This is my favourite and the most memorable scene for me because of how large all the normal things you would find in a home are. There is a sense of awe which comes out of it, Susan is swarmed by the puzzle and Charlie is standing inside a fireplace. Before Charlie walks towards the fireplace, it looks like a normal size until he steps in, it does not look real and there is no verisimilitude. This could be the effect that Welles was going for. It reminds the audience of how rich Kane is, he is like a prince in a castle. Charlie is standing far away and raised compared to Susan who is sitting on the floor, she is beneath him. This shows their relationship slowly detreating and them falling apart. The placing of the actors shows their position of power through the use of foreground. The shadows created from the statues gives the Xanadu an eerie feeling and the placing of the snake looks like it is about to attack Susan. this could represent her downfall.
Explain how the production context of Citizen Kane influenced the “look and feel” of the end product.
Orson Welles was a stage director for the Mercury Theatre, an independent theatre company founded by Welles in 1937, before he filmed Citizen Kane in 1941. Given the fact that Welles was allowed to pick the cast, many of the Mercury Theatre actors appeared in the film. He was also given a budget of $839,727 (an expensive amount for a director’s debut film) because he was considered by many as a theatrical genius, which is why he was given full control of the production. Welles used many techniques including deep focus, foregrounding and low-angle shots to create an iconic look for his first film.
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Choose your favourite scene from the film and explain why this is the case.
My favourite scene from Citizen Kane is the scene in which Charles Kane’s mother signs over his guardianship to the bank whilst he plays outside in the snow. There are many effective uses of micro elements in this scene that Orson Welles utilises. For example, his use of elaborate blocking and deep focus helps to…
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Why, in your view, do you think that Citizen Kane is regularly cited by critics as “the greatest movie ever made”?
Orson Welles was a stage director for a theatre company before filming Citizen Kane. This was his first film and RKO Productions gave him a budget of $939,727 which was a lot of money for the time. Especially for a 25-year-old making his first ever film. He was considered to be a theatrical genius, which is why the studio gave Welles complete control of the project He was free to choose the cast as well as to write, direct, produce, edit, and act in the film he created. Welles moved from New York to Hollywood in 1939, with the majority of the cast and crew coming from theatre with no experience when acting in films.
