Joey Schulman
Film
Bauks
February 30, 2014
Citizen
Kane was one for the ages. Now I know why every movie and tv show makes some
reference to Citizen Kane; it’s because this movie was spectacular. The movie
used different cinematography to capture different themes, ideas, and much more
throughout Kane’s life. Right from the beginning of the movie, we saw the use
of shadows when the article writers were discussing Kane’s death and how to put
it in the paper. The effect of blacking out all of their faces was to show that
it didn’t matter who those men were because there were so many articles being
written and published about Kane, so the writers do not matter in the movie. We
saw the use of flashbacks in the Civil War scene with Kane and his parents in
Colorado. In this scene we heard Charles in the background, while at the same
time there is a civil war going on inside the house with Mrs. Kane, Mr. Kane,
and Fatcher. Throughout this scene, we always saw Charles, and he was always is
focus because he was being spoken about by his parents and Fatcher. Throughout
the film we saw other examples of different cinematography genius. There was
the use of high angle to show that Kane was more important than his wife. This
showed that Kane was not going to listen to his wife. He was going to do things
his way because he is more powerful. When his wife looked horrible on the bed
in the “sick scene” towards the end of the movie, the girl is out of focus, but
it seemed as if she was being sandwiched by two things that were in focus. One
being drugs to show that she is messed up and sick, and the other being Kane
because he is important and cares about his wife on the bed. Overall, an
amazing film due to the different cinematography used.
I think all of your points made were very accurate. I definetly also enjoyed the scene where Kane was a little kid and was in the background of the civil war scene playing in the sled. This scene used lots of different types of camera tricks to enhance the scene like you said. I also liked your comment with the high-angle shot when Kane was standing over his wife. I also talked about that shot in my write-up because I thought it was genius. It did a great job without using words to demonstrate the feelings and emotions of both characters.
ReplyDeleteI most definitely agree with you about the cinematography in Citizen Kane will go down as the film that revolutionized the history of all films. I especially like your example of Kane always being in focus in the shot even though the conversation doesn't concern him. Like when they are celebrating the merger of the newspaper and Bernstein and Leyland are talking and Kane can be clearly seen in the middle of the two in the reflection. The shots in Citizen Kane is the first of it's kind and was so amazing because it was never seen this welly done.
ReplyDeleteI was also fascinated by the use of shadows in this film. There is a large use of shadowing in the scene in which Charles Foster Kane and his wife were conversing while seated at opposite ends of his gigantic room. The director decided to cast shadows over the opposing figure so the audience would only be able to see the outline of the other. The shadows, I believe, are used to depict the unfamiliarity that Kane and his wife now share with each other. While they were once close, Kane became angry and frustrated, which led to the separation between he and his wife. Good observation Joe;)
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