‘Why, in your view, do you think Citizen Kane is regularly cited by critics as “the greatest movie ever made”?’

I believe Citizen Kane is often cited as ‘the greatest movie ever made by critics due to how influential it’s been on the film industry as a whole along with how it successfully managed to introduce a variety of techniques into the film industry and combined all of them together to create a linear and engaging story for the audience, most of which are still being used to this day.

For example, Welles’ use of cinematography introduced new ways in which cameras could be used and where they could be placed in order to create new and interesting effects that can help move the story along without relying on the characters or their dialogue which allows the film to naturally flow from scene to scene. One specific way he used cinematography was by introducing extreme-low camera angles into the industry, sometimes achieving the low angles by cutting holes into the set, which helped add some naturalness to the scene as the viewers were able to see the ceiling in a film for the first time, making the film seem more realistic and less like a set.

Welles’ use of lighting also manages to create visually interesting scenes throughout the film through techniques such as backlighting. He often uses backlighting in order to emphasise something/someone in a scene, intentionally bringing the viewer’s attention towards it whilst simultaneously setting the atmosphere for the scene.

Role 1: Sound

“I love the idea of using film language similarly to how musicians use music – combining images and sounds in a way that they create an emotional effect.” Damian Chazelle expressing the importance and effect of sound to an audience. Sound is an important contributor to setting the mood for the film or specific scene, and is one of the key elements to establishing a connection between the audience and the film. A common sound technique used to increase immersion: using sound that accurately matches with what is happening on scene, refered to as ‘synchronous sound’.

When these techniques are used correctly in combination with editing and cinematography the film has the ability to create a heightened emotional response within the audience. The film ‘Meshes of afternoon, 1943’, encorperates the use of instruments to further emphasise the characters emotional state. The audio composed by Teiji ito features a diverse range of instruments and tools to represent the character’s fluctuating emotions.