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Citizen kane film review essay
Elements of film mise en scene
Analysis and criticism of the film citizen kane
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Citizen Kane Analysis Often regarded as one of the greatest films ever made, Citizen Kane written and directed by Orson Welles is a classic film that defied the conventional styles of the Hollywood Cinema. Welles was committed to the Mise-En-Scene of his movies by using his characters, props, settings, and even the camera to tell the story of his characters. The Lighting, the camera shots, and the character 's actions to depict the life of Charles Foster Kane. The Mise-En-Scene of this narrative creates a film that is ahead of it’s time and a genius innovation to the cinema. The mise-en-scene that is first seen in the sequence is Welles 's use of lighting. Throughout the film …show more content…
When Kane enters the Newspaper building, there are straight lines that surround him from the molding on the ceilings, the door frames, and the poles. These lines symbolize how straightforward and ambitious Kane is when he comes in, he assertively takes control of the newspaper business with no trouble. Lines can also be seen later on in the film when Kane is finishing Leland’s editorial. Kane is on the left side of the screen typing covered in shadows of the bars reflecting from a railing nearby, while Leland is on the right side of the screen looking over his shoulder, and Berinstein placed in the background. This evenly separates Kane and Leland with Bernstein behind, creating a frame that is divided into three. By framing the characters, Welles exemplifies crucial moments in the …show more content…
In the sequence, Wells uses low angles to showcase his characters and their status in the film, especially the shots with Mr.Carter and Kane. These shots are filmed at a low angle to depict how powerful Kane really is, with these shots they portray him towering over Carter, making it appear that he is capable of taking out whoever stands in his way. The low angles in this film are meant to isolate Kane and those who are around him to express that he is the king. Low angles shot are also seen when Leland confronts Kane about his egocentric personality after losing the election. This shot creates dramatic tension, but it still does not fail to make the shot about Kane because of the streamers and posters that surround them, which are a reminder of Kane and his loss. Though conflict arises from this scene, it is easy to see that even if Kane is being criticized, he still holds dominance. Citizen Kane is a timeless movie that revolutionized the film industry by bringing new techniques and ways to go about making a film that changed the Cinema forever. Orson Welles created a timeless picture by dedicated himself to the Mise-en-scene, he pushed the boundaries and found different ways to utilize what he already knew. The Mise-En-Scene of this narrative creates a film that is ahead of it’s time and a genius innovation to
mise-en-scene in any film, everything we see has a meaning. But the thing about lighting is we see it,
Beginning the mid 1920s, Hollywood’s ostensibly all-powerful film studios controlled the American film industry, creating a period of film history now recognized as “Classical Hollywood”. Distinguished by a practical, workmanlike, “invisible” method of filmmaking- whose purpose was to demand as little attention to the camera as possible, Classical Hollywood cinema supported undeviating storylines (with the occasional flashback being an exception), an observance of a the three act structure, frontality, and visibly identified goals for the “hero” to work toward and well-defined conflict/story resolution, most commonly illustrated with the employment of the “happy ending”. Studios understood precisely what an audience desired, and accommodated their wants and needs, resulting in films that were generally all the same, starring similar (sometimes the same) actors, crafted in a similar manner. It became the principal style throughout the western world against which all other styles were judged. While there have been some deviations and experiments with the format in the past 50 plus ye...
Mise-en-scène, what the audience sees in a film, is crucial to the movie’s development. Lighting and props are two of the many important aspects of this category. The previously mentioned scene has the goal of representing Kane’s early ideology of what the New York Daily Inquirer will become and provide for its readers. While writing the document, Welles constantly uses lighting to illuminate it for the audience, naturally drawing eyes to the paper even before it is introduced in the film. The lighting of the scene helps viewers identify the document’s value, especially in comparison to Kane as he tends to be less lit then the paper for the majority of scene. The other three cast members, Leland, Bernstein and briefly Sully, continue to be lit but almost never to the magnitude of the paper itself. The first cut of the scene shows Kane writing the document from outside; where a burning gas lamp is the key lighting, allowing the audience to easily notice both the flame and the paper. In the following cut, Kane continually looks at the paper and the gas flame as to signify their imp...
Orson Welles is a legend in itself. He is a dedicated director, actor, and artist. An artist in the sense he directed, produced, and was the star in the film Citizen Kane.' The film won an award for best screenplay that was co-written by Welles. Citizen Kane' brings into light many social problems between countries, relationships, and also between competing newspaper companies. The film was a big controversy when it was first released on a delay (because of personal conditions with W.R. Hearst). It brings into light how a newspaper should react and also brings the corruption of politics. War was breaking out in Europe and throughout the entire film Kane states there will be no war. He ignores the fact people are being killed, tortured, and rounded up like livestock because of Adolf Hitler. The film was released on May 1, 1941 a few days before Joseph Stalin becomes premier of Russia, a day before Nazis took over Netherlands, and eight days before the English army breaks the German codes.
Orson Wells’ film Citizen Kane received terrific reviews as soon as it opened in 1941. While the average movie buff would not value Citizen Kane as much, for the critics, directors and film students: it provides a technical handbook as to the nuts and bolts of how a film is to be assembled. It has now been chosen as the greatest American film in a number of polls due to the many remarkable scenes and performances, cinematic and narrative techniques and experimental innovations in photography, editing and sound.
Citizen Kane, is a 1941 American film, written, produced, and starred by Orson Welles. This film is often proclaimed by critics,filmmakers, and fans as one of the best if not the best film ever made. Citizen Kane is an unbelievable film becuase of how advanced it is compared to other films of its time. In the film, the producer used many different narrative elements to capture the audiences imagination. It truly is astounding how the filmmakers used certain editing techniques, sounds, and different narrative elements to illustrate the story and the plot. Although the plot isnt exactly captivating to the present day audience, this film is still amazing due to how much work and effort went into making it.
