production design in Citizen Kane
Production design in Citizen Kane
Meet Khatri, 5th hour
By many, Citizen Kane is one of the greatest films ever made. Orson Wells, at age 25, directed, produced, and starred in this film. This movie tells the fascinating story of the life and death of Charles Foster Kane, a narcissistic newspaper runner, politician, and a wealthy millionaire. What makes this movie spectacular is not only the acting of the actors, but the symbolism and cinematic effects. The techniques used by the cinematographer brought this film to life. Citizen Kane's use of deep focus, permitting all distance planes to remain clearly in focus. This is what sets Citizen Kane apart from other films. Also special effects were used extensively throughout the film to add emphasis and add a touch of reality in an otherwise unnatural setting. Whether it is shots of Xanadu itself, or the use of makeup to transform Orson Welles from a young man in his mid-twenties to a man in his mid-seventies, the special effects of Citizen Kane were unsurpassed for many years.
Through the story telling of Kane's life we are able to see how wealth changes, not only Kane's ideals, but his actions and how he perceives the world. The corruption of idealism by wealth can be seen throughout the film, especially through the thoughts and actions of Kane and the other characters. In the scene when Kane publishes his first newspaper for the Inquirer he prints his "Declaration of Principles". It starts with the shot of the whole building of the Inquirer newspaper, from a high angle, then, the image gets a close up on a window, where Kane and Leland are framed. In this scene Kane is writing the declaration of principles and when his is done writing it he reads it out loud to Leland and Mr. Bernstein. After reading it he tells one of his clerk to print this on the front page of the newspaper, at this point Leland asks him: “When you are through with that, I’d like to have it back”. Kane and Bernstein look at Leland with
Meet Khatri, 5th hour
By many, Citizen Kane is one of the greatest films ever made. Orson Wells, at age 25, directed, produced, and starred in this film. This movie tells the fascinating story of the life and death of Charles Foster Kane, a narcissistic newspaper runner, politician, and a wealthy millionaire. What makes this movie spectacular is not only the acting of the actors, but the symbolism and cinematic effects. The techniques used by the cinematographer brought this film to life. Citizen Kane's use of deep focus, permitting all distance planes to remain clearly in focus. This is what sets Citizen Kane apart from other films. Also special effects were used extensively throughout the film to add emphasis and add a touch of reality in an otherwise unnatural setting. Whether it is shots of Xanadu itself, or the use of makeup to transform Orson Welles from a young man in his mid-twenties to a man in his mid-seventies, the special effects of Citizen Kane were unsurpassed for many years.
Through the story telling of Kane's life we are able to see how wealth changes, not only Kane's ideals, but his actions and how he perceives the world. The corruption of idealism by wealth can be seen throughout the film, especially through the thoughts and actions of Kane and the other characters. In the scene when Kane publishes his first newspaper for the Inquirer he prints his "Declaration of Principles". It starts with the shot of the whole building of the Inquirer newspaper, from a high angle, then, the image gets a close up on a window, where Kane and Leland are framed. In this scene Kane is writing the declaration of principles and when his is done writing it he reads it out loud to Leland and Mr. Bernstein. After reading it he tells one of his clerk to print this on the front page of the newspaper, at this point Leland asks him: “When you are through with that, I’d like to have it back”. Kane and Bernstein look at Leland with