Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Final Exam – Citizen Kane 

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

Citizen Kane released in 1941 was directed by Orson Welles and was produced by RKO Pictures. It has become one of the most iconic films of all time and is often regarded as the greatest picture ever made. In short the movie recounts the major events in the life of the protagonists Charles Foster Kane (Welles) up until the point of his death. Although the character development and the plot were very good and compelling for the viewer; that is not the reason Citizen Kane is considered one of the most influential films ever.  The reason behind Citizen Kane’s acclaim is the highly inventive and new cinematic techniques employed in the film by both Welles and his cinematographer, Gregg Toland. Welles coming from a theatre background was himself used to be completely hands on as a director. Toland was a veteran cinematographer and according to the textbook Understanding Movies took the job to try and learn something from the “boy genius”. Welles was known for his unique lighting techniques especially mood setting low key lighting. Toland would allow Welles to adjust all the lighting setting himself although not usually the job of the director and he would just get the camera crews to make the changes Welles wanted to work. Furthermore, when it came to lighting and camera shots Welles wanted every shot to be special and often had to work hard to get what he wanted. Steep angles, close up shots, extremely low shots, deep focus shots and crane shots were all mixed into Welles work. There is of course the famous picture of Welles behind a camera that has been placed under floor boards to get the shot he wanted. According the Giannetti, “Kane ushered in revolution, implicitly challenging the classical ideal of a transparent style that doesn’t call attention to itself” (Gianetti 538). Another prominent technique of Welles that is demonstrated in Kane is the idea of a nonlinear storyline. Recently I completed my final project on Quentin Tarantino who also often employs this technique in his films and he has stated how Welles was a prominent influence in his style. As Welles came from the Theatre world he has an eye for mise en scene. In theatre people watch from a distance capturing all the action in wide angle view and at different depths of the stage. Welles did this within Kane in multiple shots, where his mise en scene set up would have the dynamic action at the forefront but there would also be a focus on the background. Examples of this would be the balcony shot at Kane’s election rally, the dinner for the Enquirer with Kane in the foreground and Sloane at the end or one of the opening scenes with Kane’s parents and a young Charles seen through the window outside. Finally, the last aspect of Kane that I want to talk about is not a technical aspect but more a physical one. What is phenomenal about Kane as a movie is that much of the cast were all entirely untried in Hollywood. Kane brought 15 actors with him from his New York live theatre none of whom were known expect himself; primarily as a radio performer. Critics praise the acting in Kane and several actors according to Gianetti were described as outstanding including; Welles, Dorothy Comingore, Joseph Cotton, Everett Sloane and Agnes Moorehead. Entire books have been written as analyses of Citizen Kane and what made the movie the icon it is today. Welles of course was only a young man when he directed Citizen Kane and when I think of the achievement he made with that movie well quite frankly it puts me to shame. Attempting to completely cover all the greatest achieved and how Welles did it within Kane would take page upon page. In this first answer I have tried to sum up as best as I can a few specific technical elements of Kane that have lead it to be considered the most influential movie of all time.

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?

Welles was 23 years old when RKO allowed him free rein to director and star in citizen Kane. He went on to create what many consider the greatest movie of all time. As a 22 year old now about to graduate college this truly worries me and puts my own aspirations to shame. I still do not know where in life I am heading and at this same age Welles was working on a future blockbuster. Welles following the death of his father used some small inheritance to travel Europe. He ended up in Ireland where he walked into the Gate Theatre in Dublin and claimed to be a Broadway star. The manager of Gate, Hilton Edwards, later said “he had not believed him but was impressed by his brashness and some impassioned quality in his audition” (Wikipedia). Welles acting in Ireland was well received and he was recognized as successful by people in the US. He later returned to the US and began to tour with some off Broadway shows. After a brief spell working in and around New York, writing and acting in the late 1930’s, Welles was offered a position to direct and produce productions for the Federal Theatre Project. He took up this offer some of his productions included plays like Macbeth, Horse Eats Hat, The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus, and Julius Caesar.  When he left the Federal Theatre Project he formed the Mercury Theatre with John Houseman; the same man who employed him to the FTP. The Mercury Theatre is where many of the actors used in Kane including Everett Sloane, Anges Moorehead and Joseph Cotton learned their trade. During his second year at Mercury Welles shifted his interest to radio acting; it was this change in interests that lead to the famous War of the Worlds broadcast. The War of the Worlds broadcast was an adaptation of the novel of the same name by H. G Welles. The broadcast was done on the Halloween show in October 1938. It was created in a news bulletin informational realness of the broadcast provided it with a genuine quality that provoked panic in the audience. Many people believed the broadcast and took it as a genuine account of a “live” Martian invasion of earth. Welles received widespread attention following this broadcast included some criticism. More importantly his creativity and new invention put him on Hollywood’s radar and it was this broadcast that was credited as being the reason RKO signed him to what is generally considered the greatest contract offered to a completely untried motion picture director.

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.).

As I discussed at the beginning of this exam when talking about Kane as a picture, between Welles and Toland they created some exceptional cinematic camera shots. The movie is full of exceptional examples of this work but the one I have decided to choose is the shot of Kane and Susan Alexander in the great hall/front room of his home Xanadu. When analyzing this scene I am going to talk about the camera shot angle, the lighting, the mise en scene and the effect sound played on the scene. Instead of describing the shot I have placed two screen shot photos below.
















At this point in the film Susan Alexander has become disillusioned with living in Kane’s huge home and being away from all her friends the glitz and glamour of showbiz and parties. As Alexander sits at the fireplace completing a jigsaw puzzle Kane enters the scene and suggests they have a picnic in the morning. In this shot Welles is communicating the distance between the two characters by using deep focus photography. This makes the old Kane seem unapproachable and distant physically in the sense of the camera but the implied distance in the relationship in more important. The vast open space between the two characters is another feature that highlights this distance and is actually another example of Welles theatre mise en scene influence; that I talked about earlier. Mise en scene in this shot is shown by Alexander being dwarfed by the fireplace and statue demonstrating her submissive nature to both Xanadu and Kane. Kane on the other hand shows his dominance by standing and then sitting on the huge elaborate chair. At this point Kane is embracing his position as the head on Xanadu and his power over Alexander. The dominance of Kane and submissive nature of Alexander that the viewer understands from the storytelling is enforced by the technical features. This is one of the reason Citizen Kane is such a special film each shot is detailed to fit the feeling of the characters in each varying point in the film. The lighting in this scene is very low and creates the mood that the relationship has gone dark and there is no longer any love or intimacy. This shot, the distance, the lighting is in direct contrast to earlier scenes where their love in blossoming and there is a high lighting key and they are close together. In addition to the technical elements of lighting and camera angles the acting also echoes the notion of distance. As Kane suggests a picnic in the morning Alexander is forced to shout her responses as with Kane having to raise his voice. The sound element demonstrates how far apart they are. They have to raise their voice as each other to be heard across the separation of the room. This again is in direct contrast to earlier scenes where quiet close talking demonstrate intimacy and love between the pair. To conclude Welles and Toland in this scene convey the message of the distance, lack of intimacy and the general breakdown of the relationship between Alexander and Kane. They do this through the camera angle, the lighting and the dialogue between the characters.

Works Cited 
Louis Giannetti. Understanding Movies. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2002. Print.
"Orson Welles." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 15 May 2012. Web. 15 May 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orson_Welles>.






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