Citizen Kane involved many cinematic advances that transformed movie making. Traditionally, movies were made using a continuity of narrative and event. The plot line was chronological, the story unfolded seamlessly, and the lighting and camera angles highlighted the actors and propelled them into stardom. A studio style was born where a film became known for its linear style. (Lewis, 2008, page 106) Citizen Kane challenged this accepted studio style by rearranging plot sequence, innovating camera angle, lighting, composition, and altering narrative structure. One of the main cinematic elements that Citizen Kane challenged was the focus of the camera lens. Until this picture, movies highlighted the actors in the forefront of the …show more content…
Hollywood film making was regulated by the studio contracts that dictated a certain style that studios became known for. The studio employed all the actors, writers, camera people, directors, everyone who worked on a film all were contracted to the studio. Therefore, the actors gained an on screen presence that made them famous. Wells had creative rights to his movie, and he cast stage actors who had not made movies. Their classic theatrical style complimented the deep focus element and allowed this technological innovation to shine. (www.sparknotes.com) Plot sequence was traditionally played out in chronological order. Orson Wells rearranged plot order and began with the death of the main character, Charles Foster Kane. The story sequence then follows a series of flashbacks that are told by characters who are reporting on their interaction or involvement with Kane throughout his life. The flashbacks create a doubt as to the accuracy of the memory of Kane. The audience is left wondering about the true meaning Rosebud. The viewer is forced to reason whether Kane was truly a good person or was he the troubled soul that he outwardly
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...
In cinema, lighting, blocking and panning drastically influence what an audience will notice and take away from a scene. Orson Welles’s 1941 Citizen Kane has numerous examples of effectively using these aspects within mise-en-scène, cinematography and editing to portray the importance of specific events and items in the film. The scene where Kane writes and then publishes his “Declaration of Principles” (37:42-39:42) in the New York Daily Inquirer after buying them focuses on important elements of the film, aiding the audience by combining lighting, blocking and panning to define significant roles and objects that further the movie as a whole.
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.
Jacobs, Lewis. “Refinements in Technique.” The Rise of the American Film. New York: Teachers College Press, 1974. 433-452. Print.
Before Citizen Kane, filmmaking was easily predictable and virtually all the movies used the same stagnant camera angles, same lighting, and similar sets. Citizen Kane broke all the settled rules and introduced exceptional storytelling and Cinematography methods to the Hollywood.
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.
The debate over Casablanca and Citizen Kane has been a classic argument between film critics and historians alike because both of these pieces contain great cinematographic value, and are timeless pictures that have managed to captivate audiences well beyond their era. However, the real question at hand is which film is the greatest? Which film transformed the future of American film making? It is these questions that I as many others have, will attempt to answer in the following essay as I explain why I believe Citizen Kane has achieved the status of greatest film ever made.
John Ford was an American motion-picture director. Winner of four Academy Awards, and is known as one of America’s great film directors. He began his career in the film industry around 1913. According to Ellis, Ford’s style is evident in both the themes he is drawn toward and the visual treatment of those themes, in his direction of the camera and in what’s in front of it. Although he began his career in the silent film area and continued to work fruitfully for decades after the thirties, Ford reached creative maturity in the thirties. Ford, unlike other directors continued to do some of his finest work after the nineteen thirties. Nevertheless, he shaped his art into personal and full expression during those precedent-setting years. (Pg.200)
The story of Charles Foster Kane was truly one that could go on as timeless. Born in poverty Kane was given away with the promise of having a better life. In a material point of view Kane lived a very fulfilling life filled with anything he ever wanted. Although throughout the movie, Kane despised the situation in which he was brought up in. Being placed under the care of his mother’s banker really influenced the way he viewed the world. He considered himself a people’s person a sort of hero for those in worse situations than his own. The mass appeal for this character along with the truly original storyline and plenty other factors led many people everywhere to gain a huge appreciation of this movie. Despise its early failure following its
All directors of major motion pictures have specific styles or signatures that they add in their work. Alfred Hitchcock, one of the greatest directors of all time, has a particularly unique style in the way he creates his films. Film analyzers classify his distinctive style as the “Alfred Hitchcock signature”. Hitchcock’s signatures vary from his cameo appearances to his portrayal of a specific character. Two perfect examples of how Hitchcock implements his infamous “signatures” are in the movies, A Shadow of a Doubt and Vertigo. In these movies, numerous examples show how Hitchcock exclusively develops his imagination in his films.
Many devices such as theme, subject and meaning reflect different aspects of a film. The time and place that the movie is made are usually affected but this.
According to historians like Neil Burch, the primitive period of the film industry, at the turn of the 20th century was making films that appealed to their audiences due to the simple story. A non-fiction narrative, single shots a burgeoning sense
The ambiguous nature of truth in media is clearly demonstrated throughout the whole of Citizen Kane. This is initially portrayed through the newspaper headlines at the start of the film which are shown to juxtapose each other and help to show different perspectives of Kane’s death. The Inquirer states that the “Entire nation Mourns Great Publisher” in contrast to the Chronicle which states that “Few will Mourn Him”. This beginning not only introduces the newspaper magnate Kane and the influence of fame but also the fact that truth is completely based on perspective and is not subjective, especially in the media. This is also portrayed when comparing the anecdotes of the loyal Bernstein and the bitter Leland. Bernstein’s account shows Kane as
With the loss of its centralized structure, the film industry produced filmmakers with radical new ideas. The unique nature of these films was a product of the loss of unified identity.
The highly acclaimed Citizen Kane creates drama and suspense to the viewer. Orson Welles designed this film to enhance the viewer’s opinion about light and darkness, staging, proxemics, personal theme development, and materialism. Creating one of the most astounding films to the cinematography world, Welles conveys many stylistic features as well as fundamentals of cinematography. It is an amazing film and will have an everlasting impact on the world of film.