Citizen Kane Cinematic Techniques

One of the most defining films in American Film history is Orson Welles' 1941 cult classic, Citizen Kane. While the film is widely regarded for several cinematic elements such as its cinematography and background score, what stands out is the narrative style employed by Welles and co-screenplay writer, Herman J. Mankiewicz. Perhaps, what is most noteworthy was the demand the film made of its audience, to follow and deduce the plot as it unraveled, something we are used to as film viewers of this generation, but for its times was path breaking. The cinematic techniques used such as telling a story through a series of flashbacks, the use of deep focus camera shots, the use of low angles and chiaroscuro lighting enhanced the viewing experience and these remain

extremely popular with filmmakers of today.

To begin with, in Citizen Kane, it is relatively easier to distinguish between story and plot as it is not set in chronological order. In summary, the story follows reporter Jerry Thompson's (played by William Alland) investigation of media mogul Charles Foster Kane's (played by Orson Welles) dying words 'Rosebud'. The audience finally learns through a series of interviews and events that Rosebud was the name of Kane's sled from his boyhood, a reference to his happier times. The most significant deviation in the way this plot was written was the use of five flashbacks in its nine sequence plot, which involved placing together current events by means of Thompson's interviews of various characters with past events of Kane's life.

First use of several cinematic techniques

Welles' cinematographer for the film, Gregg Toland, introduced the audience to several technical firsts. Most significantly, the use of deep focus camera shots with the use of special film, lenses and lighting, allowed Toland to showcase every element in a frame including the foreground and background. For instance, in the scene where the audience sees a young Kane for the first time,

in the foreground you see Kane's parents discussing his future, while simultaneously, in the background of the same frame you see young Kane playing out in the snow. Another example of the same technique is a scene where you see two men sitting at the nightclub, discussing the newspaper business in the foreground and Kane is shown to be dancing through a window in the background. This helped the director develop characters without having to allocate separate scene space for each. Interestingly, Welles and Toland also used sound to create a depth of field in several scenes. The use of low angle camera shots and chiaroscuro lighting techniques helped intensify moments in the film. To explain using a scene reference, when Kane argues with Jedediah Leland (played by Joseph Cotton) in the newsroom about his visit to Chicago, the low angle helped communicate the tension between both characters. What really interested me was the use of lighting in all scenes that feature Thompson as you always see him in the dark and this keeps the audience guessing. The rapid montage of Kane and his first wife, Emily Norton (played by Ruth Warrick) at the breakfast table, signifies the change in their attitude towards each other over a story duration of seven years and the passing of time is shown through changes in costume and make-up in a plot duration that lasts only two minutes. The use of the wipe as an editing technique was first introduced in this film and is highlighted in this scene. Citizen Kane also used the background musical score effectively to convey the emotions of each scene.
In conclusion, what I took away from the film was that even though this was filmed in the 1940s and was entirely shot in black and white, the narrative style, the mise-en-scène, the use of cinematic techniques and more left me feeling like I was watching a film that could easily belong to the present times. No wonder Citizen Kane inspired many iconic films that followed such as Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction(1994) and Martin Scorsese's Raging Bull(1980)