Citizen Kane Many People Consider Citizen Kane

Citizen Kane

Many people consider Citizen Kane to be one of the greatest films ever made. Orson Wells was age 25 when he directed, produced, and starred in this film. There are many particular aspects to Citizen Kane is a memorable film. One of the primary reasons the film was a success is that it focused on a controversial topic. The fictional life of William Randolph Hearst, a powerful newspaper publisher, has an interesting relationship with a mistress. Many people feel that events in the film may be based on events that actually happened in Wells life.

This movie tells the story of the life and death of Charles Foster Kane. Kane is narcissistic newspaper runner, politician, and a wealthy millionaire. The symbolism and the cinematic effects in the movie are one of the most appealing aspects to the movie. Wells uses creative techniques within cinematography which really brings this film to life. Furthermore, symbolism has a colossal role in this film. "Rosebud" is the last word that is spoken by Cane. He then dies and takes his secret to the death which is followed by the story of the reporter who is on a quest to search for the truth.

Another storyline in the film follows the newspaper tycoon Charles Foster Kane as he spends his life in solitude. Even though he was married twice, he is portrayed as always alone. The loneliness is most likely a result of incapacity of felling love, which often results from an insecure childhood. Kane was separated from his mother at an early age. This could explain the reason Kane turned into the type of narcissistic man that he is. Kane only felt safe was when he was under the care of his mother and she was the only person he ever was able to show feelings for. After their separation this deeply impacted Kane.

His psychological disposition helps explain why all of the women in his life leave him. Kane's last word before he died was "rosebud"; Rosebud was the name of the sled he was riding before he was separated from his family and therefore he placed a lot of emotional baggage in this sled. The sled represents his innocence he felt during his childhood and his last happy memory was when he was playing on this sled. However, as an adult Kane traded money and power for love. He would demand love by smothering the people closest to him and if this didn't work the individuals would develop feelings of anger towards him. Kane would also try to use his money to control all the various aspects of his life. Despite all of his power and his wealth, this strategy does not get the results that he was hoping for. Kane believed that he could buy love and happiness but that wasn't the case.

Despite the story being so rich and interesting, there are also other aspects to this film that make it interesting. One such aspect is the diverse techniques of the camera that were used. Even with limited technology, the film used simple camera shots and different angles for effect that were brilliant. Even with all the advantages of the modern technologies that film makers have access to recreating such a perspective is still difficult. How the film is shot on camera is a vital part of the experience. The use of the camera in this film can either enhance the whole movie experience, or if it is not done right then it can simply confuse the storyline.

There are a few points in the film where the scene transitions and changes of camera angles almost had a chaotic effect. This makes it necessary for the viewers to pay attention and many people have to watch it multiple times to appreciate the full effect. Other techniques that made the film unique is the use of unconventional lighting which results in interesting shadowing effects as well as the variety of camera angles used.

Sound in Cinema

Before film had sound, there was only what was known as silent cinema. The picture itself would have to tell the whole story with no offerings for any of the other senses. As technology has developed over the years, sound was the first stepping stone to add to the experience. Recently touch, smell, 3D technologies, and many other techniques have been developed to further enhance the experience. However, this started with the major milestone that was to synchronize sound with a picture to tell a story. This also helped to increase the popularity of cinema in general.

Although telling a story with pictures alone can have some advantages, such as allowing the viewers to engage more of their imagination, adding sound allows directors to incorporate many new effects into the films. One of the first pictures with sound that produced a popular following was The Jazz Singer. Early films could not incorporate the emotions that an actual Jazz singer could produce by listening to their sounds. This movie was the perfect way to incorporate the advantages that sound can add to a film. However, the point in time at which the industry converted to sound officially is hard to determine.

Some directors experimented with different sounds for a while. Sometimes when a silent film star did not have a good voice, then directors would even dub their voices with another individual's to make the film. After these films started to gain in popularity it definitely took a toll on the silent movie industry. The industry started to unravel as the addition of sound became more of an expectation for movie goers. As the technology advanced, this also gave the directors more options of how to include various sounds into the plots.

In the beginning the technology was hard to synchronize. Mr. Edison's first attempt was made by the simple process of playing stock cylinder records on a phonograph and having the actors sing, or pretend to sing, with the record, while the camera photographed the lip movement; by this method synchronization was impossible and sometimes the singer would be so far ahead or behind the record that the result would be laughable (Digital History, N.d.). Edison was not happy with the results which eventually led him to invent the "kinetophone." This was basically a phonograph, but his synchronization was better because the sound and the picture were recorded at the same time. The result of this was fairly accurate synchronization but there had to be two trained operators, one for the sound and one for the movie, to make the playback feasible. Sometimes the movies were watchable and other times the synchronization was bad.