Narrative Techniques Used In The Film 'Citizen Kane'

Welles used low-angle shots as a *motif* throughout the picture, especially ‘to emphasize the awesome power of the protagonist’. Combined w/the perspective-distorting wide-angle lens, such low-angle shots as the one filmed from below the floor, portray Kane as a towering colossus, capable of crushing anything that gets in his

I dove deeper into the rabbit hole, and tried to see how far it went. After talking with a colleague of Mr. Kane, I was led to a man named Mr. Thatcher. He was an old mentor of Mr. Kane’s, whose objective was to prepare Mr. Kane to lead the company that his parents owned. I asked my Mr. Thatcher, “What was so significant about Mr. Kane’s ‘Rosebud’ sled”. Mr. Thatcher told me that, Mr. Kane, as a child used to sled on the hills of his old home in Colorado during the winter.

Towards the beginning of the film, Charles is seen playing in the snow with his sled. The lighting is deliberately put as bright, white, and radiant to show how happy Charles was in that. Also, that was the only moment he was truly happy in his whole life. A second example that then foreshadows and leads to the decline of Charles Foster Kane is when he was signing the Declaration of Principles. As he was signing it, Charles’ face was shrouded in a darkness, foretelling that he would later step all over his principles and go back on his word.

It says, "But the theme in Citizen Kane that most speaks to me is that of egoism masquerading as selfless love, illustrated in the scenes in which Kane tries to live vicariously through his new, much younger wife. She expresses an interest in singing, so he pushes her to become an opera singer—and, predictably, disappointment and heartbreak follow. Ah, the bullheadedness of smothering love and the sad fact that we most hurt those we adore" (Eckblad). This reason has to be the main reason behind the success of this film and its influence that is still alive today. Kane wants to become more successful through his wife.

Kane responds by saying at that rate, he would need to close down is 60 years. By putting this scene in, it shows the amount of privilege Charles possesses. To the general

Kane turned the Daily Inquirer Into a successful business and eventually hired the staff from the New York Chronicle. How Kane wanted to protect the ordinary people and turned this struggling business into a money maker shows the audience that Kane wanted to be loved and wanted power through journalism. Kane struggled throughout his life with two failed marriages that took a toll on him and changed his

(Citizen Kane, 1941) Kane’s parents used the power of money as an accessory for giving him away to a billionaire. Since that day, the protagonist went through a traumatizing experience, insecurity and redisposition due to his parents’ actions, which marked the beginning of his tortuous need, to be loved. This unreturned love created a sense of fear and mistrust to love something or someone, only to experience abandonment again was something Kane never got a chance to learn. Citizen Kane broke all the rules because of Welles, there were no

Directed by Orson Welles, the 1941 motion picture “Citizen Kane” is the story of the rise and fall of a great, influential man. The opening scenes of “Citizen Kane” are quite different from what follows during the rest of the film. Fading in and out of different landscapes instilled mystery. This mysterious vibe was carried on during Charles Foster Kane’s death through the use of shadows, quiet music, and close up shots. Isolated in his vast empire of a home, Kane uttered only one word before he passed: “rosebud.”

Citizen Kane challenged the traditional narrative and technical elements of classic Hollywood cinema mainly in the area of sound. Orson Welles was ahead of his time when he created his works of manipulating sound to transfer meaning in the film Citizen Kane. Welles used concealed hanging microphones to obtain different levels of sound throughout the film. The manner, in which the story was told, from Kane’s death flashbacked to his life of success and ultimate failure, was also a new style of storytelling for films. Welles also used symbolism with his last mumbling word “Rosebud.”

There are many things that make “Citizen Kane” considered as possibly one of the greatest films every made; to the eyes of the passive audience this film may not seem the most amazing, most people being accustomed to the classical Hollywood style, but to the audience with an eye for the complex, “Citizen Kane” breaks the traditional Hollywood mold and forges its own path for the better. Exposition is one of the most key features of a film, it’s meant introduce important characters and give the audience relevant details and and dutifully suppress knowledge in turn. “Citizen Kane” does not follow this Classic Hollywood style exposition, instead going above and beyond to open the film with revealing as little information as possible and confuse/intrigue

The movie overlaps the interviews to tell the life story of Kane while the flashbacks are doing the storytelling. The story is not told in chronologic manor, uses several techniques to tell the story of Kane. The angles used to portray certain scenes, getting all of views in, having lighting changes, shadows are all creative to the movie and introducing these techniques into Hollywood

Props are also critical to the close of the film,Citizen Kane, as the elusive meaning of Rosebud is brought to light by the flames of the incinerator set up to get rid of 'junk '. This single act of burning the sled named 'Rosebud ' speaks volumes to how we may pass judgment on something we see as 'junk ' but on further examination- this sled was actually a symbol to so much more to what drove Kane and

Mr. Kane is arguing to Mr. Thatcher that he is going to lose 60 million dollars over the next 60 years, but does not express much concern. Kane is very sarcastic in his approach and has a small smirk on his face during the shot. The lighting is from the bottom, but very low light. Deep focus is also used in this scene, even though we are very close to Kane’s face we can still see Thatcher’s head. From this shot, I suggest that Kane is trying to tell Thatcher that he does not care about losing money and that he is going to do whatever he wants to do.

This is when we find out that the news was screened in a room. Shadowed images are seen in the room. With what is said in the room we get to know that these men are very manipulative and want to know what is meant by Kane’s last word “Rosebud”. Sir Thompson is chosen to reveal to the audience the secrecy behind this word. If we were to view this very carefully, we see that Sir Thompson is indirectly the audience to whom all the facts about Kane is revealed to.

Kylie Mawn Professor Rodais CINE 121 Midterm 4 March 2018 Question 1: Citizen Kane (Orson Welles, 1941) is a film that is well known for pushing cinematic boundaries in many ways. One commonly recognized technique in Welles’ film is deep focus photography. Deep focus photography is used in films to allow everything in a shot to be in focus at once. Typical, only specific characters or objects are in focus in any given frame in order to guide the audience’s attention in a scene, but deep focus can bring a new level of sophistication to a shot.