Citizen Kane (Orson Welles, 1941) is widely regarded as the best film ever made. Not only being extremely famous when it came out initially but also decades on. It is constantly examined, scrutinised, compared and finally used as the high standard for many film directors, producers, actors etc.

Citizen Kane was released in 1941 by a famous studio “RKO” also know as radio-Keith-Orpheum. In 1941 the studios were nowhere near as developed as the current studios in the 21st century however one thing to note is that not all films were produced by these large studio companies. The fact that it was created in the RKO studios serves a purposes and is a show of the standard (higher than standalone film producers).

To start off with, one must look at the time that Citizen Kane was produced: the early 1940’s. Sound had already been incorporated into films and vibrant colour was starting to be used. The three strip Technicolour process had been used in the Wizard of Oz (1939, Victor Fleming) however was very expensive and so for a long movie like this it was decided that the regular monochromatic black and white film was to be used. This, however, was a useful decision as it helped create a sense of verisimilitude. The stark contrast between the lights and darks engulfed the viewer and showed the change of his personality, his health, and his wealth. Towards the end of the film the overall setting was darker – following his downfall and foreshadowing his eventual death.

Additionally the studio system had a large impact on the film’s look and feel. In 1941 the cameras had advanced to the point where the y could be moved around a good amount, cameras where placed on tracks and moved during actual recording. This gave an impressive modern look and helped improve the fluidity of film – something which not many films could boast about at the time. For example There is a scene in the beginning of the film whereby the camera tracks from the front of a room through a table that opens up for the camera to move through then closes again for when it is in shot. 

In conclusion Citizen kane was a masterpiece for many reasons but one of the most notable reasons was how sophisticated and intelligently it was made for its time. Although studios were nowhere near as developed as they are nowadays and cameras were far less portable, Welles still managed to capture the beautiful but saddening story of the famous newspaper mogul Charles Foster Kane. Its use of light and shadow, foregrounding, sound mixing and camera work were far ahead of its time and lead to the formation of one of, if not, the most famous movies of ALL time.

Task 1 – Explain how the production context of Citizen Kane influenced the “look and feel” of the end product. 

Citizen Kane was distributed by RKO pictures in 1941. before the films release Welles was only known for a radio broadcast in 1938 called ‘The War Of The Worlds’. The show was based on an alien invasion of earth and it terrified some listeners as they thought the events were actually happening in reality. Hollywood was interested in Welles due to his persistence and work ethic when it came to his radio show, It was the offer of complete control over the film that finally convinced Welles to transfer from theatre to Hollywood to pursue his creative career.

Citizen Kane was releases in 1941 and was the first movie that Orson Welles was involved in, he Directed, Produced and co-wrote the film. because of Hollywood’s desire for Welles to come and work for them they allowed him full control of the film meaning he got to choose the actors/crew as well as directing, producing, co writing and even staring in the film himself. All at the young age of just 2, this was every young directors dream and it was destine to be his big break into the industry.

Alongside complete control over the film he was also gifted a budget of $500,000 which was an immense amount of money at the time. $500,000 in 1941 is the equivalent to $9,031,607 in 2018. In 1991 the film was re-released by RKO pictures and it broke the charts with a total of $737,000,000  at box office .

The film was seen to be based on William Randolph Hearst was an American businessman, politician, and newspaper publisher who built the nation’s largest newspaper chain and media company, Hearst communications. Hearst  ran unsuccessfully for President of the united states in 1904.There are many correlations between Kane and Hearst, Welles’s stated that “Citizen Kane is the story of a wholly fictitious character”. Although he said this I personally think it was probably very obvious at the time that Kane’s character was based on William Randolph Hearst and Welles said this to avoid argument.

