Citizen Kane involved many cinematic advances that transformed movie making. Traditionally, movies were made using a continuity of narrative and event. The plot line was chronological, the story unfolded seamlessly, and the lighting and camera angles highlighted the actors and propelled them into stardom. A studio style was born where a film became known for its linear style. (Lewis, 2008, page 106) Citizen Kane challenged this accepted studio style by rearranging plot sequence, innovating camera angle, lighting, composition, and altering narrative structure.
One of the main cinematic elements that Citizen Kane challenged was the focus of the camera lens. Until this picture, movies highlighted the actors in the forefront of the
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screen, focusing on their facial expressions and lesser characters and objects were in the background, out of focus, almost unnoticed. Orson Wells changed this style and brought everything into focus. He made the whole scene in focus, which included the characters and objects in both the foreground and background. The term became known as deep focus. Deep focus allowed Wells to overlap action in a scene, which creates a more critical mise-en scene. (www.sparknotes.com) Deep focus allows the viewer to see and react to everything they are seeing without missing important detail out of focus in the background. Another technological innovation was Wells’ use of composition. Traditionally, the scene is divided into the rule of thirds. Composition refers to the balance of the relationship between the actors on screen and the objects within their space. (Barsam & Monahan, 2016, page164) Each area on the screen either was in focus or not. Wells brought everything into focus, including images in the background. Deep focus was a composition technique that had not been filmed before. Composition was believed to lend to a certain balance on the screen. When Wells employed deep focus, he altered the balance of composition and created a new viewing experience. Wells also manipulated the lighting in scenes to create a dark, moody atmosphere. This technique shadowed Kane and portrayed him as a violent character. (www.sparknotes.com) Casting of the actors employed another technical element challenged by Wells in making Citizen Kane.
Hollywood film making was regulated by the studio contracts that dictated a certain style that studios became known for. The studio employed all the actors, writers, camera people, directors, everyone who worked on a film all were contracted to the studio. Therefore, the actors gained an on screen presence that made them famous. Wells had creative rights to his movie, and he cast stage actors who had not made movies. Their classic theatrical style complimented the deep focus element and allowed this technological innovation to shine. (www.sparknotes.com)
Plot sequence was traditionally played out in chronological order. Orson Wells rearranged plot order and began with the death of the main character, Charles Foster Kane. The story sequence then follows a series of flashbacks that are told by characters who are reporting on their interaction or involvement with Kane throughout his life. The flashbacks create a doubt as to the accuracy of the memory of Kane. The audience is left wondering about the true meaning Rosebud. The viewer is forced to reason whether Kane was truly a good person or was he the troubled soul that he outwardly
depicted. Narrative was also manipulated by Wells. He told the story in a biographical manner instead of the traditional linear manner. The story takes on more and more intrigue, as each person telling their memory add to the mystery of Kane. “Citizen Kane portrays a long period of time realistically, allowing the characters to age as the story goes on. Kane’s story unfolds in overlapping segments that add more information as each narrator adds his or her story.” (www.sparknotes.com) Another technological innovation was Wells’ use of composition. Traditionally, the scene is divided into the rule of thirds. Composition refers to the balance of the relationship between the actors on screen and the objects within their space. (Barsam & Monahan, 2016, page164) Each area on the screen either was in focus or not. Wells brought everything into focus, including images in the background. Deep focus was a composition technique that had not been filmed before. Composition was believed to lend to a certain balance on the screen. When Wells employed deep focus, he altered the balance of composition and created a new viewing experience. Citizen Kane was a truly revolutionary film for its time. Orson Wells captured the actors in such a creative style using innovative ways to capture the audience, filmmakers are still inspired by its style today. By altering camera angles and rearranging composition and focus, a new viewing experience emerged. With his creative use of storytelling and narrative structure, the audience was introduced to a new way to become embraced in movie watching.
With the loss of its centralized structure, the film industry produced filmmakers with radical new ideas. The unique nature of these films was a product of the loss of unified identity.
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...
