CITIZEN KANE

Review on citizen Kane 

Citizen Kane? , Nah? Or Yay?

 ‘Citizen Kane’ a film directed by Orson Welles in 1941 voted greatest film of all time because of its innovative cinematography, music, and narrative structure.

The film was greatly appreciated because it came at the right time and America was under depression and the film reflected that, the production and release film gave an ‘awe’ in the film industries and in the eyes of the audience. However the film was not recognised till the 1990’s.The film was made with limited resources but still turned out great.

The film is a biography of wealthy man Charlie Foster Kane. The story was told by other people who new him because they were looking for answers after he was dead. The last word he said before he died was ‘Rosebud’. Nobody knew exactly what that meant so they set out to research his past and question those that knew him so that they will figure it out. Kane was a man that loved a lot and wanted more than anything to be loved as well, he was lonely and had the best interest at heart but executed it wrong.

The narrative structure of the film helps the audiences to understand the film with cinematography. It shows how Charlie foster Kane’s life after he is gone lives on in the memory of the living.

The film reflects the life of Kane through the views and opinion of other people and what they thought about him but the story was never told through Kane’s view and opinion.

The use of cinematography, mise-en-scene and sound in this film is splendid.

The voice over in the news scene helps the audience to interpret the visuals and helped the audience to understand they way their society works the voice over tells the audience what is happening (the death of Kane). It narrates the success of Kane and his impact on the society. It also narrates the life of Kane and how he became successful.

‘In every essence of his social beliefs and by the dangerously manner in which he has attacked the Americans traditions on private property’ this statement at the beginning goes against how some people saw him.

The scene where they where announcing who Charles Foster Kane is was packed with people which shows how important he was and how highly respected he was in the society.

 The camera angles in this film mostly show Kane in a low angle which makes the audience look up to him and make him look superior. It makes it look like the audiences as well as the other characters are looking up to him.

The use of cinematography shows how powerful Kane is and how highly he carries himself and how proud he feels. The lighting in each scene mostly focuses on Kane even if he is not the most important person in the scene.

The scene where Kane was blackmailed by his political opponent and his wife tries to manipulate him into doing what she wants, the camera angle is a high angle which makes it look like Kane was looking down on them and this also emphasises on his superiority.

The editing in this film was used to show passage of time and this is called elliptical editing. This was used in the scene where Susan Alexander was doing a puzzle and also the scene where Kane was talking to his first wife at the dinner table. This kept the audience in check and helped them to understand the emotions of the character and with this editing they could almost feel the tension as if they were there.

The characters that told the story of Kane, in their story when they knew Kane and when they were with him, they look relatively better than how they look now that he is dead. Susan         Alexander looks miserable and depressed as she narrates her own version of Kane’s life to Thompson. Although she was miserable in marriage she wasn’t better dressed and more respected in wealthier than how she was in the ‘present’ telling her story.

The search for the meaning of rosebud was never revealed to the characters but to the audience. It wasn’t a person or a place; it was an emblem of security, hope and innocence of childhood. He spent his entire life seeking to regain this lost innocence but didn’t.

“Maybe rosebud is something that he couldn’t get, or something he lost”, says Thompson.

The twist in the film was remarkable because the characters never got to know the ultimate question that were asked “what or who is rosebud?”

The making, setting, directing and casting of this film makes it indeed the greatest film of all time.

Expand your mind

NEW WAVE QUEER CINEMA: GAY EXPERIENCE IN ALL ITS COMPLEXITY

Gays are stereotyped in the media and these stereotyped characters have predictable plots for example, a very masculine lesbian with lots of tattoo and piercings. Nowadays directors are creating film without the stereotypical gay characters but deal with the real life and rounded characters.

An example of this is a film by Ira Sach called “keep the light on” which follows a ten year long relationship between two men who meet on a New York phone sex line in 1998. It includes explicit sex and drug use, work Hassel and both gay and straight friends. In this film no one comes out or dies.

This is a good example of the changes in LGBT category in the media because most media expectation of gay films are about a character falling in love with their straight friend or a character coming out and facing the consequences following it and the constant plea for acceptance form their friends and family. LGBT movies are mostly about the issues that gay people have and how hard their lives are and how they are not really accepted in the society.

The media is a window to the society which means that the society is influenced one way or the other by the media and this could affect people’s perception of LGBT. Movies that show the daily lives of LGBT characters and how they are accepted by the society could influence the society into being more accepting.

“The L word” is an LGBT series that was released in 2004. This series deals with the lives of lesbians living in Los Angeles and this series was accepted by the gay community as a way of making them known to the public and this also helped the community in general to be more accepting of those that are different form their expectation and most importantly those that are either gay, bisexual, lesbian or transgender. This series ran for 5 years and in 2009 more gay people were accepted in the society.

More and more LGBT films are being released and the general expectations of these gay characters in the films are being altered and brought to more reality for example a very feminine lesbian who’s life isn’t fucked up and has a job a steady girlfriend and a focus in life. There is more display of gay marriage which can be related to our modern day society because more states are legalizing gay marriages.

Films like skins, 90210, sugar rush, but I’m a cheerleader, glee, degrassi, where gay characters are accepted by their friends and family help gay teenagers that are afraid of coming out that it gets better.

LGBT themes films with happy endings like imagine me and you, eating out, D.E.B.S, I can’t think straight, the world untold, run Lola run, it’s in the water, etc. express to the audience that being gay isn’t bad and that gays cam also have a happy ending. A very stereotypical gay movie is another gay movie which shows the flamboyant stereotypes of the gay characters and how they live their lives.

Gay characters where rare in the movie industry before the 1980s and the on-screen reaction of the late 80s and 90s came to be known as New Queer Cinema. Film makers nowadays seek to describe the experience of being queer today through stories that resonate beyond that context. The perception of straight people and the troubles of non-straight people are over. Sach also stated the life-long consequences of growing up queer because individually we are still affected by the day-day level of having discovered our sexuality with the fear, shame and self-hatred.

Due to the exposure of the gay community by film more people are coming out with the hope of being accepted by the society and more people in the society are accepting of LGBT and are in support of that lifestyle and are willing to support and encourage them (LGBT). People are more understanding and now in year 2012 “being gay” are seen as almost normal and are now represented by the media positively and in reality which makes the society more understanding and accepting.

CINEMATOGRAPHY HOMEWORK

MEDUIM SHOT: this is a shot that shows a person from their head to the middle.

LONG SHOT:  this is a shot where you can see the whole body of a person or an object in the shot

EXTREME LONG SHOT: this is a shot where you can see the whole body and the things around them.

CANTED SHOT: this is when the camera is tilted to show the side of an angle. This is mostly used in the genre of horror movies and science fiction. It is also commonly used in fight scenes.

MEDUIM LONG SHOT: this is a shot that shows the body/object just above the feet.

TILT UP AND DOWN: this is when the camera goes up and down in a scene.

TRACKING: this is when the camera goes back and front like on a track. It can also be called dolly, trucking or pull-backs.

CRANE:  this could be called dolly shot in the air. It is a large heavy piece of equipment useful for moving a camera up, down, left, right, swooping in on action or moving diagonally out of it.

HAND HELD: this is a camera used to film a scene but like the name says it is hand held and a scene shot with this is usually shaky and it could bring the person videoing it to the characters in a scene.

ARIEL/BIRD EYE: this is usually taken from a helicopter and it is often used at the beginning of a film in order to establish the setting and the movement. 

ZOOM:  this enables the photographer to get a close shot on a scene while he/she is still far away. This can change the position of the audience very quickly and very slowly thus saving a lot of time and stress of moving back and front.