Tuesday, September 14, 2010

The Classic Hit Movie Citizen Kane

By Shawna Olsen

The film, Citizen Kane, was released during 1941. Directed by the legendary Orson Welles, who also stars in it, the film is portrayed as an American drama. Today still, the film industry considers 'CK' to be one of the best films ever made. It is especially noted for innovative cinematography, its music and the narration technique.

Prior to the making of CK, Orson Welles had been enjoying personal acclaim after his success with the Mercury Players. In 1938 his controversial radio show, War of the Worlds, caught the attention of Hollywood. The film studio, RKO Pictures, subsequently signed a contract with Welles in 1939.

Although he was a complete rookie when it came to directing, the studio gave him free rein to develop a screenplay and to choose the crew and cast. He was even allowed the privilege of 'final cut'. After making two unsuccessful attempts, he collaborated with Herman Mankiewicz and the screenplay for Citizen Kane was born.

The film was shot in 1940 and released by RKO Pictures in 1941. It was nominated in no less than 9 categories in the Academy Awards. Much to the delight of Welles and Mankiewicz, it won the award for Best Writing (Original Screenplay).

The film is a roman a clef, a story about real events and real people under the disguise of fictional characters. It looks at the life of Charles Foster Kane whose character is based on newspaper mogul, William Randolph Hearst, as well as on Welles' life. When CK was released, Hearst was so irate that his newspapers were prohibited from even mentioning it.

Kane began his career in the publishing business because of a passion for the industry. However, over time, the passion became an obsessive desire for power. CK is narrated with flashbacks, and the story is exposed through a reporter attempting to solve the obscurity of Kane's single dying word, 'Rosebud'.

Even though the film was a critical success, it did not recoup costs at the box office. It faded into insignificance until French film critics raved about it some years later. This did much to restore CK's reputation and it enjoyed a sensational American revival in 1956. Again, there was consensus amongst film critics that it was indeed the greatest film of all time. For almost half a century, Citizen Kane stayed on the major film polls.

The cinematography was seen by film historians and scholars as Welles' way of creating a new method of film making. The most unique aspect of CK was the prolonged use of deep focusing. In almost every scene, the background, foreground, and all in between, are in focus. This was achieved by the cinematographer after experimenting with lights and lenses.

Another unique element of the movie was the achievement of certain low angle shots. In the film, one can see ceilings in the background. Like all movies at the time, the film was shot on a sound stage which does not have a ceiling. How did they do it in CK?

The crew of Citizen Kane managed to achieve this effect by putting muslin cloth over the set to give the illusion of a ceiling. Hidden on top of the cloth were the microphones. They then dug trenches in the floor to enable the use of low angle shots. This is particularly evident in the scene when Kane and Leland meet after the election loss. Welles played the role of Charles Kane. - 40726

About the Author:

No comments:

Post a Comment