...Philip Lee Joor Baruah Monday- 11:15-12:30 Film 20A 30 October 2014 Citizen Kane Sequence Analysis Essay Mise-en-scene, cinematography and editing are visual elements in film that create meaning in the shots/sequences of the film. Ultimately it is these factors that can establish narrative agents and their relations, drive the narrative and place the view in a certain point of view of the narrative. Orson Welle’s 1941 film, Citizen Kane, is considered significant for its technical innovations with its use of deep focus lenses, low angles, high contrast lighting, long takes and dissolves. In my essay I will be analyzing the sequence depicting Kane’s “Declaration of Principles.” I will show how the elements of mise-en-scene, the cinematography and editing choices help to visually depict Kane as a powerful subject, establish narrative conflict and create perspective within the sequence. Through sequence of Kane’s “Declaration of Principles” Kane is depicted as a powerful narrative agent through social blocking in the sequence’s mise-en- scene. Throughout the long third shot, Kane is placed centrally and stands the tallest compared to Leland and Bernstein. Through the cinematic use of deep focus lenses that manages to capture Leland, Kane and Bernstein positioned in the background, mid ground and foreground all in focus at the same time. This allows for Kane to dominate the mise-en-scene in spatial relations to his friends. His physical relations to his friends and the surrounding...
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...The term ‘mise-en-scene’ is used to “signify the director’s control over what appears in the film frame” (1) and covers such elements as setting, lighting, costume and the movement and actions of figures appearing within the film. The iconic Citizen Kane (Welles, 1941), a biopic that traces the life of fictional newspaper magnate Charles Kane, uses the elements of mise-en-scene to reinforce ‘loss’ as a recurring theme throughout the film. As a faceless reporter goes about collecting personal recounts of Kane, the stories told suggest that throughout the majority of his life, Kane was “moving inevitably toward [an inner state of] bitterness, disappointment and loss” (2). The first flashback scene shown (set at Kane’s childhood home) begins Kane on this aforementioned negative emotional journey. Kane is shown in the background of the scene, while in the foreground, his parents and Mr. Thatcher discuss his future. Kane appears visually trapped within the frames of a window, echoing the way in which he is being ‘trapped’ into Mr. Thatcher’s guardianship. During this scene, a close up of Kane’s indignant expression fades out slowly to reveal the sleigh he happily played with moments before. Having unwillingly left his simplistic home for the riches and supposedly assured success Thatcher can offer him, the sleigh is all that remains, shown abandoned in the foreground, covered in snow. Snow in itself bears “connotations both of burying [the past] and freezing [this idealised memory...
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...Understanding Movies Citizen Kane By the time Citizen Kane came out in 1941, many technological advances had been made in terms of filmmaking. Different photographic techniques became important as they were chosen and implemented for specific reasons and at specific times of the film. Citizen Kane is considered by many critics to be one of the best films of all time mainly because it was so innovative at the time. The film is often praised for its cinematography, sound, and narrative structure. I personally did not love the film because I found it to be a bit boring at times. It felt more like a biography of Kane’s life and not much more. I kept waiting for “it” to happen but no monumental or memorable event really ever occurred. The film begins with Charles Foster Kane on his deathbed as he whispers his last word “rosebud”, before dropping his globe and it shattering everywhere. The rest of the film is essentially a chase by a reporter named Jerry Thompson as he tries to find out what Kane meant by “rosebud”. Through a series of interviews that Thompson conducts, we get an in-depth look at Thompson’s life through flashbacks in the perspective of many people who knew him and were close to him. The setup of the movie was something I did enjoy. The film began at the end of Kane’s life and then progresses through flashbacks. I always find it interesting when movies are set up that way because traditionally a film has a conclusion at the end of a film while Citizen Kane showed us Kane’s...
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...Among many movie critics, filmmakers, and fans, Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane has come to be known as the greatest film ever made. Since its release in 1941 the film has received praise for its innovative mix of cinematography and music, among other theatrical elements. The movie centers on the mysterious legacy of newspaper tycoon Charles Foster Kane, and the meaning of his last words, “rosebud.” Welles’ groundbreaking cinematography and mix of lighting (or lack thereof), low-angle shots, and deep focus, contribute to the audience’s awareness of the important events occurring throughout the movie while simultaneously evoking feelings of curiosity towards the seemingly mysterious and solitary life of Charles Foster Kane. In certain scenes throughout the movie, the lack of lighting, ironically, catches the audience’s eye. The first scene where the lack of lighting really stands out takes place when the few journalists assigned to write about Kane’s death are discussing the possible meanings of his last word, “rosebud.” The first thing the audience is presented with is a room encompassed in darkness, with the exception of two streams of light pouring in from the windows, barely seeming to effectively light up the room. When the men pass by the light, all that is visible are their profiles, and a few puffs of smoke. Although Welles uses a long shot and deep focus for the majority of this scene, the audience really doesn’t get a look into where the characters are spatially located...
