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Citizen kane film review essay
Elements of film mise en scene
Analysis and criticism of the film citizen kane
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Citizen Kane Analysis Often regarded as one of the greatest films ever made, Citizen Kane written and directed by Orson Welles is a classic film that defied the conventional styles of the Hollywood Cinema. Welles was committed to the Mise-En-Scene of his movies by using his characters, props, settings, and even the camera to tell the story of his characters. The Lighting, the camera shots, and the character 's actions to depict the life of Charles Foster Kane. The Mise-En-Scene of this narrative creates a film that is ahead of it’s time and a genius innovation to the cinema. The mise-en-scene that is first seen in the sequence is Welles 's use of lighting. Throughout the film …show more content…
When Kane enters the Newspaper building, there are straight lines that surround him from the molding on the ceilings, the door frames, and the poles. These lines symbolize how straightforward and ambitious Kane is when he comes in, he assertively takes control of the newspaper business with no trouble. Lines can also be seen later on in the film when Kane is finishing Leland’s editorial. Kane is on the left side of the screen typing covered in shadows of the bars reflecting from a railing nearby, while Leland is on the right side of the screen looking over his shoulder, and Berinstein placed in the background. This evenly separates Kane and Leland with Bernstein behind, creating a frame that is divided into three. By framing the characters, Welles exemplifies crucial moments in the …show more content…
In the sequence, Wells uses low angles to showcase his characters and their status in the film, especially the shots with Mr.Carter and Kane. These shots are filmed at a low angle to depict how powerful Kane really is, with these shots they portray him towering over Carter, making it appear that he is capable of taking out whoever stands in his way. The low angles in this film are meant to isolate Kane and those who are around him to express that he is the king. Low angles shot are also seen when Leland confronts Kane about his egocentric personality after losing the election. This shot creates dramatic tension, but it still does not fail to make the shot about Kane because of the streamers and posters that surround them, which are a reminder of Kane and his loss. Though conflict arises from this scene, it is easy to see that even if Kane is being criticized, he still holds dominance. Citizen Kane is a timeless movie that revolutionized the film industry by bringing new techniques and ways to go about making a film that changed the Cinema forever. Orson Welles created a timeless picture by dedicated himself to the Mise-en-scene, he pushed the boundaries and found different ways to utilize what he already knew. The Mise-En-Scene of this narrative creates a film that is ahead of it’s time and a genius innovation to
The Lady From Shanghai is a timeless film that captures how a black and white film can be interesting for viewers. The overall film was effective with the help of the mise en scene, cinematography and editing. Each of the three parts put together brought out the complexity and intensity of this film and they made The Lady From Shanghai the classic film that it is today.
Mise-en-scène, cinematography and editing are used in all forms of cinema. Within the “Declaration of Principles” scene of Citizen Kane, lighting, blocking and panning are three of the main sub aspects that work in unison to consistently demonstrate important aspects of the film. Welles uses these attributes to portray to the audience how this younger Kane is an important newspaper owner, with an even more important document. He creates a scene that has a heavy emphasis on panning to continuously preserve a frame that centers Kane while also lighting the document so viewers can constantly see the important plot and characters of the movie.
Beginning the mid 1920s, Hollywood’s ostensibly all-powerful film studios controlled the American film industry, creating a period of film history now recognized as “Classical Hollywood”. Distinguished by a practical, workmanlike, “invisible” method of filmmaking- whose purpose was to demand as little attention to the camera as possible, Classical Hollywood cinema supported undeviating storylines (with the occasional flashback being an exception), an observance of a the three act structure, frontality, and visibly identified goals for the “hero” to work toward and well-defined conflict/story resolution, most commonly illustrated with the employment of the “happy ending”. Studios understood precisely what an audience desired, and accommodated their wants and needs, resulting in films that were generally all the same, starring similar (sometimes the same) actors, crafted in a similar manner. It became the principal style throughout the western world against which all other styles were judged. While there have been some deviations and experiments with the format in the past 50 plus ye...
Throughout the course of a lifetime, a common phrase heard is “don’t judge a book by its cover”. This phrase indicates the fact that it is nearly impossible to truly evaluate the life and feelings of a person just by what can be seen about them. This is the case in the film Citizen Kane, directed by Orson Welles. Charles Foster Kane is a man who would appear to the general public as having it all. A very popular man, Kane owns a successful newspaper company for which he is known worldwide. He builds a gigantic mansion for his second wife and himself, surrounded by intricate and expensive statues. Kane seems to be perfect in every single way, and one may think that he is the happiest man alive. However, Charles never had the things that
In the beginning, Thatcher believes that obtaining the newspaper company ‘The Inquirer’ is seemingly useless however Kane believes that this newspaper company can be used to “look after the underprivileged”. Emphasising the purpose and the ideals of Kane, however, this belief doesn’t last. As his paper grows in stature these morals begin to degrade. He starts to lie in the newspaper, which is shown in a line that was adopted from Hearst “you provide the prose poems, I’ll provide the war”. This parallelism provides the start of yellow journalism where the news is supposed to shock and therefore sell the paper even if the story is false. The start of the degradation of morals is shown by the chiaroscuro lighting as Kane signs the “Declaration of Principles”. As he signs this he is shown to move from the light into the shadows, foreshadowing Kane 's descent into corruption due to the hunger for power. This is coupled with the camera shooting Kane from a low angle symbolising Kane 's escalation in power which is shown to be the cause of the fall into corruption. The corruption of Kane is also shown in his relationship with Emily and the deterioration of their relationship. This is conveyed mainly through the montage scene which depicts Kane and Emily being close in proxemics implying initially the bond that they share however as time
Alfred Hitchcock’s unique sense of filmmaking and directing has allowed him to become a very famous and well known film maker of his time. He uses similar recurring themes, elements, and techniques in many of his films to engage the viewers in more than just the film, but the meaning and focus behind the story.
