Film Analysis : ' Citizen Kane ' Essay

Citizen Kane has long been regarded as a cinematic masterpiece and one of the greatest movies ever made. One look at the scene “Thatcher Taking Young Charles”, and you can see exactly why. The storytelling style of this film is a “successful fusion of the flashier devices of 1930s films, and techniques adapted from radio, theater, and prose narrative. “There is pro not a single device in Citizen Kane that cannot be found in earlier films, but Citizen Kane synthesizes elements of various traditions in a totally original way.” (Carringer,1978) This sequence makes use of various cinematic techniques to employ the auteur’s narrative.

“Insidious” is a 2010 horror movie centralizing around the lives of protagonists Renai (Rose Byrne) and her husband Josh (Patrick Wilson). The movie mainly focuses on the supernatural activity going on within the house, and it is later revealed that the cause of the hauntings is due to demons attempting to take over the body of their unconscious son, Dalton (Ty Simpkins).

What finally breaks down Charles Foster Kane is having Susan leave him. His need for control, and the inability for Susan or others to continue to comply with that need, send him into a frenzy in which he destroys the room Susan was staying in during their huge vacation in the Florida Everglades. From the room he takes a snow globe, and he is heard saying the words “rose bud” the first time by someone else. He walks into a hallway that has many mirrors, and this symbolizes Citizen Kane as a whole. This scene reflects the fragmented nature of the film. The life of Charles Foster Kane is told through the perspectives of several other people, and, due to this, as no person can be entirely unbiased, truthful, or even knowledgeable of the facts when recalling interactions with another person, we never get a complete picture of who Kane really is. Dozens of figures of Kane can be seen through the mirror, and this relates to how there are many images of Kane that can be derived from listening to the recollections of those who were close to him.

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.

Orson Welles’s Citizen Kane is a revolutionary film. Although it might not look like much to the modern viewer, many aspects of the film were the first of their kind to appear and are still used today.

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.

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

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.

Since the beginning of the Industrial Age, Americans have idealized the journey towards economic success. One thing people do not realize, however, is that that journey is not the same for every individual. For Charles Foster Kane (Orson Welles), the main character of Citizen Kane, directed by Orson Welles, the path towards riches and a fulfilled life is being well liked. He serves to please others. He strives for that attention. This view cost him his happiness in the end. In this man’s rise and fall through prosperity, Welles shows the futility of striving solely for likeability.

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.

There are many reasons as to why Citizen Kane has been lauded as one of the best, if not the best, film of all time. Orson Welles's Citizen Kane has had a lasting impact on cinema and continues to influence directors to this day. Visually striking, Citizen Kane helped to usher in a new era of cinema through its innovative techniques and use of mise-en-scene.

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

Frank Capra once said, "There are no rules in filmmaking. Only sins. And the cardinal sin is dullness." This can be related to watching a movie for an hour or two and as the end credits roll onto the screen, there is a vague sense of disappointment. Being disappointed in a movie can be because of the camera usage, the way the actors conveyed their emotions, or even how the sound did not give a dramatic effect. With insight from "Citizen Kane" by Orson Welles, the qualities of a great film are explained.

Citizen Kane is a movie about Charles Foster Kane, a publishing tycoon, who was taken away from his parents when he was a child, to be given a life full of opportunity, only to die alone, with no one to comfort him. This movie was one of the first movies to challenge the traditional narrative and technical elements of Hollywood Cinema. Classic Hollywood cinema, which developed between 1917 and 1960, was a particular way that films were produced during this era. It consisted of certain technical devices to establish narrative logic, cinematic time, and cinematic space (Wikipedia, 2016). Orson Welles, who directed, produced and starred in the movie, deviated from telling the story in traditional narrative, which was often told by one person

For a cinematic piece to be provocative, it must stimulate discussion or controversy on a wide scale. For it to have resonating value through time, it must be influential and innovative. Orson Welles begs the question ‘why can’t it be both?’ Welles, with the help of Herman Mankiewicz (co-writer) and Gregg Tolland (Cinematographer), changed cinematic history in 1941 when he produced, co-wrote, directed, and starred in the revolutionary American mystery drama Citizen Kane. The movie follows Kane’s pursuit of power, and the dangers that lay beyond it, as well as Kane’s loss of innocence and the resonating effects that it has on he and his life.