Film and cinema studies overview

Directors have the task of creating movies that last. More than 70 years ago, three well-known directors of the time made three movies all within the early 1940's. The films were "Meet John Doe," "Citizen Kane," and "His Girl Friday." The directors, Howard Hawks, Frank Capra, and Orson Welles, although different in their techniques and use of sound and visuals share some similarities in the way they portray their characters and show the stories. All three films develop the mind and soul of the characters and evoke a world within a world in the setting and lighting. The opening shots of the film "His Girl Friday" were quite excellent in that they were fast paced mimicking the activity of a real buy newspaper office. The camera shoots alarmingly quickly in a diagonal direction and speeds along following Hildy into the office of her ex, Walter. The dialog is fast-paced. Most of the time throughout the film it seems as though the actors are just waiting for the camera to simply pan out or switch to allow them a chance for a breather. That's where a lot of the differences in "His Girl" Friday" lie compared to "Citizen Kane." Everything seems rushed and heated like things have to be done as quickly as possible whereas in "Citizen Kane" it's slow, dark, and more like a journey into the mind of someone and perhaps to solve a sobering mystery.

The camera always seems to be fast-paced especially to show the reactions of the actors. Sixteen minutes in there are several changes in camera direction when Walter has a conversation next to Hildy. If he says something she reacts to, the camera speedily points to her face than continues to Walter. In between all of the dialog, there lacks much in terms of sound. The voices themselves act like the music. Throughout most of the film you can barely hear anything else but the sound of the actors speaking. It was so quiet in some scenes the sounds of walking were clearer than anything else. At 32:20, the typewriters going at lightning fast pace drummed out anything and everything which were then followed by Hildy whispering to Earl Williams.

The sound also appears to the biggest contrast of "His Girl Friday" and "Citizen Kane." "Citizen Kane" includes music within almost every scene, especially when the camera performs the job of narrator or "fly in the wall." The lighting shines on the faces of the cast and there's always some light up above. One can see the shadows cast even when it's night outside, everything seems bright as if the whole movie is stuck half past noon. Everything seems bright even when Earl comes to shoot Hildy. He fails, but the scene remains bright after she pulls the shades down and gets on the phone, it all seems super bright. Only when Molly comes and disturbs Hildy are the lights ever off.

The make is quite simple with the women with a dark lip and simple eye. The costuming appears a bit muted though Hildy's coat has a vivid pattern. There are no special effects for this film. The film relies heavily on the performance of the actors. Overall this movie appears to be the exact opposite of "Citizen Kane."

"Meet John Doe" is very similar to "His Girl Friday." The news scenes are fast-paced much like in "His Girl Friday" with bright lighting and simple makeup for the women, however, there are intimate scenes that are shadowy and cast in a darker atmosphere. The intimate scenes are quite opposite of the normal dialogue in "His Girl Friday." The actors speak softer and slower and the camera doesn't pan like it does in the other scenes. It reacts to certain things like at 1:25:21 and at 1:26:41 when the old man lights a cigarette and scratches his right cheek.

However, the sound lacks any music. Everything is highly dialog driven with only the latter end of the scenes, especially when Mitchell confronts Willoughby (1:38:23) about the reveal. Willoughby leaves in a cab seemingly disappointed and unnerved by the incident and the film moves to the music of the political event. Those two instances music was used to tell the story vs. simply dialog.

The film is filled with Capra quips, parts of business, and artistic tropes such as the invisible baseball game Willoughby performs when discussing fixing up his arm. Norton constantly cleaning his glasses and a duet between John and his fellow tramp the Colonel with the harmonica and ocarina are just some of the memorable and charming scenes Capra became well-known for. Capra also did, much like Welles, an assortment of montages and self-parody. Meaning, Capra had vertically challenged people signifying the "little people" in promotional photos for Doe.

The setting and set design of "Citizen Kane" was quite lush and grandiose. Everything from the animals in the zoo and the fake octopus puppet were larger than life. Music seemed narrate the movie just as much if not more than the dialog. Even when in the newspaper setting, Kane delivered his lines formally, with an air of grandeur. The theme of plush regality was evident in the entirety of the film even with Emily and Susan's dresses. Everything was rich and lush except for the childhood scenes.

When Kane has a fast forward montage with Emily and times speeds up, (53.06) the scenes added to humor to an otherwise emotional and dramatic movie. The lighting was dark and sparse with many shadows. A good instance was when Kane asked Susan to sing for him after she discussed her mother and opera singing. Here one sees the tie in again with music and words. The same is said of the shadowy scenes and the slow zoom ins. They appear often and usually begin at the start of a scene that involves a confrontation or drama.

"Citizen Kane" is a stark contrast from "Meet John Doe" and "His Girl Friday." The speech of the actors are slow and relaxed vs. The frenzied and swift pace of the other two films. Music plays a much larger role. The story mainly focuses on Kane and not secondary characters like with Mitchell in Doe and Hildy in Friday. Furthermore, the lighting for the most part is dark and sparse leading to many shadows and intimate moments.

Technical aspects of the film "Citizen Kane" are numerous. Citizen Kane made cinematic progresses on countless fronts, and its most noteworthy impact to cinematography came from the use of a method known as deep focus. Deep focus denotes having the entirety of all the things within the scene in the frame including background, in focus all at the same time, in contrast to having only the actors and props in the forefront in focus. The technique involves the cinematographer combining lighting, arrangement, and style of camera lens to yield the preferred effect. With use of deep focus, a director like Welles can vehicle corresponding actions, and mise-en-scene turns into something more serious.