citizen kane

Intro

Woman puts a bed cover over a man, with a window behind so they are in silhouette but a light source from below placed on the nurse, so we can see she is a nurse, putting the cover over the silhouette man

The dialogue is what is important, not necessarily about the characters.

Lots of contrast

Lots of black always covering part of the screen

Reflections - clever tricks

Mr Leland, who is in an old age home and suffers from Huntington disease. Behind him there are old lonely people almost completely blocked out by the out of focus depth of field over exposed background.

Orson Welles used light and shadow not as a necessity but to give scenes a certain meaning and atmosphere. He used lighting expressively to inject viewers with desired emotions. Prior to that moment movies and their messages were transmitted from the screen to the audience through the content of the film rather than the way it was shot. (Alton, 87) In other words, ‘Citizen Kane’ can be seen as the first time ever for a filmmaker to use the technicality of filmmaking in conjunction with the content to deliver to the audience what the filmmaker what trying to communicate. A perfect example of a scene where the use of lighting to convey meaning can be seen is at the beginning of ‘Citizen Kane’. After witnessing a news reel about the death of the fictional character Charles Foster Kane, the camera suddenly moves to the people behind that newsreel. They discuss how the newsreel has no originality and has nothing new to offer to the curious public. A scene like this can be shot in numerous ways and still have the same meaning but Welles chose to use light and shadow to specifically tell the audience what to focus on. (Mulvey, 52) By using a very strong backlight, Welles put these characters in shadow. All we could see was their silhouettes and the outline of the hands moving. Painting with light helped Welles tell the audience not  to focus on these reporters and who they are. The focus here did not change from Charles Foster Kane to the reporters with the end of the newsreel but stayed on Kane. (Anton, 112) It was as if Orson Welles was keeping the audience interested in the main character by putting the rest in shadow, it was like saying that who these characters are is not important, it’s what they seek that matters.

Welles saw the potential of what could be achieved with light and how light can affect the viewers take on what he or she just witnessed. 

The constant use of mirrors, low-key lighting, reflections and strange camera angles are all intentionally present in Welles’ movie to establish his desired atmosphere, an atmosphere that would be dominant within the genre.