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...and Loss in Citizen Kane Citizen Kane (Orson Welles, 1941) is an American drama film that narrates the story of a newspaper magnate who gained worldly success in his life, but he lost connection with people around him during this process. With the help of a series of flashbacks, the film illustrates Kane’s personal life. The film starts with the scene where Kane is on his deathbed and says the word ‘Rosebud’ before dying. A newspaper reporter, Thompson gets intrigued by this word, which becomes the motivation for him to learn about the life of Charles Foster Kane and the significance of the word ‘ Rosebud’. The director, Orson Welles depicts the personal life of Kane beautifully in his work through various sequences of the film. Each scene in the film plays an important role in demonstrating the distance Kane is developing with people around him. The gradual withdrawal of Kane from public life is illustrated through two unsuccessful relationships between his two wives. The puzzle sequence in the film in which Susan and Kane have a brief argument over the boring life Susan is having at Kane’s palatial estate, Xanadu displays dramatically the growing distance between Kane and his second wife, Susan. The puzzle sequence in the movie starts by showing Xanadu’s isolated location on the top of the mountain. This sequence gives the palace a gloomy look by having a dark background and not so happy music. In the next scene, Susan is shown solving jig-saw puzzle before Kane enters the...
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...Courtesy Everett Collection Section 4.1 The “Look” of a Scene CHAPTER 4 Chapter Objectives After reading this chapter, students should: • Have a working knowledge of the cinematographer’s job • Understand the difference between cinematography and mise en scène and recognize the importance of each • Understand the importance of color and lighting and how they affect the tone and feel of a film • Be familiar with different methods of photographing a film, and with terms such as panning, tilting, tracking shots, deep focus, and aspect ratios • Understand how different focal length lenses affect the look of a shot • Recognize what special effects can do for a movie—and what they can’t do 4.1 The “Look” of a Scene W hen we are first introduced to Don Vito Corleone in The Godfather, played by Marlon Brando, the Mafia boss is sitting in the study of his home. Along with his consigliore, or adviser, Tom Hagen (Robert Duvall), Corleone is listening to a line of people requesting favors on the day of his daughter’s wedding. Corleone is immensely powerful, as we learn by the scope of the favors he is asked to grant, which in one case includes the desire of a singer to be cast in a film to revive his musical career, and Corleone’s ability to grant them. However, it is not just what Corleone says in the scene, which introduces us to all that will follow, that makes us aware of his power. It is also how the scene looks, how it is shot, and how color and light are combined...
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...My analysis paper is based on mise-en-scene in Rashomon. The mise-en-scene, which means putting on the stage and it covers the setting, props, costumes, performance, lighting, and color. The way these elements are modified and are arranged within the film to appear on screen is the composition (Abrams et.al 96). In the scene of the fight between the samurai and the bandit, the setting and the light are indispensable; the shadow of the forest is used to contrast with the light that come from the sun and when the bandit is ready to finish off the samurai, the light is reflected in his face and immediately this light is contrasted with shadow that comes among the branches where rest the dead body of the samurai. I consider the setting, the use...
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...however it would not let you question any motives or even allow you breathing space to compile all the things you just saw. I can’t and don’t like that at all. It hurt my head and eyes. I need to think and question. Between 1967 and 1971, a man named André Bazin created “What is Cinema?” in which he focused on editing and cinematography. André Bazin is a Realist and he argued that what he saw in film what he called “objective reality". He saw neo-realism and other genres later on become more realistic looking. These directors would become known as invisible. You “look through” not at the film. André Bazin admired “Orson Welles,” who used deep focus in “Citizen Kane”. Myself and Bazin both advocate the use of deep focus, wide shots and shot-in-depth. Bazin referred to those three as "true continuity" through mise-en-scène. I love seeing everything in the frame. As film progressed through experimental trial and error, the editing and visual effects became better and better by film process and technology. But before then, films that came out in the 1920s and 1930s were not adequate enough. I oppose the formalism movement in Russia of the 1920s and 1930s. Their way of editing and their use of shot choice emphasizes how the cinema can...
