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Use of Containers and Frames in Citizen Kane

Introduction

Citizen Kane, by Orson Welles, is one of the most visually stunning films in cinema history. This film has groundbreaking cinematography that has paved the way for many future filmmakers. No director can do it alone and Welles had the help of a man named Gregg Toland. Toland was a cinematographer who has worked on many well known movies and personally sought out Welles to help make Citizen Kane. In Citizen Kane, there are several scenes of high and low angles, crane shots, and extreme long shots. There are also several scenes of deep focus. Deep focus is especially effective in scenes where Kane seems to be losing power or control over his life or what is happening around him. Moreover, there is a very good cinematographic element present in this film. Frames and containers are used in a very beautiful way to make the overall look of the film very classic.

Discussion

While making a film, depth photography uses a lens that allows the camera to see everyone and all the objects foreground, middle ground, and background. This can be used during a scene when you want to show someone far away but being talked about. Deep-focus was also used in Citizen Kane to depict the characters feelings and their state of mind. Apart from that, extreme camera angles are used for various reasons. Often throughout the film Kane is shot from a low angle. For example in the scene where Kane is giving his campaign speech he is shot in a low angle. Shooting him from this angle makes him seem bigger, powerful and more important than everyone else, which is how he saw himself (Simon, pp 101). There also scenes of high angles. This is shown in the scene at Susan's first performance in the opera house there are high angle shots. The shots show the audience looking down at Susan as she performs.

The camera is personified as a social actor who steps out from behind the cloak and participates in the event. The camera tilts from the signboard to the fence that makes us feel like climbing over this fence for trespassing. With the use of dissolves in editing; that is from the shots of one fence to another gives a sense of camera moving upwards till it reaches the gate. There are matched on action cuts with dissolves that are match cut of fence dissolved with other barricades. We can observe that the fence is in sharp focus and the backdrop is out of focus, and this technique generates eagerness in our minds to see what is beyond these fences. The shot of the gate with symbol 'K' dissolves to a long shot of the castle; where we see these two monkeys as well as the castle in same frame with deep focus that highlights how humongous the castle is; that can be seen from a far distance (Ronald, pp 96).

The sound grows more mysterious as we ...