by his obsession to be in control and make all the decisions, a power which he finds through wealth. But it is because of this obsession that his idealistic world is corrupted. Furthermore, the film revolves most around a newspaper. A newspaper reaches everyone and during this time one of the only few mass media. It is through the newspaper that Kane stretches his wealth and influence. He is corrupted by the power that the newspaper gives him. In addition, Kane is constantly surrounded by beautiful things and people, until the end of the movie when
Another aspect of this film is that it is in black and white. This gives it a serious tone. The lighting they used also gave a dramatic effect. There is a scene where two gentlemen are talking but you can see Kane dancing in the reflection of the window. This reminds the audience that he is still important to the scene even though he isn't directly involved. This
To help create his debut film Citizen Kane, Orson Welles assembled a talented group of artists and technicians who together produced a film that redefined cinema forever. During the film’s production process, Welles himself stated that making a film “is the biggest electric train set any boy ever had.” By this he meant that the production studio was his playground and he intended to use every tool at his disposal. Starting from the film’s very first shot; he proves this to be true. As the film begins, the camera silently cranes up over the fences that surround Charles Foster Kane’s mansion and then slowly transitions to a montage of palatial estate. In this unique sequence the viewer understands that they are watching no ordinary film! Since its release in 1941, Citizen Kane consistently is called one of the greatest films ever made. It also is one of the most analyzed films ever created as well. In watching the film, a person can select from a countless number of famous scenes on which to review, comment, admire, and draw conclusions. For this assignment, I chose my personal favorite scene from the film to analyze in depth. The scene occurs near the end of the film just as Kane’s second wife Susan Alexander leaves him for good. The scene lasts about 3 and a half minutes in length, consists of 12 shots, contains almost no music, and just one word of dialogue is spoken. However, even with these limitations, the scene has more impact and film techniques packed into it
Sometimes it can be easier to let others make decisions. People find comfort in letting others decide deadlines or goals. People can find direction in others’ choices for them that they could never have possibly come up for themselves. That having been said, life also requires ownership. A person’s life is full of options and can mean so much more if personal decisions are made within. It certainly is difficult, but the struggle often makes the result all that much sweeter. Such is the case in E.M. Forster’s novel A Room with a View. Throughout the story Lucy is stuck within the rigid, cookie-cutter class system. She finds herself surrounded by people who mindlessly go with expected actions and must walk in step behind all the adults in
Alfred Hitchcock’s attention to detail in his films is one of the many things that makes him one of the most recognized film auteurs of all time. He was very particular what about he wanted seen on screen and how he wanted to get those shots. From camera movements to the things found in the mise-en-scène, Hitchcock was very precise about every little thing that is seen in his on screen worlds. He would strategically place objects throughout the mise-en-scène and have characters wear certain clothing. By doing this, Hitchcock is able to let the audience know things about the characters and the plot without it having to be said on camera. Hitchcock once said that “If it's a good movie, the sound could go off and the audience would still have a perfectly clear idea of what was going on” (Tiffin). That’s why there’s no surprise that when Hitchcock finally made his first color film, he began to use color as another way of communicating with his audience.
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