"Citizen Kane," Nick Manolis

            Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane is considered by many as the greatest film of all time because of its precise techniques such as, camera angles, movement, editing, lighting, sound, and writing.  Each are conjoined together in order to create one true “once in a lifetime” masterpiece.  Even by today’s standards, the film holds its own almost as an outline piece, technique-wise, for the modern filmmaker.  Welles carefully tied together other innovative film techniques, while, at the same time, adding his own style and innovation “to energetically communicate and display a non-static view of life” (Dirks).  Citizen Kane is a balance between both formalism and realism.  It is formalistic in terms of the film’s style; it appears “as a method of commenting on the subject matter, a way of emphasizing its essential rather than its objective nature” (Giannetti 4).  In other words, the film is an example of an expressionist art style formulated to manipulate, or distort, reality to some extent. 

The actual written portion of the plot and story itself is characterized as a form of realism mainly because it is trying to authentically convey a fictional portrayal of William Randolph Hearst.  At its release in 1941, Citizen Kane was the center of controversy for appearing “to fictionalize and caricaturize events and individuals in the life of William Randolph Hearst – a powerful newspaper magnate and publisher” (Dirks).  Much of this controversy seemed to hinder, as well as overshadow, Citizen Kane from becoming a commercially successful film.  The delay of its release, and limited distribution created the lack of commercial appeal.  Regardless, the film was laud by critics most noticeable for its combination of editing, movement, photography, and story.

From the very beginning, the use of an extreme long shot of Charles Foster Kane’s estate provides viewers with an establishing shot.  Once the viewers become clear of the locale, the camera movement tilts up and over the “No Trespassing” front gate, dissolving to various shots as it moves toward a long to medium to a close-up shot of the mansion’s window.  The idea instilled by the scenery of the “exotic” zoo animals, and whatnot, reflects Kane’s character as if he is trying to be god-like.  The zoo animals reference the story of Noah.  The mystery of Kane's story is set up instantly with the shot of the snow globe and the whisper of “Rosebud,” followed by the newsreel, presenting a detailed foreground piece in a short amount of time so as to educate the viewers.

            In terms of the film’s editing, much of what Citizen Kane relies on is “several editing styles in the same sequence” (Giannetti 547).  It is quite noticeable to see that Welles’ uses drawn out, continuous shots without much cutting involved in most cases.  For example, when Susan Alexander Kane attempts suicide, the shot is set up in a deep focus, showing the bottle of poison and the bedroom door in which Kane makes his way into.  The scene stays put in deep focus throughout, establishing mise en scène.  The viewers’ do not see Susan’s face, yet the poison indicates what is going on exactly in addition to Kane’s reaction as he enters the shot, through the bedroom door.  Dialogue scenes tend to be edited with a more conventional classical cutting so as to avoid confusing or overkill in style.  Characters are shot with a combination of eyeline matching and the 180-degree rule as well as matching action.  Welles probably does not want to confuse the viewer for simple dialogue scenes. 

In other sequences, however, Welles goes for a more abstract technique in editing with a thematic montage.  There is a predominant amount of fading in/out along with cross dissolves. These editing styles intentionally distort the matching action to notify the viewers of a change in time and space (Giannetti 163).  Some of the styles involve the heavy use of flashbacks to slowly reveal important plot line points.  Each time a flashback occurs, a character is talking to the reporter, and as he or she begins telling his or her story there is a steady dolly in, followed by a slow transitional cross dissolves.  The idea is to create the effect that the character, telling the flashback story, is beginning to thoroughly process his or her own memory of a time in Kane’s life.  Another example if an editing montage is the picture display of the rival Chronicle newspaper’s editorial staff.  As Kane elaborates about the rival staff, the camera pans toward the photo into a still frame, the transition is seamless, and, as the picture becomes real life, the viewers’ figure out that Kane has hired the rival staff for the Inquirer.  The time frame is shortened. 

This is a strategy that Welles uses to flash-forward in time to eliminate unnecessary time and space.  With camera angles, many of the shots are high and low angles to illustrate Kane’s dominance at times over others.  Some are at an eye level, medium shot, or even a full shot in most three-shot conversation scenes.  One shot in particular, the birds-eye angle, shows Kane at a moment with little power.  He is seen yelling from the staircase at his political rival, Jim Gettys, after he has been blackmailed.  The shot establishes his shouting as an emotional reaction to his feeling of helplessness.  Also, in one scene, where Kane gets into the car with Emily, Welles is filmed at a high angle.  Maybe the notion is that Emily Norton’s relationship to Kane would eventually make him vulnerable and weak, which it actually does later on when Kane has an affair with Susan Alexander.  He ruins his reputation as a result and it becomes a slow progression into a downward spiral. 

While camera angels can display the films mood, much of the lighting techniques provide the emotional kick to each shot.  For instance, when Kane is telling his co-workers about the idea of providing “the people of this city with a daily paper that will tell all the news honestly,” the shadow overlaying his facial features brings forth the notion that he will not keep that promise entirely (Citizen Kane 1941).  Kane, like Hearst, falsely provided news to promote the Spanish-American War.  The film moves to a noir-like look and feel with moments of high contrast and low-key lighting as it progresses toward Kane’s downfall.  Some moments, though, are lit in high key to display Kane’s moments of happiness and power in his youth.  If one were to look at the lighting on the reporter’s, Jerry Thompson, face, they will see that it is left in the dark.  The viewers really cannot see him.  The purpose of that may be to have Thompson stand as a metaphor for the audience as if they themselves are the reporter, trying to find the missing pieces to this so-called “jigsaw puzzle” of a life.

Kane’s story, to some degree, resembles Adolf Hitler’s rise and fall.  The power hungry tendency in such men as Kane and Hitler became their ultimate downfall.  Kane worries too much about his own selfish desires of obtaining some form of happiness and lost innocence taken from him at a young age.  Internally, Kane is a lonely man, and knowing too many people does not help the cause.  Often times, when someone knows too many people, there is a greater chance that they lack a “true” close bond to one particular person.  Kane forces others to do things in order to fill the void of desires he wishes he could have done himself, perhaps.  Susan is forced to sing opera, and Kane does not allow her to express herself comfortably; it is always about him.  And even all of the merchandise he bought through his life amount to nothing.  They did not bring him happiness.  The crane shot, rolling over the items left behind in Kane’s death appear as a cityscape.  With that said, the snow globe triggers a memory of Kane’s long lost innocence, and since he is at his moment in death, his sledge, “Rosebud,” comes to memory.  Rosebud is the one last feeling of happiness, innocence, and security he will ever feel, yet it will remain unseen to others.  

Works Cited

Citizen Kane.  Dir. Orson Welles.  Perf. Orson Welles, Dorothy Comingore, and Everett Sloane. 

RKO Radio Pictures, 1941.  Film. 

Dirks, Tim.  "Citizen Kane (1941)."  Citizen Kane (1941).  American Movies Classics

Company's LLC, 2013.  Web.  25 June 2013.

Giannetti, Louis.  Understanding Movies.  11^th ed.  Upper Saddle River: Pearson Prentice Hall,

2008.  Print.