Citizen Kane Film Techniques

Citizen kane film techniques Continue Cinema through pink color glasses. There is hardly a shot at Orson Heles' high achievers who don't use some ingenious trick involving camera, editing, sound, staging or production design. Kane doesn't invent all his methods, but this is one of the few photos I can think of that uses almost everyone in the movie playbook. The film is like a dictionary of cinematic language, even to this day. First released little fanfare in 1941, but since critical touchstone, Kane, in retrospect, seems designed to do nothing less than win the best film of all time honors. It's that ambitious, that brash, that confident, that's good. Welles, who directed and co-wrote the screenplay with Herman Mankiewicz, stars as Charles Foster Kane. As a boy, Kane is sent by his mother to grow up in the privileged care of a wealthy guardian. While this upbringing allows him great material comfort - eventually a newspaper empire modeled after the actual William Randolph Hearst - it also leaves him with an emotional wound from which he never fully recovers. Kane is based on simple pop psychology, but the cinematic technique Welles and his collaborators used to flesh out their fictional biopic is amazing. One of the first visual flourishes is an external snapshot of Kane's deathbed silhouette through the glow of his castle window, just before he utters his mysterious last word, Rosebud. With a flash of lightning and a subtle shift in the lighting scheme, we suddenly look at Kane from the opposite perspective, from inside the room. Kane often travels without the help of conventional editing. From there, the film skips back to find out how a once playful boy turned light-hearted young millionaire turned idealistic journalist ended up as a bitter, vanquished and lonely old man. We learn about him mostly through memories told by the crucial figures in his life, including Joseph Cotton as his once loyal friend Jedidiah Leland and Dorothy Comingore as his second wife Susan Alexander. Put these disparate pieces together and you get the ultimate portrait of American success as your worst enemy. The higher Kane rises, it seems, the less happy he is. Early on, in one of the film's countless classic lines, young Kane offers a prophetic observation: If I wasn't very rich, I might be a really great man. At least Kane is a really great movie - arguably the greatest. Citizen Kane Orson Heles is a milestone in the history of Hollywood cinema. This in no part of the mall is associated with an unprecedented amount of creative control, leaving it RKO Studios. Welles was undoubtedly a genius, but his uncompromising pursuit of artistic integrity, combined with film concepts and production techniques is considered at the time, it turns out not to be conducive to Hollywood Hollywood Unfortunately, the degree of freedom that would contribute to the realization of his cinematic debut is never repeated with any of the subsequent films enfant terrible. Thus, the magnum-opus who is citizen Kane survives as a lasting testament to his author's director of innovation. Editing welles, cinematography, storytelling, mise-en-scene, sound, acting, and props are key elements in this regard. The manipulation of Wallace's time was crucial in maintaining the non-linear history of Citizen Kane. This was partly achieved through transitions consisting of dissolving and reducing form. For example, when Kane, the new owner of The Inquirer, asks why the rival newspaper Chronicle has a larger circulation, his loyal collaborator Bernstein (Everett Sloan) attributes it to their journalistic integrity. It is specified that he points to a photo of the Chronicle's editorial office. The image continues to fade into a slow dissolution while simultaneously moving in the form of cut the same staff in identical intermediate positions, except this time posing for a photo shoot Of The Inquirer. Thus, the cinematic language of Welles without words promotes history, eliminating the time it takes to show Kane buying the integrity and loyalty of his competition. The theme of buy and sell applies to the childhood of the main character as well. In particular, the scene when Charlie's parents give his banker Walter Parks Thatcher (George Coloris). In this case, cameraman Gregg Toland using deep attention and a long camera takes help telling a story. The short lens used in this example provides a great depth of field that allows us to clearly see Charlie playing outside the window against the background of the central frame. He is also dominant in the frame in the frame, foreshadowing his imminent capture and loss of innocence. In addition, the long camera takes time to give us time to take information about adult characters based on their actions. For example, Mrs. Kane's stern face and stoic posturing in the right foreground underlines her concentrated control over the details of Thatcher's contract (which is appropriate because it includes the welfare of her son). Despite her patrician facade, Mrs. Kane wants Charles to have a better life, even if she has to be with the head of Wall Street as his guardian. Her husband, on the other hand, falls apart from the middle of the ground to the foreground, all the while babbling ineffectively like a doddering old fool. He clearly has no control over the situation. The wide-angle deep focus photography lens allows all four characters in the frame to stay focused, no matter how far away they are. In addition, the lack of distracting edits allows every aspect of the performances, along with a well-planned misano-scene, to be taken in of their own accord. One way the facts about Kane are taken in the audience is through the film's innovative storytelling devices. There are two examples that occur at the beginning of the film that help us learn about our main character before we actually hear him tell his own story. The first way is achieved by using footage of the news announcing his death. It begins with the booming, non-synchronized voice of the narrator announcing the death of Charles Foster Kane. Descriptions of his wealth and influence are accompanied by Xanadu's transient napkins (Kane's palace residence), his extensive art collection and many guests enjoying a stay at the estate of a military speculator (among them optically printed Adolf Hitler). The narrator also explains how the newspaper mogul's extramarital affair with Susan Alexander (Dorothy Comingore) cost him his bid for politics. The second way to learn about Kane takes place in a darkened cinema hall when the March of Time movie theater ends. In his attempt to humanize Kane for further comment, the director of the newspaper demands more background information about the deceased tycoon. We can then disassemble bits and pieces of speculation amid the noise of overlapping dialogue (the general trail of welles) that follows, including the current whereabouts of his second wife, Susan. It also serves as a starting point for lead reporter Jerry Thompson (William Aland) to launch his investigation. The starting point for investigating the audience begins with the installation of a shot of Xanadu. These same images also appear at the end of the film, essentially bookending the story. While both emphasize its richness, each scene offers a different takeaway for the viewer. For example, the film begins with a rising crane shot above the wrought iron K at the top of Xanadu's main gate. In the distance, Kane's palace (matte picture) looms on a hazy background, which, like the main character, is shrouded in the unknown. While we know little about Kane at the moment, the roaming camera shows a private zoo, golf course, and docked gondola materializing out of the fog. It is obvious that a rich man lives here. However, once we learn of his death, our perspective changes. For example, at the end of the film, a bird's-eye view of a tracking shot (camera mounted on an overhead cable) curates over Kane's labyrinthine crate art. Xanadu's collection of empty luxury is no different from the pyramid collection; both retaining the wealth of troubled people inside their tomb of shattered dreams. Sometimes, ear-shattering sounds serve as signals for the transitions taking place in Citizen Kane. Although the God-like introduction of the newsreel, News on the March! is a salient example, the most innovative (and bizarre) use of sound occurs in the third act to herald his wife's mission from her gilded As the shot begins, a loud squeal is heard from a huge cockatoo optically printed on the left side of the frame. Presumably, only the audience can see and hear the cockatoo, although it is plausible that the bird call comes from the enclosure at the Xanadu zoo. This digital sound effect, however, means Mrs. Kane's cry for freedom, as well as imitation of her limited opera vocal range. The image of the bird then dissolves into a full shot of Kane approaching the bedroom, inside which Susan hastily packs her suitcases. Like the cockatoo, Susan Kane is seen by her husband as an object of beauty that must be accumulated and preserved along with other symbols of his material wealth. Like the use of his newspaper as a platform for yellow journalism, and the dubious ethics employed in his rivals for public office, Susan's departure is another failure in control, leading to Kane's frustration. The plausibility of Welles's character metamorphoses from a young entrepreneur into a disillusioned old hermit can be partly explained to compose.

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