AnalysisGuide:CitizenKane

Thefilm,CitizenKane,1941[120minutes,RKO/Mercury],went well.Therealproblemwasthecontract,whichgaveme,freeandclear, carteblanche....Ihadtoomuchpower,OrsonWelleslaterreflected aboutthethreefilmcontractgivenhimin1940byRadioKeithOrphem. The unusual contract had been offered to Welles primarily on the strengthofhis1938radioproductionofH.G.WellssWaroftheWorlds. That production, presented in part in the form of news flashes interrupting a broadcast of ballroom music, caused a panic in many partsofthecountrywhenlistenersmistakenlytookitfortherealthing. The incident gained Welles overnight notoriety. Welles brought the majority of his Mercury Theatre personnel, a group of talented individualswithwhomhehadworkedbothonBroadwayandonradio,to Hollywood to fulfill the generous RKO contract. Welles originally intendedtoadaptJosephConrads HeartofDarkness ashisfirstfilm, but finally decided to use Herman J. Mankiewiczs script, American. AfterseveralrevisionsandWellesinput,thescriptwasretitled,Citizen Kane. When Gregg Toland, one of Hollywoods leading photographers learnedofWellesuniquecontrol,hesentWellesaletteraskingthathe behiredasdirectorofphotography.Tolandjoinedtheproductionstaff and acted as technical instructor to Welles. Robert Wise, who would laterbecomeatopdirectorinhisownright,editedthefilmalongwith Mark Robson. Bernard Herrmann, who had worked with Welles on radio, composed and conducted the music for the film. As critic historianRobertSklarconcludes,CitizenKaneisconsideredthemost significantfilmproducedintheAmericancommercialcinema .... In theAmericanFilmInstitutes1998listingoftheTop100USfilmsofall time, Citizen Kane was listed as number one, and it retained that positionintheAFIs2007reranking.Theactingcreditsinclude: JedediahLeland SusanAlexanderKane Kanesmother JamesW.Gettys Mr.Bernstein Mr.Carter JosephCotton DorothyComingore AgnesMoorehead RayCollins EverettSloane ErskineSanford

EmilyNortonKane Thompson WalterParksThatcher CharlesFosterKane

RuthWarrick WilliamAlland GeorgeCoulouris OrsonWelles

Inthe1999AmericanFilmInstitutetributetothefiftygreatestAmerican movie"screenlegends,"Welleswasrankedasnumbersixteenamongthe men. I. TheTechnicalDimension. Bepreparedtoidentifyexamplesofthe majortechniquesofcameraplacement, lighting,movement, editing, etc. Give attention to composition and montage. Welles ability perfectly to reproduce the characteristics of a specific type of presentation was proven by the effectiveness of The War of the Worlds,andisfurtherdemonstratedbytheparodyof TheMarchof Time near the beginning of Citizen Kane. Be able to point out specificdetailsthatlendauthenticitytoNewsontheMarch.Ithas been noted that the camera is not simply an impartial observer in Kane.WhileotherHollywooddirectorswereattemptingtomakethe camera invisible (i.e., practice Hollywood transparency), Welles almost constantly used exaggerated angles that distort the characters and emphasize point of view. Note examples of this. Note examples of Hollywood montage and the use of camera movement in place of intercutting. One of the basic technical achievementsofthefilmwasTolandsextensiveuseof deepfocus, having both foreground and background in focus simultaneously. Watchforexamples. Whichapparently deepfocus shotsarereally clever matte shots? What effect does deep focus have on composition? On editing? On movement within the frame? Note examplesofcameramovementtopunctuatethebeginningandending of major sequences. How and where does camera movement add emotiontoscenes? Although Kane wasnotthefirstfilminwhich ceilings on sets are visible, the extensive showing of ceilings was unusualforHollywoodduringtheperiod. (Lightsandmicrophones were usually suspended above the sets.) What effect on characterization and on the miseenscne does the inclusion of ceilingshave?Noticethelighting.Manylightingtechniquesusedin

