The Film Citizen Kane : A Film Of All Time, And Director Orson Welles

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.

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

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

The scene that I will be discussing for this paper is called “He’s a spy” from the movie Young Guns. In this scene, Billy and his gang are confronted by Murphy’s men. With the mise-en-scene, this helps the viewer identify that the time period being portrayed here is the late 1870’s or the early 1880’s. The mise-en-scene being used for this movie is important in telling the story from a different era as in today’s world, no one dresses this way anymore. Also to include from this scene is the lighting. I will attempt to give an explicit description of the use of the lighting and the sun and how the cinematographer designed for the use of it. Furthermore, I will also discuss the people that are directly involved with the making of Young Guns, the director, the production designer and the art director and their roles and responsibilities.

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

Citizen Kane is a film open to many interpretations and analyses. It tells the story of its main character through the complex points of view of those who knew him. Or thought they knew him. The character of Charles Foster Kane is played by, and done so in an enigmatic performance, by Orson Welles. The intrinsic bias and prejudice of the “narrators” in this film creates conflicting accounts of who Charles Foster Kane really was. Kane was a private man; closely guarding his true identity, making it difficult to differentiate the private Kane from his public identity. Throughout the film’s development of Kane, several inconsistencies and contradictions arise in the depiction of the character’s personality. All of these issues make it

The effect of the low angles that Burton portrays potential antagonists contrasts with the effect of the front and back lighting that he uses to characterize his protagonists. The cinematic elements’ effects often used in Burton’s films are always clearly transferred to the viewer and are impressionable, and the style in which Burton

The first half of this course focused on Alfred Hitchcock and how his techniques are now recognized as iconic. From class discussions and film screenings, it is clear that Hitchcock pays every attention to detail when he crafts a scene. Many Hitchcock films we have seen this semester highlight how he builds suspense through cinematic elements such as shadow, dialogue, and composition. While many of his suspenseful scenes stir feelings of intensity and uncertainty, Alfred Hitchcock builds a more romantic suspense in his 1955 film To Catch a Thief in the fireworks scene (1:06:35-1:11:00).

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

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

Two primary themes within the film contribute to the recognition and acclaim generated by Citizen Kane. The themes are buried beneath the visual muddle of the film itself. First, the theme regarding the disparagement of the private disposition of the municipal figure contribute to the esteem of the film. (Carringer) Next, the theme regarding the overwhelming force of materialism may be identified as a defining factor of the film, Citizen Kane. Viewed in unison, the themes encompass the poignant irony of the triumphant success of an American. The tale takes a drastic turn and winds up revealing the demise, lonesomeness,

She yearned to see friends and leave Xanadu. Orson Welles was a mastermind in creating scenes using light. Inevitably this caused the viewer to think thoroughly about what they viewed.

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

Understanding movies comes from describing and analyzing the cinematic, theatrical, and literary elements that combine to create meaning. These steps create a basic understanding of the artistic and technical elements found in moviemaking. In addition, the major characteristics of different film genres and classic movies will be analyzed. The purpose of this paper is analyzing the Academy Award winning film Chicago. This paper will describe the six steps that a person should think about when watching a movie. These steps include, (1) analysis of the narrative: story, plot and meaning; (2) theatrical elements, (3) cinematography, (4) editing, (5) sound and the (6) complete package.

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