Film Analysis

Citizen Kane, 1941

Director: Orson Welles
D.O.P: Gregg Toland

Citizen Kane is a classic American film that falls in the category of drama
tinged with a bit of tragedy. It resembles also a docu-drama, told like a biography,
peppered with interviews of friends and acquaintances who once knew the man in
question, Charles Foster Kane. It is also told mainly through the use of flashbacks,
whereby a newspaper reporter, Thompson seeks to find out the real Charlie Kane, and
most importantly, what the meaning of Kane’s last words “Rosebud” ultimately meant
to him.

“Orson Welles once said that everything he knew about the art of photography
a great cameraman - Greg Toland - taught him in half an hour. In truth, before the
filming of Citizen Kane Toland invited Welles to his house and spent a weekend
teaching Welles everything about lens and camera positions that he thought his novice
director should know. For the remainder of his life Welles always paid Toland the
ultimate compliment, that only was Toland the best, he was also the fastest. Such was
the relationship between the great director and his revered Director of Photography.”1

For "Citizen Kane" Toland used a method invented by himself, which became
known as "deep focus" because it showed background objects as clearly as foreground
objects. In this way, film theorist Andre Bazin said that Toland brought democracy to
film-making by allowing viewers to discover what was interesting to them in a scene
rather than having this choice dictated by the director. Toland also worked well with
the director Orson Welles as he was someone who taught the director privately and
not bring out the director’s inadequacies in camera handling to the whole cast and
crew.

Something that is done on purpose in the film seems to be that the newspaper
reporter, Thompson who is interested to find out about Kane’s life and about
“Rosebud” is kept in the shadows all the time. He goes around interviewing friends
and acquaintances of Kane but he is usually not shown, at least his face is seldom
shown in full view. This Thompson newspaper reporter is thus used as a tool for the
plot to move forward. Who he is, is totally not important at all. He is just a faceless
probing reporter that the viewer should not feel attachment towards.

“Toland's techniques have proved to be a revolution for the art of

cinematography. Before him, film-makers used ‘shallow depth of field’ to separate
the various planes on the screen, creating an impression of space, as well as stressing
what mattered in the frame by leaving the foreground or background out of focus.
With Toland's lighting schemes, shadow was a much more interesting tool,
dramatically as well as pictorially, to separate foreground from background and thus
to create space within a two-dimensional frame while everything was in focus. This
technique was also, according to Toland, more comparable to what the eyes see in real
life, since our vision does not blur what we look at, but what we do not look at.”2
1
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005904/bio
2
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregg_Toland

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 The starting of the film with the “No trespassing” sign is of significance to the
whole show, because at the end of the film, the director returns again to that very sign,
on that very fence, after the death of Charles Foster Kane. It symbolises Xanadu as a
place that no one can ever really understand or enter its secrets. In this case, the visual
symbolism is the fence and the sign. The atmosphere of the film is set right at the
beginning that resembles film noir genre, with the use of shadows and silhouettes to
show its characters in various situations.

There is the use of montage editing in the whole film. There are a few different types
of montage editing. The most often interpreted usage/type of montage editing is the
intellectual method whereby two scenes are combined to exude a new meaning. In
Citizen Kane, montage is also used to take the place of camera movement, like at the
beginning of the film, the camera slowly reveals Xanadu and the panning of the
camera slowly dissolves into the interior of Kane’s bedroom.

I feel that this is linked to the six different types of editing. The way two shots are
combined to give meaning in Citizen Kane shows the use of information in editing.
For example, the use of a parrot squawking loudly in between scenes shows implicitly
the status of Kane as a newspaper tycoon and political-social figure. It also attracts the
viewer’s attention to the action and gives the sense of foreboding, like a bad omen.

6 types of editing

1) Continuity: The film, Citizen Kane, uses past time continuity. The film uses
flashbacks from present to past, in order to tell the story. In fact, this is why the
protagonist in the film is not clear, because in the present, Kane is already dead
and the one moving the story forward is the detective, Thompson who needs to
find out about the life of Charles Foster Kane.

2) Composition: The film uses the technique of montages that dissolves in, as a
transition used in between the different cuts and scenes. Rule of third is often used
to add perspective in the various scenes. One memorable scene is where, the aged
Kane is standing to the left of the frame and he is reflecting on his youth times.
There are mirrors in the various rooms down the hall, and his image his reflected
in all the mirrors, cleverly, without other props and camera being shown. When
three (or more) characters come together to talk, Welles will arrange them in the
form of a triangle such as the one where Kane is being told how to run a
newspaper.

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3) Information: much of the information that we as viewers can gather from Citizen
Kane, we see it in flashbacks of Kane’s life presented to us in an objective
narration. Later on, when it comes to the present, we follow the detective,
Thompson in search of the ‘real’ Kane. These acquaintance, friends and lovers
present to the viewers, a subjective view of who they know as Charles Kane, or
even Charlie Kane. Just from the different way they call his name, might mean
that he might have appeared differently to different people.

