Citizen Kane :: Making

Up to the Forties, orthodox Hollywood camera style consisted of diffused lighting and soft focus, even for such brutally realistic films as I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang (1932). Photographed in this way a typical sequence might consist of a long or medium establishing shot with cuts to close-up shots to show detail. Orson Welles's Citizen Kane (1940), however, signalled the beginning of a new period in American cinema. Composition in depth, obtained by increased depth-of-field photography, meant that images on several planes could all be held in sharp focus. The dramatic effects of a scene were created by images within the composition itself rather than by editing; and because both foreground and background remained in focus, the spectator could see everything there was to see in a single shot.

Depth of field in Citizen Kane results from a number of factors including the use of faster film and wide-angle lenses. These lenses possess certain inherent optical properties which can dramatically affect the appearance of a composition. As well as keeping foreground and background in focus, they create the illusion of perspective by exaggerating the relative scale of objects on different planes - objects closer to the camera appear much larger than those further away.

The relationship between visual style and narrative content seems almost inseparable in the film. The character of Kane is revealed not so much by what he says and does as by how he made to appear in the context of his surroundings.

Early in the film there is a scene where Walter Thatcher has come to Colorado to take the young Kane away with him. In one of the shots Mrs Kane sits reading the terms of her son's inheritance in the foreground and at the right of the frame. Thatcher is seated slightly behind and to the right of her, and Kane's father stands at the left of the frame in the middle distance. By their position and size the three figures appear to be visually and dramatically at the centre of the scene. Initially their relative sizes on the screen seem to indicate their relative narrative importance: Mrs Kane, the mother who is trying to do the best for her son, is the dominant personality; Thatcher is the interloper; and the elder Kane, ineffectively voicing his opposition, is a figure of weakness. After looking through the foreground diagonally to the middle distance, attention centres on a window at the very back of the room. Through it can barely ve identified the figure of a young boy who is all but obliterated by falling snow.

The boy may at first appear to be the least important figure in the composition, but the opposite is true. Much greater dramatic coherence is given to the scene when it is scanned in reverse order, from background to foreground. The smallest figure becomes the local point of the narrative - it is Kane's future his parents and Thatcher are discussing, his life that, from that point onwards, will be irrevocably changed.

Time and again in the film secondary figures are positioned to act as a frame within the film frame in order to concentrate the spectator's attention on Kane in the distance. But a point occurs during the political rally sequence where, although a similar framing technique is used, the dramatic effect is suddenly reversed. Kane is giving the supreme performance of his career: his magnificient rhetoric about protecting working men, slum children and ordinary citizens alike captivates the audience. The scene ends, however, with a shot that dispels this effect and signals the beginning of the end for Kane. Political boss Jim Gettys is seen standing high up in a balcony, his figure filling the right side of the frame. To the left and far below, Kane is finishing his speech to wild applause. But the exaggerated perspective and the disproportionate size of Gettys foreshadows the despairing events about to befall Kane

Up to this point in the film Kane is depicted as being in control of space on the screen. The spectator's attention, manipulated by the expressive dynamics of the composition and lighting, is unerringly drawn to him. But from the time he loses the election to the end of the film, his presence is made to seem increasingly insignificant in relation to his surroundings. This is most noticeable in the concluding scenes of Kane and Susan's self-imposed exile in Xanadu where Kane appears dwarfed by the volume of the rooms and the sheer depth of the huge, gaping fireplace. Space in the cavernous mausoleum of Xanadu now controls Kane and isolates him in a void of darkness.

Citizen Kane :: Related

Citizen Kane Film Poster Gallery

Citizen Kane :: Plot

Charles Foster Kane utters his final word, 'Rosebud', and dies on his massive, crumbling estate, Xanadu.

Newsreel journalists prepare a film showing Kane's rise and : fall, but it lacks an angle. A reporter is sent to find out who Rosebud may be. He interviews Susan Alexander (Kane's second wife), Bernstein and Jed Leiand (two old employees) and Kane's butler, Raymond. Through them the jigsaw of Kane's life is pieced together.

Five-year-old Kane has inherited an immense fortune; at his mother's wish he is placed under the guardianship of banker Walter Thatcher and is taken away from his Colorado home.

Thirty years later Kane buys up the New York Inquirer and begins his career as a scandal-sheet publisher. He marries Emily Norton but later meets Susan Alexander and establishes a love-nest with her. His attempt to run for governor is shattered along with his marriage when political enemy Jim Gettys exposes the affair.

Kane marries Susan and launches her on a disastrous career as an opera singer. But her failure and the set-backs he suffers during the Depression force him to retreat to his castle, Xanadu.

Susan, bored by the isolation of Xanadu and by Kane's autocratic behaviour, eventually leaves him. Kane dies and his chattels are disposed of, among them a childhood sled bearing the painted-on name of Rosebud.

Citizen Kane :: Index

Cast >> Making >> Plot >> Citizen Kane Film Poster Gallery >> RKO 281 The True Story Of Citizen Kane

Orson Welles :: Index

Biog. >> Filmography >> Film Poster Gallery >> Citizen Kane >> F Is For Fake >> The 3rd Man >> The 3rd Man Film Poster Gallery >> The Stranger >> Trent's Last Case >> Trouble In The Glen >> Voyage Of The Damned >> Advertise >> Carol Reed >> Orson Welles Dvds available @ amazon.com

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