Well’s uses lighting to represent who has the power and also shows the shift in power from Thatcher to Kane. In the scene where Wells montages Thacher, Kane’s legal guardian and financial advisor, Kane shows the power he has over Thatcher using his newspaper, The Inquirer,through high-key lighting.The scene begins with a letter written by Thatcher, immediately showing
mise-en-scene in any film, everything we see has a meaning. But the thing about lighting is we see it,
Welles uses image overlays of maps during this sequence, multiple exciting transitions between scenes such as various wipes and graphic matches between scenes as they fade into one another. The news reel uses a voiceover to efficiently get the information across to the audience in a short amount of
Orson Welles’ career took place in the mid-thirties to late eighties in the twentieth century. He began his career at age fifteen, starting in Ireland, making his acting debut in the Gate Theater in Dublin. By eighteen, Welles started to appear in off-Broadway productions. It was then that he also launched his radio career. By age twenty, he had presented alternate interpretations of certain well-known plays and movies. At age twenty-two he was the most notable Broadway star from Mercury Theater and, because of this, BBC radio gave him an hour each week to broadcast whatever he pleased. That’s when, at age twenty-five, he broadcast War of the Worlds, which caused panic due to the “Martian invasions”. By the time he came into Hollywood, Welles could write, direct, cast, star, and edit movies without disturbance from the studios. It was during this time he created Citizen Kane- the only movie he completely finished. He retired from Hollywood at age thirty-three in 1948, but still continued to create his own films.
Suspense is a 1913 film that portrays the story of a tramp intruding into a family’s home, where a mother takes care of her child while her husband is away. The plot is a common one that had been used previous times before the film’s release, such as in The Lonely Villa (1909). However, through taking advantage of the single frame shot, the filmmakers were able to create a masterful aesthetic of two separate stories that turn a basic plot into a complex story. The film created an inventive way of illustrating stories within cinema by allowing the audience the chance to consume more narrative in less time within just one take.
There are four crucial scenes of this film in which Hitchcock shows a change in perspective and identity through the mise-en-scène. Hitchcock’s signature motifs, style, and themes are conveyed through the mise-en-scène.
Utilizing flashbacks, Welles paints a varied and descriptive picture of Charles Kane’s life. Through interviews with people who were close to Charles Kane an extensive account of his life is presented. From his simple childhood, to Walter Parks Thatcher’s intervention and influence on his abrupt rise to success, to his ultimate downfall. Charles Foster Kane’s is a timeless story about the rise and fall of a man, in which there are many interpretations and lessons to be learned. One of these lessons is that to interpret a piece of art is a tough task, and without the proper restraints the pitfall of over-interpretation is often committed. Everything, especially art lends itself to interpretation, this is natural. Howeve...
Also, Welles furthers the image of how demanding Kane is of Susan and many others. Mr. Welles conveys the message that Kane has suffered a hard life, and will continue until death. Welles conveys many stylistic features as well as fundamentals of cinematography through use of light and darkness, staging and proxemics, personal theme development and materialism within the film, Citizen Kane. Welles prominently portrays his figures with a specific amount of light or darkness, stunningly affecting whole scenes stylistically. The scene at Xanadu establishes Mr. Kane as an overbearing, controlling character.
Welles who would like to set up lights himself placed a grave importance on the lighting of the film. The lighting helped to compliment many of the films scenes by adding an effect of emotion. In scenes where the shadows would be more apparent there was normally something dark occurring, such as the scene where Kane is seen standing on his own after his second wife leaves him. As said by Roger Ebert “Welles created a gloomy dark visual the film world had yet to see.” The use of these techniques is seen by some as the pioneer or predecessor to the genre of noir that soon followed the film’s release. In addition, Kane had brought a great influence for French critics and filmmakers. Many began to use Welles techniques to create cinematic works of their own. This was known as the French New Wave a movement that combined philosophical and artistic themes in film. Along with the lighting Welles made sure to place musical soundtracks throughout the film a technique that hadn’t been used too often. These soundtracks helped add to the scenes and give them their own atmosphere. The musical soundtrack played a vital role in conveying the emotion of the film. In many of the scenes that contained their own sound a greater message was being conveyed than what the film was showing. Welles was very clever in his way of piecing the scenes