Citizen Kane Challenges Classic Hollywood Cinema

Francis Ford Coppola executed some of the most iconic scenes in film history using a plethora of film techniques, music, and lighting. He used all these appliances at his disposal to compose a marvelous film that would be remembered for all its

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.

(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

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.”

Citizen Kane challenged the traditional narrative and technical elements of classic Hollywood cinema mainly in the area of sound. Orson Welles was ahead of his time when he created his works of manipulating sound to transfer meaning in the film Citizen Kane. Welles used concealed hanging microphones to obtain different levels of sound throughout the film. The manner, in which the story was told, from Kane’s death flashbacked to his life of success and ultimate failure, was also a new style of storytelling for films. Welles also used symbolism with his last mumbling word “Rosebud.”

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

The themes that are most prevalent in Citizen Kane are the American Dream, power and egotism. When this movie was released in the 1940s, the American Dream was supposed to have a positive connotation attached to it. It was supposed to be what every

Citizen Kane by Orson Welles is a cinematic classic, released in 1941. Citizen Kane challenged traditional narrative and technical elements of classic Hollywood cinema. Kane was narrated by several people that include their take on Kane’s life. The story unfolds by many flashbacks and is told by different perspectives over the years through different narrations. Charles Foster Kane was a millionaire, head of newspapers and died saying “rosebud”.

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.

In this critique we'll be looking at some of the technical, artistic, and filmic merits in Citizen Kane. Welles and his team were extremely innovative and set precedence with certain techniques they used.

Under the corporation of Welles and his brilliant cinematography technician Greg Tolan, the initial film noir style image was first created. It is unbelievable that this incredible work is only a testing sample directed by a 25-year-old. The editor Robert Wise has claimed that people usually see Welles as a brilliant film maker, but they don't realize that he also did amazing works behind the camera. Until now, the Citizen Kane is still regarded as forever top 5 in the history of American film industry.

In this essay I will be comparing the themes and the narrative techniques used in both films. Starting off with the film “Citizen Kane” as mentioned it is a story of a millionaire, Charles Foster Kane. It begins with Kane’s death and speaks a single word: “Rosebud”. The reporters in the hunt to know

He does this by enveloping history in an attractive package of visual effects, a theme of mystery and a very strong cast of actors. It is a movie within a movie and brings back to screen the forgotten works of the nineteenth century to the general

Orson Welles is known for his wide variety of techniques and forms. His use of Backlighting, superimpose, dissolve, and his visually smooth transitions tie in with his use of extreme long shots, close ups, high angles, low angles, pans, tilts, and tracking to make his movie, “Citizen Kane”, flow smoothly. His use and changing of different techniques highlight the lonely, power-hungry and incomplete Charles Kane. The movie “Citizen Kane” starts off with a close up of a “No Trespassing” sign then tracks over the fence to give a view of the property.

With strategically placed hidden microphones throughout the set, Welles was allotted the opportunity to catch each of the subtle nuances of the scene. “We hear these multiple sounds simultaneously, distinctly, and at the proper sound levels in relation to the camera’s placement, so that the farther we are from the sound, the softer and less distinct the sound becomes” (Barsam & Monahan, 2016, p. 398). The strategic placement of these microphones allowed for the depth of the sound where some noises throughout the scenes would be duller than others. Due to the fact that he had produced “a cluttered soundscape of live and dubbed music, sound effects and competing lines of dialogue” (Lewis, 2008, p.161) with this approach, he gave himself the opportunity to really show the way sound plays a role within the movie. There was background conversation, music and actual dialogue that all occurred at the same time.