thisfilmwereconsideredtabooinHollywood. Whateffectdoesthe lackoflightonportionsofthesetandoncertaincharactersatcertain times have on the narrative? On the miseenscne? On characterization? How does lighting and camera placement in relationtothejournalistspropelyouasaviewerintothenarrative? ManyofWellesradiotechniquesintheuseofsoundcarryoverinto thisfilm,especiallyoverlappingdialogue.Listenforexampleswhere soundcontrasts,undermines,oramplifiestheimage.Whereissound used to hide the absence of elements of the visual image? Characterize Welles transitions. What is significant about the breakfasttablesequence? II. TheDramaticDimension.Bepreparedtosummarizetheplotandto identify the dramatic devices used to establish the plot and to maintain continuity. Identify and analyze the use of dramatic moments (e.g., recognition, reversal, catharsis, confrontation)in the film. Are there any scenes that were obligatory either for the genre or for the era of the films release? Kane is organized in a jigsawstructurethatpermitsvariedpointsofview.Theaudienceis neverauthoritatively privileged,butmustconstructitsownconcept ofKanefromtheoverlappingofopinionsandreactions. Howisthe jigsaw structure visually reinforced? What role does the news magazinesequenceplay? WhatdevicedoesWellesusetomaintain interestandrelatethesequencesofthefilm?Isthisdeviceeffective? Isitsatisfying?Isolationandvastnessarecontinuingthemesinthe film.Howaretheserepresentedandreinforced?Inwhatwayisthe newspapermotifused?Discusstheuseofsymbolisminthefilm.Is RosebudaMacGuffin?Explain.CitizenKanehasbeendescribed asanupdatedversionofFaust. Ifso,whoorwhatisthedevilin Kane?WhatcausesKanesdownfall?Analyzecharacterizationinthe film,includingidentificationofsuchpracticesasuseof caricature, name typing, foils, stock characters, static/dynamic characters, flat/roundcharacters,andeccentrics.

III. TheAuteurDimension. Aretherecharacteristicsthatidentifythe director? Technicalcharacteristics? Dramatictechniques? Generic characteristics?Howdoesthisfilmcompareorcontrastwithotherof

Wellesworks? Thereisageneralconsensusthat Citizen Kane is Wellesbestwork,whichheneveragainequaled.Howdoesonedeal criticallywithanauteurwhoseworksdeclinedratherthanadvanced? IV. TheGenericDimension.TowhichgenredoesCitizenKanebelong? Isitnongenre?Why?Whynot? V. TheRhetoricalDimension.WilliamBayersaidthatCitizenKaneis aboutmoneyandpower,agingandtime,loveandmarriage,business andpolitics, and the futility ofhuman aspirations. Hecalled it a devastatingcritiqueoftheAmericanDream. ConsideralsoBayers statementthatthemoreonefindsoutaboutsomeone,thelessone understandshischaracter.Doyouagree?Why?Whynot?IsKane a message film? A socially significant film? Is social criticism rhetoric? VI. TheSocioHistoricalDimension. CitizenKaneranintodifficulties whenjournalistsandcriticsfocusedonthestoryssimilaritytothelife ofnewspapertycoonWilliamRandolphHearst.Wellesdeniedthisin anarticletitled,CitizenKane IsNotAboutLouellaParsonsBoss. Still,Hearstandothersattemptedtokeepthefilmoutofdistribution. LouisB.Mayer,aHearstintimate,offeredtoreimburseRKOforthe costofthepictureifRKOwoulddestroythenegative. While Kane resemblesHearstslifeinmanyaspects(especiallyXanadusrelation to San Simeon and Susan Alexanders relation to Marion Davies), there are incidents based on other journalists (Pulitzer, Northcliffe, Swope)andtycoons(McCormich,Brulatour,Insull). Asanindexto, andcritiqueof,AmericansocietyandtheAmericanDream,doesthe degree offactualmaterial inthestory make anydifference? Why? Whynot?

TheDramaticDimension:PointOfView
I. Pointofview(andtone).Pointofviewreferstotheperspectivefrom whichthestoryistold. A. Person. Asinlanguage,cinemahasthreepersons:first,second,

andthird.Mostmoviesaretoldinthethirdperson.Thatis,they areobjective:showingushe,she,oritinaction. Somearefirst person: they are told in the I voice of a narrator (e.g., Forest Gump). Among thefew commercially released Hollywoodfilms andprobablythefirsttousealmostpuresecondperson,isLady intheLake,inwhichtheactionisseenthroughtheeyesofthe character addressedtotheyouoftheothercharacters. Note: singleshotfilmsorfilmsshottolooklikesingleshotfilms(e.g., Hitchcock'sRope,1948)arenotnecessarilysecondperson.There hastobetheconventionthatthecameraviewisasingleperson's view as in Lady in the Lake and in Aleksandr Sokurov's 2002 ninetysixminutesingleshotfilmRussianArk.Theultimatethird personfilmisperhapsAdamRifkin's Look,2007,whichisfilmed with the convention that all the shots are from surveillance cameras (ATMs, police car videos, elevator cameras, etc.) or cell phones. B. Privilege. Privilege is a manner of discussing how much the audienceisallowedtoknowaboutthestory.When,likeGod,we see and know all, complete (also called omniscient) privilege exists.Whenweknowonlyalimitedamount,perhapsthatwhich isalsoknowntothecentral character inthestory, privilege is limited. Privilege is frequently limited to what one character knows. Limiting audience privilege is one way of creating audience effects (e.g., as in George Roy Hills The Sting, 1973). Characterscanalsobesaidtohavedifferent levels of privilege, rangingfromanomniscientnarrating character whoknowsand tellsalltothemostlimited stock characterwhodoesnothavea clueaboutwhatisgoingon. InPeterWeirs TheTrumanStory, 1998, for example, the audience starts off sharing Truman Burbanks limited privilege, but is eventually allowed to share Christofsomniscientprivilege. 1. Reliable/unreliable narrative. If the account of events presentedinthefilmistrue,thenitisreliable.Iftheaccount of events presented in the film may sometimes or often be untrue,thenitisunreliable.InStageFright,1950,Hitchcock

