Mise-En-Scene Techniques In Citizen Kane

Photographically, Kane ushered in a revolution ‘challenging the classical ideal of a transparent style’ that doesn’t call attention to itself. In Kane, the ‘style was part of the show’. The lighting in the movie is generally in mostly high key in those scenes depicting Kane’s youth & dealing w/his years as a crusading young publisher (the happier part of his life). As he grows older & more cynical, the lighting grows darker, more harshly contrasting.

“This presents a unique approach that has collectively challenged the usual character presentation” (Kolker, 2009, 331). The audience identifies more with the characters who portray a more realistic image of the known human environment. The creative storytelling technique employed by Citizen Kane , whereby the biographical film realistically portrays a long time period, and this allows characters to age in the progress of the story. The story is narrated in overlapping segments, as opposed to being a more chronological and linear narrative. “There is more information being added with each narrator contributing his or her part of the story” (Cameron, 2008, p 341).

The play Macbeth by William Shakespeare and 1941 film Citizen Kane possess many similarities in themes and characters, despite the completely different settings and plots. Both main characters are ambitious and determined to achieve a goal, even to a certain point where they lose everything truly meaningful to them. While Macbeth strives to become king of Scotland, Charles Foster Kane attempts to become popular and influential. Both Macbeth and Citizen Kane desire to be powerful members of their respective societies and receive respect and recognition from their acquaintances. In both works, they acquired everything they thought they wanted, yet realised they could not have what they truly desired, essentially ending up with “nothing of value”.

The story of Charles Foster Kane has been played out many times in several movies, books, and even in real life. There is a man with nothing, who gains everything due to his conniving manner as well as backbiting tendencies. Being narcissistic and boorish are also common themes among such characters. They become corrupt due to the power they have. In the end, they are left with nothing.

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,

I agree that Welles used intersting camera work to communicate certain elements of the story. I notice that the shots were always centered around the mother of Charles Foster Kane. The angles portrayed her as having much more say over what happens to the child over the father, who remains barely in the shot for a large portion of the scene. With the camera not movie during the scence in which the paper are being signed, it almost seems like the father is trying to push himself into focus but is only treated as a bystander with no say in what happens. I also found it very compelling how stone faced the mother was during the entire scene.

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.”

As a child, Kane was happy as we see in the scene where he is playing in the snow outside the family’s home, even though his parents owned a boarding house they were categorized low class. But all that changed for Kane, when Thatcher took him from this low class lifestyle, and placed in what only seemed like the American dream, a luxurious life. Overtime he finds that those materialistic things don’t make him happy and the exchange of emotional security for financial security is ultimately displeasing. The American dream becomes indented for Kane. As he grows-up, he uses his wealth and power to build and buy his own happiness (love).

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 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

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 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