 

The 1930s was a successful decade for the Studios mainly due to the increase of their control over a films creative decision. This meant that the studios had more of a say in what would happen, which ensured that the films followed their hopes and aspirations. It also ensured that they could continue with a level of control over the film

The big studios produced many academy award winning films which showed the success of the creative decisions made. Studios such as RKO and Warner Brothers produced Cimarron and The Life Of Emile Zola respectively which won academy awards and gained exceptional reviews

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In the late 1920’s, films usually had little restrictions and were very sexual. Due to this, a ‘pre-code’ was established in 1927 before the actual code was submitted in 1930. This was significance because the excess of inappropriate scenes led to a negative perception of Hollywood for allowing such content to appear

The code was split into two main parts – the ’general principles’ and  an actual list of restricted materials and concepts used in film

Certain restrictions were put into place so the studios had a vague idea of what to include and avoid. This was important because it allowed the studios to exclude certain content that could be deemed inappropriate from their films

Morals were a main focus because the code was written by Father Daniel Lord who was Catholic.

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The aims of the general principles were to discourage ‘wrongful actions’ such as sexual relationships before marriage. Ultimately, these types of behaviours were prohibited because by being shown they were giving the wrong impression on how to live your life which would send out the wrong messages.

Main concepts such as adultery and miscegenation were forbidden in the hopes of promoting morality and high values

The code covered many varieties of inappropriate behaviour but a high emphasis was put on sexual content. This could be perhaps due to the widespread use of it prior to the code and also catholic significance

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The particular applications consisted of a list of restrictions

These focused mainly on crime, sexual content and gore to name a few. This could be due to the controversies surrounding the showing of such content. An example of this comes from the 1933 film Ecstasy (Machaty) which was heavily criticised due to the amount of sexual content shown

Although film is regarded as a form of entertainment, another significant purpose is to convey important messages. By showing such behaviours, this encourages the wrong aspects of morality.

But by creating the code, the Studios are acknowledging the responsibility of maintaining high morals which presents them in a positive light, contradicting the negative perception

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Many people viewed the code as ridiculous and prudish. This could be due to the growing appeal of sexualised films mainly during the great depression.

Films such as James Whale’s ‘Frankenstein’ (1931) were controversial due to the scenes of a young girl drowning. Regardless. It grossed £13 million profit by other 1953 and was very popular

But towards the mid-1930s, the enforcement of the code grew much stricter. To the point where the famous character of Betty Boop was adapted to wearing a housewives skirt which was deemed more appropriate

Tarzan and his mate was the first real instance of censorship, where nude scenes were edited out

But the code began to weaken again, and child nudity was even shown in the 1939 film ‘Child Bride’ Harry Reiver

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In general, the 1930s was considered successful for the studios as the ‘big 5’ dominated 95% of the box office. This proved the success of the decade

However, smaller studios also produced successful films such as ‘Gone with the wind’ 1939 victor flemming. This showed that it was not always the larger studios who produced more successful films or grossed the most money

Citizen Kane (1941 , Directed by Orson Welles) was made during the Second World War  so there were fewer resources to devote to films  and this is shown as the budget was only $839,727. Furthermore , the film was in black and white and this was because color film was incredibly expensive at the time and Welles wouldn’t have been able to afford color. The films complete lack of color meant that the cinematographer Gregg Toland had to innovate in order to create the world of the film and to  make it look as crisp and distinct as the final product displays and in Citizen Kane Toland makes liberal use of shadows to symbolize the duality of Kane and this becomes a  visual leitmotif for various characters  thought the film.

In America at the time the film was being made , the media was run by a few powerful men and Citizen Kane was critical of these men and as the film begins with Kane’s death it creates a sense of foreboding in the audience because the audience only gets to meet Kane after his death in the beginning of the film and the audience knows that all of the times we see Kane , it is only leading up to his inevitable demise. Furthermore , as there were many famous newspaper moguls in America at the time of the film, Charles foster Kane would have been a familiar character , in fact William Randolph Hearst , who was a famous newspaper owner was angry about the film and he boycotted it’s release and this damaged the film’s commercial success.

The film is primarily about money and power and how they alienate people and this is evident due to the subject matter of the film because it is about a very wealthy and powerful man who is alienated from everyone around him and it explores his struggles.