How Does Citizen Kane Use Mis-En Scene

Citizen Kane Cinematography is the process of capturing moving images on film or a digital storage device. Mis-en-Scene is used to represent the director’s role of what appears in the shot. This can include lighting, setting, costumes, props and actions of who or what is in the shot. Citizen Kane was a revolutionary film and advanced many film techniques that are still used today. Citizen Kane was released in 1941; Directed by Orson Wells who also stars in the film at the age of 25. It was him film debut. Citizen Kane used Mis-en-Scene and deep focus to show themes in the film. Some major themes in Citizen Kane include loss, materialism, and the American dream. In one of the first scenes in the movie, Kane is a child playing outside in the snow. Inside his mother is talking to Mr. Thatcher about Kane’s future. Kane’s father is against Kane going away, but Kane’s mother makes the final decision. As the shot zooms out Kane is getting smaller as his mother is getting bigger. This shows the importance of his mother, his mother had all the power in the shot, and next to her was Mr. Thatcher who was bigger than Kane’s father. Mr. Thatcher is more important than his father because he is getting Kane, as his father has no decision in that. Kane is very small in the background, showing
he has little power. At this moment he is losing his parents and his childhood as much of his things are taking away, such as his sled Rosebud. Even though Mr. Thatcher late gets him another sled it will not carry the same for his childhood. Kane’s love for materialism is showed in many shots. The Mis-en-Scene for these shots shows very large rooms with large objects with Kane and Susan being very small next to them. In Kane’s estate Xanadu, it is very large and open. The use of the long shot increases a sense of claustrophobia with a large amount of space. In some shots it shows that Kane is trapped in his home with low angle shots and views of the ceiling. Kane had a vast collection of statues. The statues are intimidating with statues that appear to be eating a character or simply scary statues. Susan is towered by the large inanimate objects creating a sense of fear. As Kane collects more statues they lose their initial value that Kane had to them. There are large, high shots of enormous amounts of stuff that Kane has collected over the year. They also show Kane trapped in his obsession for material belongings. Susan complains that she never received anything that Kane actually cared for. He gave her material possessions that he would give to a dog as she said. Even though Kane had hundreds of unopened boxes, he never gave one out to anyone else, show his love for materialist things. They show that money cannot buy happiness and you will never be truly satisfied. What ever Kane bought did not fill up any empty voids in his life such as his childhood. As Kane begins to build his empire he creates a declaration for his newspapers.
Guaranteeing things Kane will keep his word to. But in the shot as Kane is creating the declaration, Kane steps into the shadow. Darkness and shadows foreshadow evil, as Kane will not live up to these rules. This begins to show his dark side, as his dream is becoming a nightmare. Kane is followed by greed for power, wealth and immortality. Later in the movie Kane was sent the declaration in mail by Jedediah, his closest friend that Kane fired. Kane rips up the declaration. Throughout the film, you see that everything that Kane wanted has faded away from his childhood, to the love of his life, to his
dreams. Citizen Kane is still considered to be one of the greatest films of all time. Wells did an excellent job showing themes into the films. With techniques such as Mis-en-Scene, Citizen Kane has heavily influenced movies. The Mis-en-Scene showed themes such as loss, materialism and the American dream. The shots Wells choose did an excellent job to show the themes of the film.