Film Analysis of Citizen Kane

When looking at the film Citizen Kane, it uses mise-en-scene to help paint a better picture throughout the film. Mise-en-scene, better known as staging, is the overall look and feel of a movie (Barsam;Monahan p.542) The first example that comes to mind when thinking about mise-en-scene is when Charles Kane Foster is running for office, he is giving a speech and in the background is a large poster of his face. For the majority of the film there are very few shots taken where Kane is not present somehow or someway, which really drives home the idea that he is this larger than life figure. He feels that he is unstoppable and very powerful, but the idea that he is in nearly every shot shows us that without having to say it. Another great example is that the film is shot from mostly, a low angle. This is important in the film, especially when it comes to Mr. Kane, because it gives him this larger than life persona. Kane viewed from a low angle gives us this view of him being powerful, and important, something we learn by just looking at the film. Throughout the film we see a change in Mr. Fosters’ second wife, and the use of design and mise-en-scene tell the story of the toll life has taken on Miss Alexander. When we first meet Susan, the cinematographer uses a nice design trick to show her young lively nature. The scene where Mr. Wells goes to Miss Alexander’s apartment, they cast a soft light on Mr. Kane giving him more of a greyish quality, showing his age, and in my opinion his increasingly dark character. Meanwhile, they hit Miss Alexander with a hard light to show her youth, and innocence. Towards the end of the film, after Kane’s passing we see Susan drinking herself into oblivion, but what is key here is not the dialogue as much as how we see her. First, the camera comes in at a high-angle portraying her as small, visually showing us that this is obviously not a high point for her, and she is miserable. Next they use a soft light on her to show