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Citizen Kane

In: Film and Music

Submitted By adamsh
Words 523
Pages 3
**** ********
Humanities 17
Mr. ****
10/20/12
Citizen Kane, Orson Wells (1941): employed new cinematographic advances for film.
Wells, use of camera placement, movement and the entire editing process paved the way for a new era of filmmaking. His brilliant use of Iconic imagery, help to tell the story of Charles Foster Kane. The opening of this scene seems to be one of childhood innocence. A young Charles, sledding down a hill. The blind edit straight to the snowball hitting the sign of Mrs. Kane’s boarding house can be considered an iconic image for what’s to come. The over the shoulder shot of his mother talking to Charles still has the focus on Charles and his innocence. As the camera pulls backwards you get a better idea of what’s going on. In the negative space, while mother and father are talking to Mr. Thatcher you see Charles still childishly playing in the snow. Having no idea he is about to given away. The camera following Mrs. Kane back to the window then the close-up of her face shows the intensity of her emotion she has for selling her son. The close-up of Charles face makes you feel his pain and anger as it transitions to another iconic image of the empty sled gathering snow, letting you know Charles is gone. In the dining room with Emily the lighting is focused on Emily who is centered in the shot. The lighting and her appearing brighter shows that for now she is the main focus. As the camera moves in it accentuates the love between them. The straight cut back and forth with the close-ups between Emily and Charles allows you to feel the sincerity of both of them. As the scene continues, with the transitional dissolve they continue to appear older and it shows the lapse of time, which appears to be many years. The camera then moves backwards showing them sitting as they were in the beginning of the scene, this time they are older and not

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