Citizen Kane was a true masterpiece.
From the filming to the story, it set the bar high for all films that would
come after it. Tim Dirks of www.filmsite.org
explained that it brought together different aspects of filmmaking “[using]
film as an art form to energetically communicate and display a non-static view
of life.” The camera techniques and lighting told the story as well as the
actors did. The camera grabbed the audience’s attention from the start,
beginning with a close-up of a "No Trespassing" sign on an intimidating chain
link fence, warning people away. The audience was intrigued already because,
they were going where no one else could go. With this simple act, Orson Wells
invited the audience to come with him as he explored this mystery. That was
what was so brilliant about this film. The camera created a world where the
audience could see everything, even behind closed doors.
In the
beginning of Citizen Kane, the camera
led the audience over a chain link fence, fading in and out through acres of
extravagant possessions, getting closer and closer to a window on the top floor
of monstrous house, and into the bedroom of a man hidden in shadow. The dark
lighting indicated that this man was a mystery. He uttered his last words and
dropped the only clue to who he really was. No dialog yet (besides “Rosebud”)
and no faces thus far, but the camera and lighting have told us the plot. The
camera’s long journey from the gate to the house showed how secluded this man
was and the dark lighting in the bedroom cast everything in shadow, hinting
that there were many dark corners in his life. The story continued with
pieces of Charles Kane's life being told from the people who claimed to know him best.
Deep-focus
photography was used throughout the film, setting it apart from other movies at
that time. During Susan Alexander’s story about Charles Kane, she tells how
Kane forced her to continue singing, even after she begged him to let her stop.
He towered over her, forcing her into his shadow, emphasizing his power over
her. The low angle shot supported this power. She concedes, giving her all
until pushed to her breaking point. In the scene where she is discovered after
attempting suicide, Wells used deep-focus photography to tell us what happened
before the words were even spoken. Susan was comatose in her bed, while the
screen was dominated by a large medicine bottle and spoon. Kane entered the
room, small and distant, powerless to help. All aspects of this scene were in
sharp focus, letting the audience know that everything was relevant. Louis
Giannetti, Understanding Movies (Eleventh
Edition), explains that “deep focus
photography involves the use of wide-angle lenses, which tend to exaggerate the
distances between people – an appropriate symbolic analogue for a story dealing
with separation, alienation, and loneliness.” In this scene, the separation
between Susan and Kane couldn’t be greater. The use of deep-focus photography
throughout the entire film emphasized Kane’s loneliness.
Watching
Citizen Kane for the first time, the
whole thing didn’t come together for me until the last scene. The camera
traveled once again, like in the beginning scene, over masses of possessions to
the last piece of the puzzle, revealing to the audience who Charles Kane really
was. The film moved from the end of Kane’s life, back in time to try to explain
it, then back to the present with the answer. The act of completing the journey
that started in the beginning was genius. Orson Wells took the audience over
the chain link fence where no one else could go, then showed them what no one
else could see, the meaning of Rosebud. By taking the audience on this intimate
journey, he allowed them access to a world they wouldn’t normally see and used
innovative filmmaking talents to show us the world the way he saw it.
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