Final Exam - Citizen Kane

Question 1:  Citizen Kane is one of the most influential films ever made. Discuss this statement.

       The 1941 film, Citizen Kane, fundamentally altered the possibilities of film, and in the process provided a benchmark for everything that has followed.  As viewers witness Charles Kane’s life unfold throughout the feature, they can also see how the film’s production clearly does not follow that of previously made films.  Furthermore, the reasons Citizen Kane is known for being such an influential film is not it’s enjoyably mysterious plot but rather it’s cinematography, nonlinear storyline, and choice of a theatrical cast. These risks that Orson Welles was willing to take were worthwhile in giving the new to Hollywood director an unforgettable reputation.            

            The first aspect that significantly contributed to Citizen Kane’s acclaimed influence is the use of cinematography.  Welles’ most significant contribution to cinematography came from the use of a technique known as deep focus. Deep focus refers to having everything in the frame, even the background, in focus at the same time, as opposed to having only the people and things in the foreground in focus.  With deep focus, Welles was able to showcase overlapping actions, and the surrounding environment became more critical.  By effectively manipulating the environment through deep focus, Welles actively engaged the whole space of the frame without leaving the viewer confused. The use of deep focus was most effective in scenes that depicted Kane’s loss of control and his personal isolation because it gave the audience a clear view of the space Kane commanded as well as the space in which he held no power. Gregg Toland, the cinematographer Welles chose for Citizen Kane, had used the technique in an earlier film, but Citizen Kane marked the first time it was used so extensively or effectively.  Furthermore, the films use of a wide variety of camera angles and distances enhanced the overall quality of the film. Charles Kane’s power was illustrated throughout the film using low angles, while weaker characters, like his second wife Susan, were portrayed with high angles.  Also the isolation of Xanadu was shown through the long shots used in those scenes accompanied with an echo when characters are speaking. These different types of cinematography that Welles used are now more frequently used in modern films.
          The next aspect of Citizen Kane that was so influential to films that followed was Welles choice of a creative, nonlinear storytelling technique.  Leading up to Citizen Kane, it was extremely uncommon for films to not present scenes in a chronological manner.  Instead of the traditional way, Citizen Kane was made in a segmented way that consisted of many flashbacks and flash forwards to tell Kane’s story. It is never seen where one character simply tells Kane’s entire life story.  Instead, Kane’s story unfolds in overlapping segments that add more information as each narrator adds his or her story.  Although linear plots can be easier for viewers to follow, Welles’ choice of a nonlinear plot made for a powerfully engaging film that forced viewers to not only watch the film but also piece together the multiple things that went on. The storytelling techniques succeed in painting Charles Foster Kane as an enigma, a tortured, complicated man who, in the end, leaves viewers with more questions than answers and inevitably invokes sympathy rather than contempt.
         Another crucial choice Welles made in production of the film was choosing theatre actors, who were unfamiliar to Hollywood, instead of experienced movie actors. Welles’s chosen theatre cast was an asset to the film and vital to the success of techniques like deep focus. These cast members were classically trained theatrical actors, and none had ever made a movie before Welles brought them to Hollywood. Their stage training, rather than being overpowering, helped them to place themselves firmly in each scene. The acting technique performed by the case showed that the total control Welles was given over casting was not a mistake. Many critics have praised the performance of this theatre cast, and it has been said that they greatly contributed to the success of Citizen Kane’s. 
           The different camera shots, storyline technique, and casting choices Orson Welles made as a young director aided him in creating what is considered to be one of the most influential films ever made. Welles's achievements in this film marked a new direction in cinema and introduced Hollywood to the creative potential of cinematic technique. Even apart from the controversy the film stirred, a multitude of innovations made Citizen Kane the most exciting movie in the history of cinema at that time.

Question 2: What had Orson Welles done in his first 23 years of life to warrant the Hollywood Film Industry offering complete creative control to a first time filmmaker?

            The freedom given to 23-year-old Orson Welles by RKO allowed him to create a masterpiece that has awed producers, critiques, and viewers throughout the years.  However, it was because of Welles’ astonishing achievements leading up to the production of Citizen Kane that earned him the trust he so well deserved.  The Wisconsin born native spent his younger years in the theatre where he grew to love the arts.   After the death of both of his parents, Welles began to travel more and found himself in Europe, where he started his career as a Broadway actor.  After arriving back in the States, Welles found success in writing for the Todd School, an institution he had previously attended in his younger years. 