Stanley Kubrick was one of the first people to make great use of the extreme wide-angle lenses so tremendous that the lenses cause some sort of barrel distortion. For Example, in the A Clockwork Orange, is a great example of how Kubrick uses the wide-angle lenses. The lenses were used in both dolly handheld shots. The wide-angle lenses were very consistent and steady with the tone of the movie all together. His camerawork was something people should really resemble off of. The camerawork really makes a big
The ambiguous nature of truth in media is clearly demonstrated throughout the whole of Citizen Kane. This is initially portrayed through the newspaper headlines at the start of the film which are shown to juxtapose each other and help to show different perspectives of Kane’s death. The Inquirer states that the “Entire nation Mourns Great Publisher” in contrast to the Chronicle which states that “Few will Mourn Him”. This beginning not only introduces the newspaper magnate Kane and the influence of fame but also the fact that truth is completely based on perspective and is not subjective, especially in the media. This is also portrayed when comparing the anecdotes of the loyal Bernstein and the bitter Leland. Bernstein’s account shows Kane as
Citizen Kane, Orson Welles’ cinematic classic, is a film that centers on a group of reporter’s investigation into the meaning of Charles Foster Kane’s last uttered word, “Rosebud.” Citizen Kane ' brings into light many social problems between countries, relationships, and also between competing newspaper companies. It brings into light how a newspaper should react and also brings the corruption of politics. War was breaking out in Europe and throughout the entire film Kane states there will be no war. He ignores the fact people are being killed, tortured, and rounded up like livestock.
Jacobs, Lewis. “Refinements in Technique.” The Rise of the American Film. New York: Teachers College Press, 1974. 433-452. Print.
The use of camera angle and lighting was ahead of its time also. Wells used special lenses and lighting that created some of the most iconic scenes in the film. Long deep images and very dark shadows legitimized the characters aging over time right before the viewer's eyes. Wide angles and deep focus utilized for the political rally scene darkens the many layers of Kane as we hear his political view but see a man wanting control and power.
The visual aspects of this film are truly amazing. One of things that really caught my eye was the set of Xanadu. When Susan left Kane and she was walking away, the camera caught a great shot that portrayed the massiveness and beauty of the estate. Another part of the film that caught my attention was when the reporters were going through Kane's things in Xanadu and they showed all the things and statues that Kane owned. It was amazing how they were able to show all the stuff Kane had in his estate. The lighting was also a big part of this film. They used a lot of shadowing. For instance, when Kane and Susan were arguing, Kane's shadow completely covered Susan. To me, the use of shadowing in this scene portrayed how much stronger and more important Kane was than Susan. At the beginning of the movie, they also used fishbowl lens. The first scene in the movie where Kane was found dead, most of it was filmed with a fishbowl lens. It gave the introduction of the film a very unique look. I also noticed that they used mirrors in the scene where Kane was walking away from all his servants and guests that witnessed his anger ou...
The debate over Casablanca and Citizen Kane has been a classic argument between film critics and historians alike because both of these pieces contain great cinematographic value, and are timeless pictures that have managed to captivate audiences well beyond their era. However, the real question at hand is which film is the greatest? Which film transformed the future of American film making? It is these questions that I as many others have, will attempt to answer in the following essay as I explain why I believe Citizen Kane has achieved the status of greatest film ever made.
It is no doubt that Citizen Kane, directed by Orson Welles, defies the conventional style of classic Hollywood films. Introducing a variety of new techniques and cinematography that was unheard of at that time, the advanced camera work, different lighting techniques and use of mise-en-scene, helped fortify several very definitive themes in the film. Being removed from his secure, comfortable childhood home at a young age, it is no secret that Charles Foster Kane carried the unresolved feelings with him as he continued to grow up, seeing as he had to deal with being taken from his own mother and father, and learn how to cope with having been stripped of the family love and assurance he had always longed for. Rather than having the guaranteed
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
Citizen Kane made cinematic advances on many fronts, and its most significant contribution to cinematography came from the use of a technique known as deep focus, which is having everything in the frame, even the background, in focus at the same time. Where before only the
Many devices such as theme, subject and meaning reflect different aspects of a film. The time and place that the movie is made are usually affected but this.
According to historians like Neil Burch, the primitive period of the film industry, at the turn of the 20th century was making films that appealed to their audiences due to the simple story. A non-fiction narrative, single shots a burgeoning sense
In focusing in on the most popular themes of Orson Welles’s work, pertaining to society & life, as well as mystery, I’ve come to find numerous aspects essential to those themes when looking at the many films of Orson Welles. For instance, the aspects in which plays a major part in Orson Welles’s films when focusing on the themes pertaining to society & life, and mystery, is mainly that of the cinematic and literary aspect. These aspects of film allows Welles to play with camera angles, lighting, music/sound, editing, characters, plot, conflict, and so forth. In doing this, Welles being much of an expressionist, creates what we call, Wellesian films, like that of Citizen Kane, and The third man. These films thoroughly displays the way in which Welles exercises his methods, and in doing this he influenced two great films.