Deep Focus            

Citizen Kane, Orson Wells’s masterpiece, has gone down in history as one of the greatest movies ever made. What makes it so unique is the introduction of the many different film techniques used. If you were to watch films that were created prior to Citizen Kane, you wouldn’t have the deep focus, or the low angled shots that made this movie so special. One aspect that truly caught my eye and made me think was deep focus. This technique happens when the foreground, middle ground, and background are all in focus. Before Citizen Kane was produced, deep focus was never used.  

            During the flashback scene known as the “civil war” scene, where we see Charles as a young boy, deep focus really caught the viewers eye. The scene starts out with the camera only on young Charles playing in the snow and eventually tracks back so we see the mother in the foreground, the father in the middle ground and young Charles in the background. This allows the viewer to decide which aspect is most important, rather than limiting their attention to a specific character or object.  Most of the attention in this scene can be put towards the mother, who is in the foreground, because she is signing papers that took the control of Charles life away. This was the beginning to Charles mysterious and dark life, which eventually ends with him wifeless, in a mansion, dying alone.  

Citizen Kane

It is very obvious why Citizen Kane was such a success among critics. Orson Welles masterfully crafts a tale of deceit, love, and tragedy. Before I get into what makes this film just so great, I would like to give you a brief background of the story. A young Charles Foster Kane leaves his home in order to pursue a better life. His mother sends him to New York to get a better education, and he ends up excelling like no one ever imagined. Originally, Kane purchases the enquirer as a hobby. However, he soon turns this previously small time newspaper into a massive, nation wide newspaper. Welles does a beautiful job directing this masterpiece. One thing that I really took note of was the “No Trespassing” sign that we see both in the beginning of the movie and at the very end. Throughout his whole life, Kane was viewed as an introvert; someone who would rather be alone than in the thick of things. This is ironic because most at the time viewed him as a greater than god power. I think that the no trespassing sign is symbolic of this. What it symbolizes is the tendency of Kane to push people out of his life. He doesn’t want people trespassing on his own life, because he would rather do it himself. Another good example of Welles masterful directing is the scene in which Kane’s wife overdoses on her medicine. Welles uses a deep focus on Kane and a soft focus on the medicine, yet we notice that he doesn’t focus on his wife’s face at all.

My response

Citizen Kane takes the viewer on a journay through Charles Kane's life, one of misery, anger, and resentment. Of course though we are shown instances where Charles appears to be happy, however, these moments are often fleeting. I believe the ending of the film is the most important scene since it relinquishes the most important tid bit of information, that being that rosebud was his sled from when he was a kid. I believe this is important because it reveales the most about Charles throughout the whole scene. Since Charles was taken away from his parents as a young child he never really had a proper childhood or grew up with the constant love and affection that only one's parents can give. Is this loss of a childhood and love of his parents what inevitably causes Charles to become the bitter old man he is in the end? I believe the reason he said the sled's name on his deathbed is because he wanted nothing more, at that moment at the end of his life, than to go back to his family as a child again and grow up with them. Whats ironic with this sad ending though is that while the mother sent Charles away so that he could have a better life, he ends up being unhappy and feeling empty inside due to this change of life style.All in all this is a great film with great messages for viewers of all age. I would recommend it to anyone who hasn't seen it.

I had always heard from my father that Citizen Kane was arguably the greatest film in movie history. I was hesitant to give it a try, as I had always had trouble following and staying captivated by "older" films. When viewing Citizen Kane in class, I never found myself nodding off or becoming disinterested. The story, dialogue, and incredible acting kept me drawn in. There were many aspects of the film that were very mysterious which kept me intrigued and looking for clues. I am a big supporter of movies with subliminal messages and meanings, which is why I found a number of the focus shots extremely fascinating. The fact that characters were kept on screen, whether it be through a window or a reflection off of glass, was very powerful and interesting. It was those scenes that really stood out for me upon discovering that those focus shots were intentional. To think that the director was going that in depth with his shots made the film all that more capable of drawing me in and forcing me to pay closer attention. When discovering that the story line was heavily based off of William Randolph Hearst, I was even more open to the film, as I know quite a bit about Hearst's life and trials, and have done previous reports on him. The whole mood and vibe that this movie gives off, from the shots to the tone of the characters' voices, was very eery yet fascinating. I thoroughly enjoyed this film to the fullest, and would even consider watching it again in order to capture and understand more of the messages this film aims to portray through filmography and cinematography.

            Upon viewing Orson Wells’ classic I had a few initial reactions. My first was admiration for the innovation and originality that the film displayed in the areas of editing, shots, splicing, and eerie, emotional vibe that the film maintained throughout the picture. One scene in specific I appreciated, which was pointed out, was the foreground and background focus while the middle remained blurry.  The film has a variety of shots that would have been considered revolutionary and complex in the era that it was released such as tracking shots in the scenes of Mr. Kane’s childhood. However I also feel unfulfilled after watching the film as I felt it ended too soon. This isn’t to say it wasn’t a solid conclusion, but I felt as if the middle parts of Kane’s life were skipped over. The director gave the viewer an initial perception of Kane’s character then quickly skipped over his teenage years and early 20’s. The only compensation of this was a quick and somewhat subtle reference of his boarding school and college days and how he attended many schools due to wild behavior. While this gives some explanation I feel as if the viewer is not able to connect to Kane as much as there is potential to. Due to this lack of connection, the pitfalls of Kane’s older years are less sympathized by the audience then they should be. Overall I thought the movie was eye opening in a variety of ways but was slightly annoyed at the lack of character progression.

