Welles Innovative Techniques

Orson Welles Techniques

The film Citizen Kane written, directed, and produced by, Orson Welles introduces new techniques to film such as deep space with tracking camera and a sense of epic scale. Welles shows Charles Kane’s wealth with shots that depicted his elaborate estate Xanadu. Within Kane’s mansion Welles shows the scale of the place by using large tracking shots to show how much stuff Kane has purchased. An example of this is when Welles shows all Kane’s statues and various artifacts he purchased throughout his life at the end of the movie. All these shots show that Kane’s world is massive but empty. Kane is mogul emperor and lusts for power, he wants people to envy him and his life. In the scene at the the opera house Kane forces his wife Susan to sing Opera, at the end of the scene he is the only one clapping and this is shown at a low angle shot to exaggerate his presence. Kane wants others to love Susan and be jealous of him and his success. This shows that Kane is truly empty, he feels that everyone should love and respect him. One of the most important shots in the whole movie is when Kane is a child and his mother wants to send him away to boarding school. Wells uses deep space with tracking camera to show Kane in the back playing with his sled while his parents are discussing his future. This shot is revolutionary in cinema, but also shows that the last time Kane genuinely felt anything was when he was playing with his sled Rosebud. Orson Welles was able to create a complex character with innovative use of new camera techniques such as deep focus and tracking shots.