Cinematic Techniques In Citizen Kane

Citizen Kane is not a movie that you see everyday, creatively speaking. Even with today’s standards, there’s something still special about the style and what makes this film just as famous as its main character. While the film explains Kane’s life, it’s also is an investigation into film style by challenging classic Hollywood styles with a different and darker look.

Citizen Kane made advances on many fronts , in-regards to cinema, and its most significant contribution to cinema came from the use of a technique known as deep focus. In nearly every scene in the film, the foreground, background and everything in between are all in sharp focus. Deep focus is most effective in scenes that depict Kane’s loss of control and his personal isolation because it gives the audience a clear view of the space Kane commands as well as the space over which he has no power. Deep focus is developed in the scene where the young Charles Kane is throwing snowballs at the sign in his hometown when his childhood is ripped away from him. Another unusual method used in the film was the way low-angle cameras were used to display a point of view facing upwards, showing the ceilings in the background.

The Director shows the
Welles used theatrical chiaroscuro to exaggerate the dramatic mood of the film and to heighten the intensity of character interaction. He used extreme backlighting, as well as very centralized, almost funneling lighting in order to capture these effects. This use of dramatic lighting was employed in tense scenes in which only one character is generally portrayed. The lighting reflects the plot, which seeks to understand Charles Foster Kane. The lighting is fitting for a film that ends on a note of continued mystery. The true Charles Foster Kane remains in the shadows, making the lighting style a direct comment on the nature of identity in the