Throughout the movie, it showed many appearances of how much control a child may not have on their lives unlike Charles Foster Kane. However, it also shows how much power Charles Foster Kane had after his life had changed after all of those years ago. The film starts off with Kane as a child where he is playing outside and where his parents are inside talking about mostly about their money issues they have, but also on the custody of Charles where Walter Parks Thatcher then became the legal guardian of Charles Kane and his life had then changed forever. It’s difficult for one person to control his life after it has been taken away from him by the use of just getting more money in order to live. Later on, Charles then becomes successful in his business of making newspapers and using his power to overpower the woman he loved, Susan Kane for so long. She first wanted an opera house where Charles then built, but afterwards decided that she didn't want to continue after it was noticeable that she was no good at it. It was quite strange to see how much power one person could have. Charles used his power that he kept her from quitting and told her to continue; however, Susan then left Charles and that made him so miserable afterwards. Charles then passed away with the reminders of the snow globe that he got Susan and soon after the house was then closed down. 

Citizen Kane Response

After our viewing of Citizen Kane, there were a number of scenes that stuck out for me. However, the most notable scene for me was the overdose scene, when Kane walks into Susan overdosed on medicine and unconscious on their bed. It is the first few seconds of when he walks in is what really struck me. Prior to the scene, the viewer suspects that Kane might not care as much for Susan as he should because he forces her to continue her awful opera shows and then reports about them horribly in his newspaper. However, for me, this scene confirmed that. Kane opens the door after he gets no response from Susan, and he quickly surveys the scene before walking up to her bedside.When he approaches her, the camera focus is what gives away his true feelings. As he’s standing next to his overdosed wife, the camera is focused on Kane and the bottle of empty medicine, while Susan is blurry in the middle. The significance of how the camera is focused on the foreground and background, while the middle ground is blurry, is hugely significant ti understanding Kane’s feelings. It shows to the viewer what Kane truly cares about, his reputation and what might ruin it. The camera being focused on himself represents his reputation, while the focus on the empty medicine represents what could hurt him. His wife’s wellbeing does not concern him. This scene helped me in understanding what type of person Kane was, and gives more meaning to his actions and what he truly wants. 

Citizen Kane Response

One part of Orson Welles’s “Citizen Kane” that intrigued me was the ending of the movie. The very last to shots were interesting to me. The first shot showed Kane’s childhood sled, with the name “Rosebud” painted on it, thrown into the fire and then burning. At the end of the movie I was left wondering why the Rosebud sled had been so important to Kane that he chose it to be his last living word. I had to think back to the “Civil War” scene where the sled was previously seen. This is the last scene before Kane is taken away from his family and plunged into a completely different life than the one he had before. It can be argued that this new life that Kane leads is not a happy one for him. Rosebud was something from the life with his mother and therefore represented that life where Kane was truly happy, and therefore Rosebud was important enough to be Kane’s last word. The second shot was the final shot of the movie, which was a tilt of the chain link fence outside of Xanadu; the same shot as the movie opened with.  This shot intrigued me because it had symbolism. Because the movie started and ended with the same shot it shows that the movie symbolically started and ended in the same spot, and therefore so did Charles Kane. At the start of the movie Kane is from a poor powerless family. By the end of the movie Kane’s large empire has regressed and he again is at a lack of power. 

When you talk about Citizen Kane you have to mention the technicality of the film, the use of the camera angles or the camera focus can give you a perspective of the scene that you wouldn’t get if it wouldn’t have been that camera angle.  An example of this is when Mr Kane is in front of his portrait while he is giving his intense speech.  The use of the low angle made it feel that he was larger than life and that he was the most powerful person there.  Without the low angle the shot wouldn’t have given you the impression of how he felt about himself and you could have interpreted the scene in a different way.  Another scene where our influence was swayed was where Susan overdosed on medicine and in the scene the medicine bottle and Mr Kane were in focus while Susan was not, this showed that the medicine bottle and mr Kane was important while Susan was not important this allowed us to understand how Mr Kane felt about the situation because it showed that he didn’t care about how she was sick he only cared about how she would impact him in the press.   Without These camera angles and camera focuses the viewers can interpret scenes in a lot of different ways but with these camera angles the director can influence your interpretation. 

Citizen Kane; The American Dream

Citizen Kane makes the American dream seem like something that does not look very desirable. . The movie also teaches something about how you can’t buy happiness. When Charles was a child, we never saw him playing with any friends or being around kids, he was always playing by himself. Thatcher takes him away from his rather poor family and small house into great luxury and wealth. He is given the best schooling and upbringing that money can buy, and through vision and hard work, parlays that into a massive media empire. As an adult he lives in a palace, surrounded by nothing but expensive materials. His second wife’s name is Susan; she is low class but still a very good-looking woman. Charles forces her into singing opera, even though she is not very talented. He even buys her an opera house. She eventually leaves him. I don’t think they ever really loved each other. Susan was miserable at Xanadu. Charles was never satisfied with her and always forced her into and gave her things only he wanted, and Susan never got anything she wanted. Charles tried to buy love with his money, but instead it only made other people just as miserable as himself. He makes other people just as miserable as he is because he feels lonely. His wealth only made him lonely and nothing but miserable.