Achievement or Enjoyment: The Debate Between Casablanca and Citizen Kane

The first flashback in the film is when the reporter reads the “Walter Parks Thatcher” records. This mainly detailed out the first encounter Mr. Thatcher had with a young boy named Charles Kane and how Mr. Thatcher became the guardian of Charles Kane. Additionally, the audience learns what Charles Kane wanted to do in life as a young entrepreneur in writing newspapers. The next flashback is of a different view from Mr. Bernstein. This flashback revealed Mr. Kane’s success with the New York Inquirer, and his first marriage with Emily. Also, Mr. Kane started collecting valuables and couldn’t really maintain relationships with other people. In the next flashback from the view of Mr. Kane’s friend Mr. Leland, continues on with Mr. Kane’s relationship of his wife Emily. In this scene though, the film uses the same setting at different times of both of them at a table. It appears they were going through the years of the same issue; Mr. Kane enjoys more time at work than with Emily. In another flashback, the audience continues to learn Mr. Kane’s love for himself while trying to run for governor but meeting his soon to be wife Susan. His opponent blackmails him in giving up running for

The first montage seen is the March of Time Newsreel. This reel is very important as it tells us that Charles Foster Kane dies and gives us a backstory on his ridiculous life. Another important montage in the story was after Kane got married to his first wife, Emily Kane. This montage shows him and his new wife happy at the table. Going through many weeks and months this montage shows the transition Kane and his wife has just through the being at the dinner table. At first, they are lovey dovey sitting close to each other, then Emily starts talking about how he is always at work which leads to them sitting away from each other by the end of the montage reading opposite newspapers. The montage are really important but the lighting allows the story to really stand

When discussing the greatest films of all time, Citizen Kane, directed by Orson Welles, usually comes up. It’s influence in American cinema can still be felt today, but at the time the film was not released without controversy. The main character in the movie, Charles Foster Kane, is undeniably based of the real life figure of William Randolph Hearst, a famous American newspaper publisher. Hearst was very aware of this fact and tried to hinder the success of Welles’ picture by denying it any sort of press in his newspapers. Despite the smear campaign Kane’s influence lives on through Welles’ revolutionary filmic techniques and its presence in pop culture.

The structure in the film Citizen Kane is non-linear in that it does not follow any planned order. The story is well formulated and presented using flashbacks that pertain different times in the life of Kane (Welles). These flashbacks are unplanned search that they offer the viewer an incomplete glimpse of Kane’s life and essentially adding more suspense. It takes the form of the memory when a person tries to remember an event that took place a long time ago. The use of the non-linear structure helps to portray how complicated the life of Kane was. It is vital to note the film uses several narrators. The mystery of Kane’s life is also being put together like a puzzle (Welles). The audience is with the journalist in the quench to find what the mystery word meant to Kane. The layout of the story is also planned with

This movie is filled with series of magnificent shots creating a fascinating plot. For instance, a setting that vividly portrays the theme of the movie is Kane's palace, Xanadu, where the film director purposely chooses to show it at the beginning and at the end of the movie. This setting alludes that riches and power cannot buy or substitute love and Kane, throughout his life, never detains that most of the things he aspires so badly do not replace for what he could not perhaps get, the love of his mother and the loss of childhood. Another great examples of how setting can play a huge role in describing the theme of the movie are the following: the candidate Kane gaining control of New York Inquirer newspaper and running for governor of New York, the young boy playing in snow as his parents determine his future, and building a massive opera house for his second wife, black smoke blowing out the chimney of Xanadu palace. Overall, the film director chooses settings and events like these to realistically show Kane's changes from innocent young man to a wealthy egocentric

For citizen Kane, the most important assets of his life are not the political ambitions, successful newspaper business, nor his relationships with the significant others. Judging by his last word, “Rosebud,” the most important piece of his life is memory from his childhood. Although his life is changed for what appears to be better, from a materialistic viewpoint, it actually leaves him vulnerable and alone. Kane’s life is ultimately destructed by his lust to fulfill the American dream of fame, power and wealth. The inevitable struggle of Kane is reflective of the struggle of many must confront in this materialistic world, as one on his or her quest to find the true meaning of

Citizen Kane, from a film technician’s perspective is essentially an incarnation of “cinematography” and “mise en scene” which is extensively used to convey meaning. In terms of cinematography, the use of “extreme close-up shot” on a person or an object gives it a great deal of “symbolic significance”. It is best illustrated in the opening scene where an extreme close-up shot accentuates on Kane’s lips, while he utters the word ‘Rosebud’ on his deathbed. This moment creates a sense of mystery as it is unexplained to the viewers because it occurs right at beginning of the film.

