Citizen Kane is an iconic movie that changed the way Classical Hollywood cinema was viewed. This film had such a high expectation around it when it was first released in 1941. Citizen Kane was surrounded with various rumours of the movie being based on the real life story of the famous newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst. However it was never clarified by Orson Welles that the movie was actually about Hearst so the movie could not just be branded a biographical movie. The genre of this film was hard for film critics and viewers to decipher.
Photography is the key element of mise en scene that determines how an audience will interpret the visual information in film. Orson Welles used the photography of his 1941 film Citizen Kane to emphasize aspects of the film he wanted viewers to focus on, and to remove non-essential information from the frame. This was accomplished through various camera techniques including manipulation of angles and proxemic patterns. Approaching the end of the film, there is a scene just after Susan (played by Dorothy Comingmore) has left her husband, Charles Foster Kane (played by Orson Welles), where he proceeds to trash her bedroom in a fit of anger. As Kane stumbles around the room, sweeping items onto the floor and throwing things into walls, (Welles
Symbols Sleds Two sleds appear in Citizen Kane. Rosebud, the sled Kane loves as a child, appears at the beginning, during one of Kane’s happiest moments, and at the end, being burned with the rest of Kane’s possessions after Kane dies. “Rosebud” is the last word Kane utters, which not only emphasizes how alone Kane is but also suggests Kane’s inability to relate to people on an adult level. Rosebud is the most potent emblem of Kane’s childhood, and the comfort and importance it represents for him are rooted in the fact that it was the last item he touched before being taken from his home. When Kane meets Thatcher, who has come to take him from his mother, Kane uses his sled to resist Thatcher by shoving it into Thatcher’s body.
In 1941 the RKO studies and Orson Welles, co-writer and director, released, Citizen Kane. The plot of Citizen Kane follows Mr. Jerry Thompson, a reporter, as he searches for the meaning behind the final word of Mr. Charles Foster Kane's, “Rosebud.” Mr. Thompson makes his way around to the main people in Kane's life, including Mr. Walter Parks Thatcher, the childhood guardian of Kane, and Mr. Thatcher's memoirs. Within Mr. Thatcher's memoirs, Mr. Thompson came upon the story that surrounds this particular frame. The story recalls the day when Kane finds himself relinquishing control of his newspaper to Thatcher & Company in order to be able to survive The Great Depression. While there is no movement, editing, or dialogue in this frame, there is still a story to be told and a meaning to be explained.
Hearst, Welles, Kane... deconstructed... ménage a`trois Citizen Kane is considered by filmmakers and critics to be the greatest film of all time. Part of this lay in a young genius director using the means of production against one of America’s most wealthy media magnates, William Hearst. But Kane would have been forgotten had it not also been for the depth of characterization that Welles and Mankiewicz (screenwriter) brought to Kane as well as its original example of film art introducing a new style based on deep-focus photography, wide-angle lenses, and shots of unusually long duration. The film tells Kane 's story; a life full of emptiness, rage and ambition. Kane is a combination of Hearst and Welles’s lives portraying their similarities
Ewa, living in less than desirable conditions, must use her body to provide for the most important person in her life. In Citizen Kane, directed by Orson Welles, a news reporter must uncover the mystery behind Charles Kane 's (Orson Welles) last words, "Rosebud". Kane, a wealthy man by inheritance, led a vapid life filled with materialistic desire and a hunger for power. When Kane 's newspaper doesn 't gain traction he implements a new way to catch the eyes of customers called, 'yellow journalism, ' using headlines to attract readers instead of meaningful content. This type of journalism at the time was used for swaying the public eye to push the agenda of whoever owned the paper.
The RKO studies 1941 release of Orson Welles, co-writer, and director of, Citizen Kane, and ended up with a film like none other. The plot of Citizen Kane follows a reporter, Mr. Jerry Thompson, as he searches for the meaning behind Mr. Charles Foster Kane's last word, “Rosebud.” As Mr. Thompson makes his way around to the different people in Kane's life he comes upon Mr. Thatchers, guardian of Kane, memoirs. One of the stories found within the pages of Mr. Walter Parks Thatcher's memoirs is that of this particular frame. The scene surrounding this frame is focused on the relinquishing control of the newspaper held by Mr. Charles Foster Kane to Thatcher & Company caused by Kane's depletion of funds caused by the beginning of The Great Depression. In this single frame taken from one of the greatest films the life and struggles of Kane as the mise-en-scene dwarf Kane, while the lighting leaves him in the shadows of the almighty Mr. Thatcher who is seen,
Citizen Kane is an Orson Welles American drama film released in 1941. Orson Welles worked with Herman J. Mankiewicz on the script and with Gregg Toland in cinematography. The film is about a reporter who wants to unveil the meaning behind the word, “Rosebud” Charles Foster Kane last uttered. Citizen Kane was based after Anatole France’s novel, "Thaïs.” It was nominated in nine categories in the Academy awards and won the Academy Award for Best Writing (Original Screenplay). Film critics consider it to be the greatest film ever existed, resulting it to be nominated five consecutive times as the greatest film of all time in the Sight & Sound Polls.
The Film Citizen Kane was a groundbreaking film in the 1940’s, the way Orson Wells depicts his film with different lighting, cinematography, choice of camera shots and mise-en-scene throughout this movie truly showed the masterpiece that this film is. In the Film Citizen Kane, it was the first movie that went against true Hollywood cinema by introducing flashbacks throughout the movie to show us how Charles Foster Kane changes throughout the movie. Throughout this movie the audience can see how Charles Foster Kane undergoes a variety of physical and emotional changes from when he was just a young boy all the way until his unfortunate death. Power, that’s all that Kane wanted in the start of the film. In the beginning of the film Kane gets ownership of the struggling New York Daily Inquirer, Kane suggests that he wanted to use journalism to apply to the public and protect the interest of ordinary people.
Orson Welles’s debut on a big screen, “Citizen Kane,” undoubtedly could be considered as one of the greatest masterpieces of the world cinematography. “Citizen Kane” was highly appraised both by the critics and the general audience, nominated for Academy Awards in nine categories and even topped the list of the greatest films of all times by the American Film Institute. The film was created in 1941, and it contained innovative visual and musical techniques as well as revolutionary plot, which has not lost its topicality. I do consider, that in his film Welles throws American society a challenge: he questions generally accepted values and destroys the American Dream. Basing on real material, the young director created a mythological personality and at the same time tried to destroy the myth itself.