4) Audio (sound): The language usage in Citizen Kane is formal throughout,

seemingly befitting of a man of his status. There is also the booming voice of a
narrator reading out the explanatory cards. There is the air of pomposity that
viewers can link to the persona of Charles Kane.

5) Camera angle: The film starts off with a visual symbolism of the fence and the
‘No Trespassing’ sign. This sign has significance as the director will return to it at
the end of the shoe. The camera films using a lingering close-up at almost
90degrees to it such that the sign will not be flat against the fence, but appear
three dimensional. There is constant usage of low angles to make Kane look
majestic and in control of his subordinates.

6) Motivation: The driving force behind this film is the complexities and moral
ambiguity of Charles Foster Kane, and how people after him are intrigued and
affected by his life. Essentially, it is a biographical story, with the agenda of
digging into one’s man past. The film eventually, however deign any final
judgement of Charles Foster Kane, even as the answer to what ‘Rosebud’ meant,
is revealed. The ending has impact with the close up of the burning of the sled,
which will forever seal the secret from others. The detective who propels the story
is just a tool to lead the viewer from past to present.

Set design: There is great use of glass and mirror throughout the movie. This
could be because the director wanted to show the theme of the film as a reflection of
one man’s life, or that the viewer is looking through something into a person’s life.
The opening scene where Kane dies and drops the glass ball he is holding causes it to
shatter. The nurse then comes in and the D.O.P uses the shattered glass to act as a lens
distortion to show a distorted view of the room and the nurse.

Special sets had to be built to enable low angle shots. Holes were cut in the set floor
too. In order to create the Xanadu on film, miniatures used were to bring out the real
thing with special visual effects. Thus, the artistry in creating Citizen Kane is shown.

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 Another important thing to mention in Citizen Kane is the use of very low
angles to show majestic ness of Charles Foster Kane, especially, as he is an important
man. The production set thus has to be specially designed to accommodate the
shooting at such low angles such that the ceiling is able to be captured on camera.
“The sound stages in Hollywood filmmaking made it impossible to show low-angle
shots without revealing the microphones and lights that hung above the actors. To
overcome this problem, Welles built whole sets with ceilings made of draped muslin,
so the microphones were hidden above the cloth ceiling. Then, he cut holes in the set
floor for the camera, so it could get the lowest angle possible.”3

Lighting is also important in Citizen Kane. It is a story-telling tool. It also adds to

the composition with the diagonal streams of lighting coming in through small
windows. (As shown from the picture above, taken from
http://www.takegreatpictures.com/Articles/Details/params/object/9987/default.aspx)
The constant use of silhouettes and shadows make it a film noir that is apt to bring out
the complexities and degeneration of the character of Charles Foster Kane.

The protagonist in the film is Charles Kane, as he is the main character in the
film. He is usually more brightly lit than other characters in the film. The detective,
Thompson, on the other hand (which some might think he is protagonist) is always
kept in the shadows. The antagonist is the other “citizens” in the film who tries to give

3
http://www.takegreatpictures.com/Articles/Details/params/object/9987/default.aspx

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their personal opinions on Kane, and those who try to tarnish Kane’s reputation.
Kane’s supposed best friend and partner, Leland is one example of an antagonist in
the movie. There can be seen from another perspective in that Charles Foster Kane
himself is both the antagonist and the protagonist. This can be argued from the point
of view that he self-sabotages his relationships and his career.

The use of explanatory cards throughout the film makes the narrative clearer to
the audience and also adds to the sense of importance of Kane as a newspaper tycoon.
The explanatory cards are in a way similar to newspapers’ headlines. It also is an
effective rhythm pacer, whereby the viewer will be aware of the “landmarks” of the
film.

Time is recreated by camera movements that pans and blurs out the previous
scene, such that in two different scenes, passage of few years is shown. This can be
shown from the scene where Kane ate breakfast with his first wife, Emily for over a
period of a few years. Their relationship is deteriorating which the director shows
through the distance he puts between Kane and Emily. Real time is compressed so
that in a few takes, we see that Kane has aged a lot. The viewer will be aware that
much has changed over the few scenes.

Citizen Kane is a show like Rashomon, whereby the directors in each case wanted
to tell the story from many characters’ point of view. In Citizen Kane, there is little
use of the characters’ facial close-ups to reveal anything as lighting is used as a more
significant story-telling tool. Audio wise, there is the technique called ‘lightning-mix’
used to connect scenes through a set of sounds. Then, audio came along first, before
the visuals, in order to smooth the transitions in between scenes. An example for this
would be the scene for “News on the March” whereby the booming voice of the
narrator announced the title of the explanatory card a beat before the words came on
screen, followed by loud music like heralding the very important news that Charles
Foster Kane had passed away.

Citizen Kane might be discounted for having a narrative that is not gripping
enough. I feel that it would have been more interesting for the viewer if the mystery
of “Rosebud” had been pushed even more. The ending of the sled being burnt might
be a little anti-climax for some. The innovative techniques used in those days might
not be appreciated by present day film audience and I think there might have been an
over-use of one particular camera technique such that it becomes mundane.

Done by,

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Zhang Yuruo June

FMD707

S75163