Lighting Techniques: The Black and White World of Citizen Kane Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane is revered for its inventive and sophisticated use of lighting schemes to bring a certain tone to the film that sound or mise-en-scene could not achieve. However, the frequent low-key lighting goes further than merely creating a mysterious, film noir-esque mood. Intense shadows coupled with bold highlights shape Welles’ black and white film into a black and white world, which in turn emphasizes Kane’s descent into a moral grey area by the end of his life. While the world around Kane remains clear-cut between “good” and “bad,” our perception of him lies in ambiguity, caught between our sympathy for his difficult childhood and our aversion to his older character.

But it is precisely the way Citizen Kane's technique serves its story which makes the film so powerful. All right then, let's talk about technique. You can go to any number of textbooks and read about the various aspects of style which have made the movie influential - the deep focus photography, low angle shots and wide angle lenses, the use of ceilings, overlapping dialogue, sudden cuts, and so forth and so on. I don't need to go over all that. What I want to express is the effect of all these techniques on a viewer - and especially in the context of the kind of film a viewer in America was accustomed to in 1941 - the Hollywood

“Citizen Kane,” a masterpiece film of Orson Welles' creation, utilized a number of film making techniques that in 1941 were nothing short of revolutionary. His use of unorthodox narrative styles and film making techniques convey nearly as much to the viewer as the narrative itself. Traditionally, films were shot in an easy to follow, chronological format. Films began at point A, proceeded to point B, and ended at point C. “Citizen Kane” turned the chronological narrative on its head.

In 1941, the release of Orson Welles Citizen Kane saw the New York Times label it as the "riding crest of perhaps the most provocative publicity wave ever to float a motion picture”. Withstanding against contextual influences and alterations this historically epic melodrama has endured time, continuing to rouse meaning and differing interpretations for the individual of yesterday, today and tomorrows humanity. Setting precedent for a new world of cinematography to arise, Welles utilised the day’s context to create what was believed to be a political allegory warning against the dangers of isolationism. Nonetheless, as the decades roll on and society itself sees extensive, even transformative modifications the messages sensualised and

Orson Welles’s Citizen Kane is a revolutionary film. Although it might not look like much to the modern viewer, many aspects of the film were the first of their kind to appear and are still used today.

Through his 1941 film, Citizen Kane, Orson Welles’ portrays the complex nature of individuals as he explores the defining characteristics of the human condition through the depiction of the protagonist, Charles Foster Kane. The film’s enduring values is attributed to its explorations of relevant contextual concerns present throughout the 20th century and contemporary society. Through Welles’ use of innovative cinematic construction and textual flair, Welles highlights the complexities in shaping an individual’s identity, whilst also exploring the corrupting nature power has on an individual and their relations.

One such flashback begins at Thatcher’s building where the reporter Thompson enters an exaggeratedly large room and begins to read about Kane. This is one of the scenes in which cinematographer Greg Toland’s deep focus technique of filming and use of unique lighting, in which the only light source hits

The absolutely stunning film, Citizen Kane (1941), is one of the world’s most famous and highly renowned films. The film contains many remarkable scenes and cinematic techniques as well as innovations. Within this well-known film, Orson Welles (director) portrays many stylistic features and fundamentals of cinematography. The scene of Charles Foster Kane and his wife, Susan, at Xanadu shows the dominance that Kane bears over people in general as well as Susan specifically. Throughout the film, Orson Welles continues to convey the message of Susan’s inferiority to Mr. Kane. Also, Welles furthers the image of how demanding Kane is of Susan and many others. Mr. Welles conveys the message that Kane has suffered a hard life, and will