Citizen Kane Cinema

Citizen Kane (Welles, 1941) challenged the traditional narrative and technical elements of classic Hollywood cinema through the successful use of mise-en-scene. According to (Wikipedia) traditional narrative focuses on chronological order of history it is event driven and tends to center upon individuals, actions and intentions. Additionally (Wikipedia) also states that the title “Classic Hollywood cinema” were terms used in film history which designates both a visual and sound style for making motion pictures and a mode of production used in the American film industry between 1927-1963. This period is also known as the “Golden age of Hollywood.”

Orson Welles challenged traditional narrative and technical elements by using unique means

of storytelling. Instead of starting the film in the tradition chronological format Orson Welles opens the story line from the death of (Charles Kane) the main character of the story. He continues the story by showing flashbacks of the Kane’s life even as a boy. One very significant event is the scene which he is sent away by his parents, which ejects the boy rapidly into adulthood. Having the life of a man narrated from different perspectives was also unheard of in Hollywood. He further challenged tradition with using all first time motion picture actors and actresses. These methods defied Hollywood cinema style and adhered to a new foundation in film.

In 1941 the Great Depression had begun to dissipate primarily due to the war but, during this time all Americans were trying to seek employment and become innovative by some means to gather recognition.

Wells exploration into cinematography with the use of “Deep focus” and “Pan-focus” help to popularize the film during this time. Deep focus is a photographic and cinematographic technique using a large depth of field. Depth of field is the front-to-back range of focus in an image — that is, how much of it appears sharp and clear. Consequently, in deep focus the foreground, middle-ground and background are all in focus. An example of deep focus would be Charles Kane as a child outside playing in the snow with his sled, while his parents are inside (Dictionary Reference). Wikipedia states: Citizen Kane through the use of Pan focus, it is possible to photograph action from a range of eighteen inches from the camera lens to over two hundred feet away, with extreme foreground and background figures and action both recorded in sharp relief. Hitherto, the camera had to be focused either for a close or a distant shot, all efforts to encompass both at the same time resulting in one or the other being out of focus. This handicap necessitated the breaking up of a scene into long and short angles, with much consequent loss of realism. With pan-focus, the camera, like the human eye, sees an entire panorama at once, with everything clear and lifelike. A good example of this is when his wife walks out on him and he destroys the bedroom. When he walks to the doorway to see his wife walking away there is a long hallway camera

shot.

With different techniques such as deep focus and pan focus the viewer is drawn into the film and it gives them a better perspective in the film. In movie Citizen Kane e (Welles, 1941) is a Classic Hollywood film that ultimately defies the conventions of Classic Hollywood cinema (1917-1960, but at a peak from the mid 1930’s to the end of the war), and it is for this very reason that the film continues to be valued so highly and discussed so keenly. The film emulates and yet defies various aspects of then-contemporary filmic production – mise-en-scene, cinematography, genre and narrative structure – and successfully introduced radical techniques of production into the Classic Hollywood canon of work. The film thus toes the line between being meticulously formulaic and exquisitely avant-garde so masterfully, that it easily escapes classification. (MegaEssay.com)