Suspense is a 1913 film that portrays the story of a tramp intruding into a family’s home, where a mother takes care of her child while her husband is away. The plot is a common one that had been used previous times before the film’s release, such as in The Lonely Villa (1909). However, through taking advantage of the single frame shot, the filmmakers were able to create a masterful aesthetic of two separate stories that turn a basic plot into a complex story. The film created an inventive way of illustrating stories within cinema by allowing the audience the chance to consume more narrative in less time within just one take.
Orson Welles’ cinematic classic, Citizen Kane, is a film that centers on a group of reporter’s investigation into the meaning of Charles Foster Kane’s last word, “Rosebud.” Through their investigation of his last words, the team of reporters, is presented with an almost, but not quite, complete picture of “Citizen” Kane’s life. By assuming that the man’s last word was as grandiose as his life, the reporters miss out on the bigger, more holistic picture, which is Charles Foster Kane’s life. The reporters’ emphasis of attention on what turns out to be a small and trivial, although they never find that out, aspect of Kane’s life, make Citizen Kane a perfect example of the pitfalls of over-interpretation.
Welles who would like to set up lights himself placed a grave importance on the lighting of the film. The lighting helped to compliment many of the films scenes by adding an effect of emotion. In scenes where the shadows would be more apparent there was normally something dark occurring, such as the scene where Kane is seen standing on his own after his second wife leaves him. As said by Roger Ebert “Welles created a gloomy dark visual the film world had yet to see.” The use of these techniques is seen by some as the pioneer or predecessor to the genre of noir that soon followed the film’s release. In addition, Kane had brought a great influence for French critics and filmmakers. Many began to use Welles techniques to create cinematic works of their own. This was known as the French New Wave a movement that combined philosophical and artistic themes in film. Along with the lighting Welles made sure to place musical soundtracks throughout the film a technique that hadn’t been used too often. These soundtracks helped add to the scenes and give them their own atmosphere. The musical soundtrack played a vital role in conveying the emotion of the film. In many of the scenes that contained their own sound a greater message was being conveyed than what the film was showing. Welles was very clever in his way of piecing the scenes
The Lady From Shanghai is a timeless film that captures how a black and white film can be interesting for viewers. The overall film was effective with the help of the mise en scene, cinematography and editing. Each of the three parts put together brought out the complexity and intensity of this film and they made The Lady From Shanghai the classic film that it is today.
Throughout the course of a lifetime, a common phrase heard is “don’t judge a book by its cover”. This phrase indicates the fact that it is nearly impossible to truly evaluate the life and feelings of a person just by what can be seen about them. This is the case in the film Citizen Kane, directed by Orson Welles. Charles Foster Kane is a man who would appear to the general public as having it all. A very popular man, Kane owns a successful newspaper company for which he is known worldwide. He builds a gigantic mansion for his second wife and himself, surrounded by intricate and expensive statues. Kane seems to be perfect in every single way, and one may think that he is the happiest man alive. However, Charles never had the things that
In the beginning, Thatcher believes that obtaining the newspaper company ‘The Inquirer’ is seemingly useless however Kane believes that this newspaper company can be used to “look after the underprivileged”. Emphasising the purpose and the ideals of Kane, however, this belief doesn’t last. As his paper grows in stature these morals begin to degrade. He starts to lie in the newspaper, which is shown in a line that was adopted from Hearst “you provide the prose poems, I’ll provide the war”. This parallelism provides the start of yellow journalism where the news is supposed to shock and therefore sell the paper even if the story is false. The start of the degradation of morals is shown by the chiaroscuro lighting as Kane signs the “Declaration of Principles”. As he signs this he is shown to move from the light into the shadows, foreshadowing Kane 's descent into corruption due to the hunger for power. This is coupled with the camera shooting Kane from a low angle symbolising Kane 's escalation in power which is shown to be the cause of the fall into corruption. The corruption of Kane is also shown in his relationship with Emily and the deterioration of their relationship. This is conveyed mainly through the montage scene which depicts Kane and Emily being close in proxemics implying initially the bond that they share however as time
Well’s uses lighting to represent who has the power and also shows the shift in power from Thatcher to Kane. In the scene where Wells montages Thacher, Kane’s legal guardian and financial advisor, Kane shows the power he has over Thatcher using his newspaper, The Inquirer,through high-key lighting.The scene begins with a letter written by Thatcher, immediately showing
There are four crucial scenes of this film in which Hitchcock shows a change in perspective and identity through the mise-en-scène. Hitchcock’s signature motifs, style, and themes are conveyed through the mise-en-scène.
The absolutely stunning film, Citizen Kane (1941), is one of the world’s most famous and highly renowned films. The film contains many remarkable scenes and cinematic techniques as well as innovations. Within this well-known film, Orson Welles (director) portrays many stylistic features and fundamentals of cinematography. The scene of Charles Foster Kane and his wife, Susan, at Xanadu shows the dominance that Kane bears over people in general as well as Susan specifically. Throughout the film, Orson Welles continues to convey the message of Susan’s inferiority to Mr. Kane. Also, Welles furthers the image of how demanding Kane is of Susan and many others. Mr. Welles conveys the message that Kane has suffered a hard life, and will continue to until death. Welles conveys many stylistic features as well as fundamentals of cinematography through use of light and darkness, staging and proxemics, personal theme development and materialism within the film, Citizen Kane.