Citizen Kane , a film directed by Orson Welles, showcases many fascinating elements of filmmaking. The way that Welles illustrates these elements of filmmaking is the reason that James Naramore describes Citizen Kane as a powerful work of art. The narrative structure of Citizen Kane is an examination into the life of Charles Foster Kane, from his ambiguous upbringing as a child to his renowned success as a newspaper tycoon throughout his entire adulthood. Welles’ narrative structure and use of specific techniques of sound and cinematography create significant meanings and effects throughout the film. Furthermore, Welles’ stresses the cinematographic technique of deep-focus photography and a variety of camera angles (i.e. wide-angle photography) …show more content…
This scene (a few scenes after the childhood scene) shows a mature and powerful Charles Kane taking over Mr. Carter’s office space as a new newspaper magnate. In this scene, we see the use of the low-angle shot by Welles. The meaning of the low-angle shot is to give importance to the character dominating the space. Welles uses the low-angle shot by shooting the scene from a low camera level that points upwards towards the important character from below; while giving importance to the main character in the scene. In this case, the low-angle shot is used to make Kane look more powerful over the stuttering Mr. Carter (an editor at the Inquirer); especially as he states that he will now live in Mr. Carter’s office and make the newspaper company work 24 hours a day. In addition, the low-angle shot shows that Kane is the more powerful character in the scene because he is the one that is not moving during the entire scene. On the other hand, Mr. Carter moves around from his desk to Kane to show that he has less power. The effect of the low-angle shot created by Welles is to increase the sense of Kane’s power and arrogance throughout the scene. This effect of the low-angle shot created by Welles sets the tone for the rest of the film by initiating Kane’s rise to prominence in the newspaper
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Show MoreA first example of the use of this technique was used when was Thacher, Bernstein, and Charles were discussing a letter that said that Mr. Kane had to “relinquish all of his control” of the newspapers that he owned (it was during the Great Depression and Bernstein said they were “out of cash”). At this point the camera angle was in a position that made Mr. Kane, whom was in the back of the room, look very small. But as Mr. Thatcher signed a paper and put the situation under control, Mr. Kane came towards them and got bigger on the screen. Thus, showing how Mr. Kane started to become even more powerful in his early years with some help of Mr. Thatcher. A second example that starts to show the decline of Mr. Kane was when he and Jedediah were talking in the one of Charles’s newspaper buildings.
A good example of the low-angle shot being used was when Paul was sleeping and got awoken, only to find Annie right in front of his eyes (Misery, 1:20:05). She then injects him with a needle. As the low-angle shot was taken, lightning strikes, and the shadows were projected onto her face. This makes the audience tense, feeling what Paul is feeling. This makes Annie seem very unsettling.
(Citizen Kane, 1941) Kane’s parents used the power of money as an accessory for giving him away to a billionaire. Since that day, the protagonist went through a traumatizing experience, insecurity and redisposition due to his parents’ actions, which marked the beginning of his tortuous need, to be loved. This unreturned love created a sense of fear and mistrust to love something or someone, only to experience abandonment again was something Kane never got a chance to learn. Citizen Kane broke all the rules because of Welles, there were no
There are many things that make “Citizen Kane” considered as possibly one of the greatest films every made; to the eyes of the passive audience this film may not seem the most amazing, most people being accustomed to the classical Hollywood style, but to the audience with an eye for the complex, “Citizen Kane” breaks the traditional Hollywood mold and forges its own path for the better. Exposition is one of the most key features of a film, it’s meant introduce important characters and give the audience relevant details and and dutifully suppress knowledge in turn. “Citizen Kane” does not follow this Classic Hollywood style exposition, instead going above and beyond to open the film with revealing as little information as possible and confuse/intrigue
Kylie Mawn Professor Rodais CINE 121 Midterm 4 March 2018 Question 1: Citizen Kane (Orson Welles, 1941) is a film that is well known for pushing cinematic boundaries in many ways. One commonly recognized technique in Welles’ film is deep focus photography. Deep focus photography is used in films to allow everything in a shot to be in focus at once. Typical, only specific characters or objects are in focus in any given frame in order to guide the audience’s attention in a scene, but deep focus can bring a new level of sophistication to a shot.
