Mise-en-scene in Citizen Kane and Persona

615 Words2 Pages

Mise-en-scene in Citizen Kane and Persona

Mise-en-scene is the principle by which a piece of film will derive its meaning wholly from what happens in the single shot and not from the relationship between two shots. For example the director might include shots with various composition, angle, depth, movement, and lighting.

Citizen Kane has many good examples to show Mise-on-scene usage. The scene that I believe is the most significant and powerful mise-en-scene that I have this seen this semester exists in this movie. This occurs when the parents of the young boy are speaking with a gentleman in the house. As the people are speaking we see the boy playing in the snow as we look into the background through the window. This scene represents the innocence that is stolen from him in this exact moment. Here he is pure and innocent and naïve, but we never see him in this state after the pivotal change that is taking place without his knowledge. The boy ultimately stays in the middle of the frame the whole movie this making this part the most dramatic of the movie. A decision is being made on the boy’s life and the boy is unknowing of it and doesn't have a care in the world as he plays in the snow. The entire movie is affected by this one scene that continues with the boy in the middle the entire time. His dying word is “rosebud”. This is the sled that he was playing with during this important scene. Without this scene we would not know the importance of the sled at the end....

Show More
Related

  • Parallelism In Fargo

    1886 Words  | 4 Pages

    As I mentioned earlier, the clutter in the Gunderson’s home does speak volumes about who they are as people. Well very proud and honest people, they are very flawed and blue collar. This clutter is continued on in the kitchen. The shelf behind the kitchen table is filled with pictures and other nick-nacks. This clutter is eerily reminiscent of the middle class household portrayed by the MacGuff’s in the film Juno. These families both are not going to make sure everything in their home is pristine, but their way of life is really not too uncommon. It really does embody a lot of blue collar America. Another good use of mise en scene in this sequence was the very gray and desolate skyline during the murder investigation. Murder obviously is not a light topic, so the dark atmosphere in the sky very much fits into the theme of this scene. The last thing I’d like to mention about mise en scene and staging takes me back to the opening zoom of this sequence. Along with the visual theatrics zoom, the sudden appearance of nondiegetic music also insinuates this is quite an important scene in the film. Once we hear the dramatic strings, we know something dramatic is about to happen, especially because the music is clearly not coming from something on the screen. This nondiegetic sound can be a useful tool to setting a scene and properly utilizing mise en scene and at the end of day, setting the scene is key in a naturalistic

    Read More

  • Mise-En-Scene In Modern Times

    1224 Words  | 3 Pages

    In conclusion, the mise-en-scene and its elements are very important decisions that are needed to make a good film. If a film was lacking figure expression and movement actors would be nothing more than stick people with blank expressions and very limited movement. The sets and props used in films would be boring or generic if no decisions were made regarding it and the same goes for costumes and makeup. Without these elements, without mise-en-scene, Chaplin’s film Modern Times, and every other film would be complete and total dud and little to none of the emotions the film would try to evoke would come

    Read More

  • Comparing Two Great Directors: Roman Polanski and Pedro Almodovar

    1503 Words  | 4 Pages

    Mise en scene generally means everything within the shot, everything that the camera is showing. Mise-en-scene is all about the film staging, all that is visible in front of the camera and all its design included; trim, music, clothing, environment, camera movements, makeup etc. Every director in the world uses their own different kind of techniques when making movies, and it is very common that a director becomes famous and well-known just because of that; their own style of making movies. As directors worldwide are working in different ways, and using their own, special style, they also use ”mise-en-scene” in different ways.

    Read More

  • Analyzing Broken Blossoms Movie

    723 Words  | 2 Pages

    Mise-en-scene includes everything that appears in front of the camera. The director generally controls these elements. The mise-en-scene affects if the audience perceives the degree of realism or fantasy in the film. Broken Blossoms clearly aims for realism, however, the actors needed a more expressive style in order to portray their characters without sound.

    Read More

  • Singing in the Rain

    1883 Words  | 4 Pages

    The properties of mise en scene were fully effective in the beginning flashback scene. At the beginning of Don Lockw... ... middle of paper ... ... nd that the superimposed duo were taken from. They proceed to dance for a couple of minutes and when they are finished there is no reaction.

    Read More

  • Quilting Essay

    1249 Words  | 3 Pages

    Quilts viewed from an artistic point began in the early 20th century. The-back-to-the-land movement focused on handcrafted traditions as a part of the return of pre-industrial lifestyle. During the

    Read More

  • Registered Nurses

    708 Words  | 2 Pages

    Nurses are considered the backbone of the hospital due to their hours of hard work and determination to help patients. Being a nurse is a great opportunity for people to show the world what they can do and to put themselves out there to make a difference. A nursing career can help you to become more confident in yourself. There are many types of nurses but we will be focusing on Registered Nurses(RN) because RN’s are the main connection between the doctors and the patients. Registered Nurses have long hours, many daily duties, and even influence the other nurses by guiding them in their career. However, they are rewarded with a good salary, and the thought knowing that they saved lives that day.

