Citizen Kane
The 1941 groundbreaking drama Citizen Kane, by Orson Welles, proved to extend far beyond the sum of its original worth. The audiences of the time never fully grasped the deeper meaning behind the story and as a result it suffered financially. However, today amidst all the visual effects and CGI thrown into almost every movie, Citizen Kane still holds the bar for its ability to tell a story within the story. The aspects of the movie that intrigue this avid moviegoer are the ways in which Welles is able to manipulate the film and the lighting in order to produce a cinematographic wonder. His ability to create new camera shots and tell us something about the characters just by their placement within the scene and the angles in which they were filmed gives you an insight to his character's development without having to say a word. And, in comparison to other movies of its time, Citizen Kane consciously moved in a different direction, pushing the boundaries of filming and the capturing of the audiences' perception. One of the finest examples in which Welles boasts his complete control over the medium of film is in the very beginning of the movie. At the time, many genre of film were being used to convey different cinematic ideas to
It is as though an ethereal glow surrounds her face, giving her a very feminine, and soft presence, hence the term soft lens. To delve more into the idea of deeper meanings behind the camera, Welles would use certain camera effects to tell you about the seniority of characters within the scene. This might be an inference towards the already standing theme of a want or return back to the childhood of Charles Kane as though that part of his life is something holy, almost spiritual. Orsen Welles made wonderful use of this film when designing Citizen Kane. This repetition of techniques draws inferences for the attentive audience deeper into the minds of the writers and characters. Film types such as 'the musical', 'news reels', and 'dramas', were each created with certain attributes in their filming so that the audiences could distinguish one from the other. ' To capture an even greater essence of the power or weakness the character may have, Welles would place the camera at a lower or higher level. The style of these newsreels was, in a way, standardized so as to catch the attention of the audience as something noteworthy. The audience is made quite aware throughout the course of the film that the style of newspaper that Kane runs is that of a gossip newspaper and that the stories behind the headlines are what are truly important. Welles wished to capture the power of this scene as well as the level of conflict that was about to take place by placing the camera low to the ground. Welles throughout the entirety of the movie uses the depth of the camera and characters to create visual levels of importance. One of the most extreme examples occurs when Thompson enters the office of Kane completely drunk. The first instance of this occurs in the scene with Charles Kane, his parents, and the banker.
Common topics in this essay:
Charles Kane,
Citizen Kane,
Emily Norton,
Foster Kane's,
Kane Gettys,
Maltese Falcon,
Orson Welles,
Orsen Welles,
Mary Astor,
Arthur Edeson,
charles kane,
citizen kane,
emily norton,
life charles,
life charles kane,
orsen welles,
importance instance occurs,
occurs reporter,
welles actually,
welles camera,
phone booth,
welles able,
contrast dark light,
banker father charles,
characters emily norton,
|
Acceptance Essays