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.
I remember the very first time I watched “Citizen Kane” (RKO, 1941). I had heard so much about the film, about how great it was, a cinematic masterpiece. It was the late nineties and I was in my mid thirties. I always loved movies and felt I should watch the truly great films from before my time to round out my cinematic education, so to speak. With great anticipation, I bought a copy of the film and watched.
The antagonist is in this shot because the audience is then seeing the main reason and build up to this whole scene. Such as Moriarty stealing the crown jewels. This low angle mid long shot allows the audience to see all the full effect of the glass smashing. The shot makes the audience feel like a rush of adrenaline and intensity flows through them, creating this captivating scene keeping them glued to the screen. Plus, it places the audience as though they are stood to the side watching this event happening due to being able to see the entire glass sheet shatter.
This is when we find out that the news was screened in a room. Shadowed images are seen in the room. With what is said in the room we get to know that these men are very manipulative and want to know what is meant by Kane’s last word “Rosebud”. Sir Thompson is chosen to reveal to the audience the secrecy behind this word. If we were to view this very carefully, we see that Sir Thompson is indirectly the audience to whom all the facts about Kane is revealed to.
The movie overlaps the interviews to tell the life story of Kane while the flashbacks are doing the storytelling. The story is not told in chronologic manor, uses several techniques to tell the story of Kane. The angles used to portray certain scenes, getting all of views in, having lighting changes, shadows are all creative to the movie and introducing these techniques into Hollywood
The shots make the actors more courageous or important. As it is in the film when the body of Claire lies on the glass while Norman stands over her, the low shot shows that he is the bad guy and is in control. A boundary that was never stated, although portrayed by the camera angles. Zemeckis, as a director, only allows certain things to be seen at a time to help the audience catch certain actions of the characters. When she walks backwards down the steps and the view is up the stairs, limiting the audience’s view of what’s behind Claire.
V for Vendetta, directed by Alan Moore in 2005 was an eye opening film, with aspects from the past and predictions for the future, the film left many uncertain how to feel. Being placed in the dystopian genre, the film uses many codes and conventions to connect them to the genre. V 's revolutionary speech helps bring hope to the society. The film was born through an illness and plague that had effected the world. The storyline begins to unfold with the rising of High Chancellor Sutler, which was oddly similar to Hitler, who created a government to oppress the people’s liberty.
Shot Analysis: Citizen Kane Orson Welles, director of “Citizen Kane”, is well known for his unusual directing methods that defied conventional cinematic techniques. Welles provided his audience with original forms of cinematography, narrative structures, and music. The scene I chose to analyze is extremely important to the plot of the film because Kane begins to realize that he is going through some serious financial problems. During the scene, Kane maintains a sarcastic mood, until he finally decides to surrender and signs the papers that transfer the ownership of his media empire to Mr. Thatcher.
Directed by Orson Welles, the 1941 motion picture “Citizen Kane” is the story of the rise and fall of a great, influential man. The opening scenes of “Citizen Kane” are quite different from what follows during the rest of the film. Fading in and out of different landscapes instilled mystery. This mysterious vibe was carried on during Charles Foster Kane’s death through the use of shadows, quiet music, and close up shots. Isolated in his vast empire of a home, Kane uttered only one word before he passed: “rosebud.”
ARTS1501 Abigail Natnat March 30, 2016 N01100811 Film Essay Assignment The first sequence is the last scene from Apocalypse Now (1979) which was directed by Francis Ford Coppola. This scene is popularly known as “The Horror” and is a hybrid of classical paradigm and formalist style. It is a classical paradigm because the sequence is actually going about with a story which means that some of the parts are continually edited revealed to be in one setting which is the jungle where Captain Willard takes on with his assigned mission to deal with Colonel Kurtz. On the other hand, the scene is also a formalist style which particularly touches on each of the montage types.