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...Cinematography describes the process by which a film strip is exposed to light to create an image. It encompasses many factors: the camera’s distance from the action, camera angle and direction, type of lens, camera movement, and lighting, among others. The art of cinematography also includes mise-en-scène—the arrangement of objects and movements in the frame. Shot Types The amount of visual information included in the image depends on the distance of the camera from the action and on the focal length of the camera lens. Throughout the history of cinema, filmmakers have favored certain combinations of camera distance and focal length, or shot types. * Extreme long shot: Captures a scene in its entirety; used for establishing location in exterior shots. Used frequently in epic genres such as westerns and war films, it reduces human beings to mere dots on the screen. * Long shot: Accommodates at least the entire bodies of figures (if that is all the shot includes, it is called a full shot). Captures movement, background, and broad gestures and expressions. * Medium shot: Contains a figure from the waist or knees up. It is a functional shot, favored in classical Hollywood editing, often used for scenes with dialogue. * Close-up: Includes very little if any background, concentrating on an object or, if an extreme close-up, a fragment of an object, such as the human face. Close-ups often accord great significance and symbolic value to the objects they portray. * Deep focus...
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...An artistic movement whose influence on film has been as profound and enduring as that of surrealism or cubism on painting, the French New Wave (or Le Nouvelle Vague) made its first splashes as a movement shot through with youthful exuberance and a brisk reinvigoration of the filmmaking process. Most agree that the French New Wave was at its peak between 1958 and 1964, but it continued to ripple on afterwards, with many of the tendencies and styles introduced by the movement still in practice today… French New Wave The New Wave (French: La Nouvelle Vague) was a blanket term coined by critics for a group of French filmmakers of the late 1950s and 1960s, influenced by Italian Neorealism and classical Hollywood cinema. Although never a formally organized movement, the New Wave filmmakers were linked by their self-conscious rejection of classical cinematic form and their spirit of youthful iconoclasm. "New Wave" is an example of European art cinema. Many also engaged in their work with the social and political upheavals of the era, making their radical experiments with editing, visual style and narrative part of a general break with the conservative paradigm. Using portable equipment and requiring little or no set up time, the New Wave way of filmmaking presented a documentary type style. The films exhibited direct sounds on film stock that required less light. Filming techniques included fragmented, discontinuous editing, and long takes. The combination of objective realism...
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...62118 0/nm 1/n1 2/nm 3/nm 4/nm 5/nm 6/nm 7/nm 8/nm 9/nm 1990s 0th/pt 1st/p 1th/tc 2nd/p 2th/tc 3rd/p 3th/tc 4th/pt 5th/pt 6th/pt 7th/pt 8th/pt 9th/pt 0s/pt a A AA AAA Aachen/M aardvark/SM Aaren/M Aarhus/M Aarika/M Aaron/M AB aback abacus/SM abaft Abagael/M Abagail/M abalone/SM abandoner/M abandon/LGDRS abandonment/SM abase/LGDSR abasement/S abaser/M abashed/UY abashment/MS abash/SDLG abate/DSRLG abated/U abatement/MS abater/M abattoir/SM Abba/M Abbe/M abbé/S abbess/SM Abbey/M abbey/MS Abbie/M Abbi/M Abbot/M abbot/MS Abbott/M abbr abbrev abbreviated/UA abbreviates/A abbreviate/XDSNG abbreviating/A abbreviation/M Abbye/M Abby/M ABC/M Abdel/M abdicate/NGDSX abdication/M abdomen/SM abdominal/YS abduct/DGS abduction/SM abductor/SM Abdul/M ab/DY abeam Abelard/M Abel/M Abelson/M Abe/M Aberdeen/M Abernathy/M aberrant/YS aberrational aberration/SM abet/S abetted abetting abettor/SM Abeu/M abeyance/MS abeyant Abey/M abhorred abhorrence/MS abhorrent/Y abhorrer/M abhorring abhor/S abidance/MS abide/JGSR abider/M abiding/Y Abidjan/M Abie/M Abigael/M Abigail/M Abigale/M Abilene/M ability/IMES abjection/MS abjectness/SM abject/SGPDY abjuration/SM abjuratory abjurer/M abjure/ZGSRD ablate/VGNSDX ablation/M ablative/SY ablaze abler/E ables/E ablest able/U abloom ablution/MS Ab/M ABM/S abnegate/NGSDX abnegation/M Abner/M abnormality/SM abnormal/SY aboard ...
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