    Read More

  • Frankenstein vs. The Bride of Frankenstein

    447 Words  | 1 Pages

    In The Bride of Frankenstein, there were many mise en scenes that could be easily found. For one thing, there were many religious symbols thrown in all around the movie. There were many crosses, which had been placed inside the houses. There was a good amount of talking about blasphemy and whether creating this monster was good or bad. One of the biggest issues was about how Dr. Frankenstein seemed to play the role of God. He was creating beings and bringing parts of people back to life. Also, in many scenes, they would use unique camera angles to set up a scene in a particular manner so that the audience would know that something was about to happen. For example, when Elizabeth was in her room, the camera showed the window, Elizabeth, and the reflection of the mirror as the monster began to approach her.

    Read More

  • Symbolism In City Lights

    1813 Words  | 4 Pages

    Charlie Chaplin created amazing films with his career as a director, screenwriter, actor, producer and musician. City Lights is a story of the tramp who falls in love. He is blown away by the unexpected love affair with the flower girl. He does everything in his power to help her and along the way befriends the millionaire. The story shows the contrasts between the two very different worlds of the rich and the poor. The tramp befriends the damsel in distress millionaire and sparks a friendship where the tramp then sees the lives of both worlds. The mise en scene is a way that shows how different each scene is by the way each character lives their life. Not only in the contrast between the rich and the poor, but also a contrast to happiness verses the unhappy. The mise en scene shows symbols of props that represent how the characters are feeling and what we are suppose to be feeling as we watch what is going on onscreen. Mise en scene is used to tell the story and there are many aspects that come together. The composition, props,

    Read More

  • Mise En-Scéne: Analysis: Inside Out

    1132 Words  | 3 Pages

    Mise-en-scéne is something that we see in movies all the time. It’s translated from French and means the staging the different aspects of a movie such as setting, lighting, subjects, or almost anything else. Any common movie, such as Inside Out, shows Mise-en-snéne in it. Three big parts of Mise-en-scéne that are shown in the movie Inside Out are cinematography, sound, and editing. Inside Out uses all of these by describing a plot in which there are feelings in our brains which connect to different memories that we can remember at any time. There were five main emotions that controlled the person on the outside whose name was Riley. The five emotions were named, Joy, Fear, Anger, Disgust and Sadness. They helped Riley as she moved away from

    Read More

  • The Effect of Fine Arts Instruction on Cognitive Development

    3538 Words  | 8 Pages

    Positive test results have shown that this is true. Different findings have suggested that “different types of music instruction affect different aspects of cognition” (Rauscher, 2003, pp. 3-4). Rauscher found effects from a number of research studies, connecting keyboard instruction and aspects of cognition. In one of these tests, the preschoolers that were tested showed a 46 percent boost in their spatial IQ after taking eight months of keyboard lessons (Rauscher, 2003). Another test showed students scoring 51 points higher on verbal and 39 points higher on math from their SATs after participating in fine arts (Mitofsky, 2002). Scientific studies have shown how active music making, as opposed to passive listening improves brainpower. This increases spatial-temporal reasoning, and increases test scores (AMC, 2004).

    Read More

  • Cinematography and the Film Citizen Kane (1941)

    867 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Cinematography In The Matrix

    1067 Words  | 3 Pages

    Mise-en-scene is used in many different parts of the movie to help the viewers feel as if they are a part of what is going on. An example of the use of mise-en-scene and also lighting used throughout the movie is when the characters are inside the matrix. The camera has a slight shade of green on everything during the scene. This could be identified as mise-en-scene. The green lighting is used to inform the viewers that the scene is taking place inside the matrix and it could also be a form of a lighting technique. The computer code is green, also which links it to the matrix. Then it changes to a blue light when they are back in the real world. Another technique of mise-en-scene is used when Neo first enters the matrix. He is in a room that is completely solid white and appears to be never-ending. This technique is used to show that

    Read More

  • Musical Ability Case Study

    1269 Words  | 3 Pages

    In recent years, research has made connections between the intelligence of children and musical ability (Gershon 2014; Schellenberg 2011; Sherman 2011, Vitale 2011). Most researchers who believe in this theory argue that the millions of synapses firing during musical activity strengthens one’s cognitive abilities such as IQ, creativity, communication skills, problem solving skills, and memory. This is supported by the many research opportunities they have taken part in, the observations and experiments they performed, and their first-hand experiences (Gershon 2014; Sherman 2011; Schellenberg 2004; Vitale 2011). Some researchers even say it could prevent diseases such as

    Read More

  • Arts And Crafts Movement Essay

    1946 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Arts and Crafts movement, like many art movements, began as a reaction to the industrialization of society nearly a century earlier. Although it had roots in Britain, where the Industrial Revolution began, around 1880, the Arts and Crafts move...

    Read More

More about Mise-en-scene in Citizen Kane and Persona

Open Document