Citizen Kane Film Analysis
Joseph Spath
FIL-110
Written Assignment 2
Citizen Kane is a 1941 movie that is written and directed by Orson Welles. Welles also stars in the movie as Charles Foster Kane. The movie is told in a series of nine different narrative sequences that detail the life of the main focus and character, Charles Kane. There are multiple reasons why the movie challenged traditional techniques and elements of Hollywood at that time including the use of depth of field, a nonlinear approach, and mobile camera filming. Orson Welles's heavy use of depth of field is one aspect that sets the movie Citizen Kane apart from other movies during Hollywood at that time. Welles was not the first person to use depth of field in movie. However, Welles' use of depth …show more content…
Welles made Citizen Kane with a nonlinear approach composite story telling. The end of the movie is the first scene of the movie. Also, the movie is told by various other people recounting Charles Kane's life instead of Kane himself. This adds to the story telling of the movie (Lewis, 2008). Citizen Kane used a mobile camera for narrative transitions to take the viewer from place to place. This was unlike other directors of the time that would use continuity editing to accomplish that same task. For example, the transitions from the Thatcher's library, where the news reporter was researching Kane, to the barroom where Kane's second wife now sings and drinks. The camera sweeps up and down into the barroom's skylight. (Lewis, 2008) The movie Citizen Kane was a revolutionary film for its time. The movie differed from traditional cinematic techniques in Hollywood at that time, and followed a nonlinear approach, depth of field in the scenes to show importance and power, and film techniques such as mobile camera filming to accomplish a narrative transition. The movie's non-traditional approach contributed to its overall success and importance in the cinematic
FIL-110
Written Assignment 2
Citizen Kane is a 1941 movie that is written and directed by Orson Welles. Welles also stars in the movie as Charles Foster Kane. The movie is told in a series of nine different narrative sequences that detail the life of the main focus and character, Charles Kane. There are multiple reasons why the movie challenged traditional techniques and elements of Hollywood at that time including the use of depth of field, a nonlinear approach, and mobile camera filming. Orson Welles's heavy use of depth of field is one aspect that sets the movie Citizen Kane apart from other movies during Hollywood at that time. Welles was not the first person to use depth of field in movie. However, Welles' use of depth …show more content…
Welles made Citizen Kane with a nonlinear approach composite story telling. The end of the movie is the first scene of the movie. Also, the movie is told by various other people recounting Charles Kane's life instead of Kane himself. This adds to the story telling of the movie (Lewis, 2008). Citizen Kane used a mobile camera for narrative transitions to take the viewer from place to place. This was unlike other directors of the time that would use continuity editing to accomplish that same task. For example, the transitions from the Thatcher's library, where the news reporter was researching Kane, to the barroom where Kane's second wife now sings and drinks. The camera sweeps up and down into the barroom's skylight. (Lewis, 2008) The movie Citizen Kane was a revolutionary film for its time. The movie differed from traditional cinematic techniques in Hollywood at that time, and followed a nonlinear approach, depth of field in the scenes to show importance and power, and film techniques such as mobile camera filming to accomplish a narrative transition. The movie's non-traditional approach contributed to its overall success and importance in the cinematic