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Film Essay

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Citizen Kane

The opening scene of Citizen Kane begins with a word `rosebud Although the significance of this word is not given it is a marker that allows the viewer to travel back to the beginning of Charles Foster Kane . The start of the film shows him in his deathbed at his Xanadu mansion , isolated . Then the film goes through a series of flashbacks that begin to explain this intricate character and it is through these `recollections ' that the audience is

allowed to piece together the psyche of this strong , introverted , yet egotistical person . The film focuses on the early parts on Kane 's growth into a tycoon and then his ultimate and undeniable downfall as a moral man who is destroyed by avarice and abuse which eventually leads to the understanding of the clandestine phrase uttered at the beginning of the movie , `rosebud

The use of light and shadow in this film was innovating it attempted and succeeds in elements of expressionism (as utilized in such early films as The Cabinet of Dr . Caligari , and Birth of a Nation . The film was so methodical in its constant attention to light and shadow that they begin to allow the audience to see the character 's mood as enhanced by the light or shadow . This is relevant in such moments as Kane 's lust (when he is caught in bed with another woman the shadow 's dominant the scene , and in his darker moods (later in the movie when he upturns his wife 's puzzles the light is harrowing and the shadows almost swamp the scene ) especially when Kane allows the shadow and light from fire to flicker on the faces of his characters

Orson Welles used what is known as the up angle shot or low-angle shot which completely changed how a character was depicted and seen by the audience . In film analysis it is important to recognize how the film is shot . In thrillers , there are many long shots that denote anticipation and fear for the audience , in action movies , the camera jounces around so that there is an extra motion in the film along side the actual movement of the characters . In love stories , the colors can sometimes be muted or brilliant depending on the mood of the lovers (if they have been in a fight the colors are muted if they are together and happy the colors can be brilliant . The background of such shots that Orson Welles did with his low-angle consisted of ceilings being in the background which in itself was cinematic feat since the film was shot on a sound stage that did not have ceilings (the ceilings were constructed out of muslin . The use of this camera angle at an up angle shot can be witnessed at the beginning of the film with a Christmas scene at Thatcher 's when old men stand above a little boy . The shot can also be witnessed during the...

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