hadasuspecttellhisversionoftheevents,whichwesawon thescreen.Sincewesawtheeventsonthescreen,wethought theyweretrue.Later,itisrevealedthathelied.Thefilmwas notasuccesssincemanyaudiencemembersfeltcheatedbythe unreliable privilege of the narration. Today, unreliable privilege is the technique employed in false witness narratives,inwhichtestimonyisvisualizedinsteadofnarrated. AgoodexampleisEdwardZwicksCourageUnderFire,1996,in whichtheaudienceseeseventsasfalselynarrateduntilthe end when the final truthful version is visualized. Bryan Singer's 1995 film, The Usual Suspects, though it won the OscarforBestScreenplay,wasaccusedofbasingtheplotupon a premise of unreliable narrative so totalthat it "negates the entirefilm." 2. Narrative distance. Does the audience feel close to or identified with the characters? Or are all or even selected characters intended to be viewed dispassionately by the audience? Ifthelatter,thenarrativepointofviewisdistant as opposed to close. Often we are distanced from stock characters who have to be sacrificed to the plot. Do the sacrificial ensigns on Star Trek have families? Loves? Pets? Wearenottold,becausethenwemightcaretoomuch. 3. Exterior/interior. An exterior point of view is that of the outsider(forexample,thereporterin CitizenKane),whilethe interior point of view is the subjective reality of the charactersdirectlyinvolved(asreportedbythecharactersTO thereporterinCitizenKane). 4. Stable/moving.Astablepointofviewisonewhichstaysthe samethroughoutthestory.Amovingpointofviewisonethat changes during the story. Citizen Kane, again, is a good example;andyoushouldviewAkiraKurosawa'sRashomon,the truly classic example of moving point of view in that the variouscharacterspointsofviewaresoradicallydifferent. II. Levelofconsciousness. Whatyouseeonfilmatanymomentcan

represent different levels of consciousness of the narrator or a character.Amongtheselevelsare: A. Reality. This is what everyone, audience member as well as character, would agree to being whats out there or what happened.Thatis,thematerialportrayedhasverisimilitude,or, asStephenColbertmightputit,truthiness. B. Subjective Reality. This is what subjectively the character believestobetrue,eventhoughtheaudienceknowsthatitmay not,infact,beobjective reality.InTheCabinetofDr.Caligari, 1919,theentirefilmisthesubjectiverealityofthenarrator.The supposed real world of The Matrix, 1999, is actually a communal, subconscious, and fabricated subjective reality. Sucker Punch, 2011, takes place partially in the hyperreal worldofacharactersimagination. C. Dream.Afantasysequencethatisneitherrealitynormemory, though a dream sequence often may contain memories, usually distorted. Often surreal, a dream may appear to be a reality. Inception,2010,isaperfectexampleofthecinematicdepictionof dreams. Indeed, the dream sequence is, alas, now a terrible cinemacliche,oftenusedtogetacheapthrillatthebeginningofa picture. AnentireseasonofthetelevisionseriesDallaswasret connedasadreamtochangetheseriescontinuity.Aselectionof dreamsequencescanbefoundat http://www.toponlinecolleges.com/blog/2011/10bestmovie dreamsequences/ D. Memory. Often established by flashbacks or by subliminal cutting (i.e., a type of flashcutting so rapid that only the subconsciouscanperceiveit),memories,also,canbecliches,but theyaretheessenceofthecinemaandcanbepowerfulindeed.An excellent example is Citizen Kane, 1941. Often memory flashbacksarestylisticallydifferentfromtherestofthefilm.Itis generally understood, of course, that memories are distorted by time and experience, so we do not expect memories to be as

reliableasrealityorevenasreality. E. Fantasy. Creativeimaginings,inventions,andillusionsofthings, people,places,andeventsthattranscendreality.Thewholepoint offantasiesisthattheyarenotrealityandareunreliable.