            While in New York, Welles toured in three off-Broadway productions, including two roles in Romeo and Juliet.  Restless and impatient when the planned Broadway opening of Romeo and Juliet was canceled, Welles staged a drama festival of his own with the Todd School that had great success. The subsequent revival of Cornell's Romeo and Juliet brought Welles to the notice of John Houseman, who was casting for an unusual lead actor for the lead role in the Federal Theatre Project.  And by 1935 Welles found himself working as a successful Radio actor. 

            After building his resume in the theatre industry, Welles’ first real success as a director came from the production of Macbeth in 1936.  John Houseman hired Welles to direct the play Macbeth for the Federal Theatre Project's Negro Theater Unit. The production became known as the Voodoo Macbeth, because Welles set it in the Haitian court of King Henri Christophe with voodoo witch doctors for the three Weird Sisters. The play toured the nation and at the age of 20, Welles was hailed as a prodigy.

            After Welles resigned from the Federal Theatre, him and Houseman formed the Mercury Theatre, in which Welles became executive producer and whose repertory company eventually included big actors that would work for Welles for years. The first Mercury Theatre production was a melodramatic and heavily edited version of William Shakespeare’s tragedy, Julius Caesar, set in a contemporary frame of fascist Italy.  Cinna the Poet dies at the hands not of a mob but of a secret police force and he applause lasted more than ten minutes.

            In the second year of the Mercury Theater, Welles shifted his interests to radio as an actor, director, and producer. He played Hamlet for CBS on The Colombia Workshop, while adapting and directing the play. In July 1937, the Mutual Network gave him a seven-week series to adapt Les Miserables, which he did with great success. That September, Mutual chose Welles to play Lamont Cranston, aka The Shadow, anonymously and in the summer of 1938 CBS gave him and the Mercury Theatre a weekly hour-long show to broadcast radio plays based on classic literary works. The show was titled The Mercury Theatre on the Air.

            Following his early radio work Welles production of the 1938 radio adaption of The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells and brought him instant fame. As word of Welles production, and rumors of a Martian invasion spread rapidly, Welles name became a common household name.  His growing fame soon drew Hollywood offers, lures that the independent-minded Welles resisted at first.  Eventually, RKO Radio Pictures president George Schaefer presented Welles a Hollywood job he could not turn down.  RKO signed Welles in a two-picture deal; including control over the script, cast, crew, and most importantly, final cut, although Welles had a budget limit for his projects. With this contract in hand, Welles and nearly the entire Mercury Theatre moved to Hollywood and created the notorious Citizen Kane.  Because of Welles’ previous accomplishments achieved in the theatre industry, RKO gave the first time filmmaker complete creative control in the production of Citizen Kane.

Question 3: Pick an extended scene or sequence from Citizen Kane and discuss the storytelling techniques by analyzing any combination of its component parts (direction, writing, performance, cinematography, production design, art direction, editing, sound, score, etc.).

            In the scene, "Life with Emily," Orson Wells uses a combination of dialogue, facial expressions, and clothing to represent a troubled marriage all in the course of a breakfast. As the scene progresses the appearance of Emily changes. Initially, she is wearing a revealing dress, representing her youthful love and naivety, but every scene after she covers herself bit by bit until the final scene, when we find her in a dress that gives off a dull and secretive appearance. In addition to clothing, the dialogue of the conversations also changes throughout the course of the breakfast. In the beginning, Kane and Emily converse like any two lovers would, and exchange compliments and casually discuss events. However, as the time passes, the conversations become more and more argumentative, colder and less passionate until the final scene when they reach the point of silence. Throughout their discussion, their facial expressions change with their emotions, and depict the troubled marriage as the time goes on. When they are first married they would always talk with eye contact, and they would kiss and smile, and in general, look happy. As time passed, they lost their precious eye contact, and barely looked at each other at all. They stopped smiling and laughing, and they stopped kissing. The last shot in the scene, the most body language shown is a quick glance at each other and then each continues to read the newspaper. All of these actions show a marriage that is losing the passion and love that it was founded on. All forms of expression, through wardrobe and body language are seen to depict this and their paradise-breakfast turns into a business deal, missing all emotion and taking on a more formal nature. 

            Another important, often unnoticed, aspect of this scene is the lighting and the music.  As each of their moods slowly grows darker and darker the lighting too becomes darker and darker.  By doing this, the viewer unconsciously picks up on the changing emotions of Kane and his wife.  The music also changes as the scene progresses from loving one another, to the final scene where the two nearly despise each other.  The music starts with a soft, calm tune at the beginning, then moves to quicker, more stressed sounds that almost have an angry beat to them, and finally finishes with a slow tune that expresses that there is no happiness or love left in their marriage.