Beauty of Sound (Citizne Kane)

Even at a very young age people around the young Orson recognized his genius. His first stage appearance was at the age of 3. While the role probably did not require great acting skill, by the age of 16 he presented himself to the Gate Theatre in Dublin as a professional actor and he made his Broadway debut at 19 as Shakespeare's Tybalt from Romeo and Juliet. In the next few years Welles established himself as a very competent figure in all aspects of stage production and even formed a repertory company with the director/producer John Houseman. The Mercury Pl

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Welles' movement from focus on sound, Kane's last words, to focus on visuals, the shattering snow globe, forms a delicate, artistic balance. In addition, he was involved in the dubbing process so that the audio effects of the music could be integrated with the film. As stated above, the composer worked directly with the director to integrate the sound and video. " (Herrmann 70) There are only two main motifs, but they are certainly important ones; they are those of Kane's power, represented by 'a simple four-note figure in the brass' (Herrmann 70) and rosebud, represented by "a solo on the vibraphone" (Herrmann 70). Whereas most directors before Welles used sound as an indication for the audience to know how to feel in a given scene, he used sound as simply the voice of the film; if the audience felt sad or happy it was not because the film had manipulated them into it, it was because the dramatic power of the collaboration between camera and score had actually moved them. If we close our eyes while the scene is running, the sound track alone tells us what is happening. This technique is very effectively utilized as Kane mumbles his last words and looses his grip on the snow globe; even though the snow globe proceeds to fall to the hard floor and shatter into pieces, there is no sound to accompany this event. " (Carringer 102)

Herrmann had worked with Welles on the radio and given his history as an impressive conductor and composer, he also had much experience and knowledge in the way that a story could be told through strictly aural means. Herrmann actually was able to work on the film as it was shot which allowed him to sense how the movie was progressing and get a feel of how his music helped it do so. Because he had a great deal of knowledge on how to express narration through sound, and almost none on how to do so on film, he used the soundtrack as an integral part of the storytelling device of the movie. For example, they blended the sound effects with the music "to add intensity to certain scenes," (Herrmann 71) a technique borrowed from radio. In his time in radio, Welles had to have known that dead air was almost never productive, and yet in film he could use the power of silence while letting the camera keep up the forward motion of the narrative.

This experience in radio played a major role in Welles' development of Citizen Kane. ayers, as they were called, aired a weekly radio program with CBS for two years before Welles performed The War of the Worlds, as I said, the production which firmly established him as a household name and which greatly influenced RKO's decision to offer him an unheard of contract for almost complete production control of six feature films.

Common topics in this essay:
Citizen Kane, Hollywood Herrmann, War Worlds, Herrmann Welles, Juliet Welles, Theatre Dublin, Mercury Players, HG Well's, citizen kane, herrmann 70, , Orson Welles', effects music, snow globe, sound effects music, war worlds, sound effects, established household, borrowed radio, musical score, incidental music, established household name,

Approximate Word count = 1372
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

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