Sequence Analysis Paper: Citizen Kane Citizen Kane, directed by Orson Welles, is perhaps one of the world’s greatest movies ever produced. Viewers journey the life of one man, Charles Foster Kane, from his idealistic days of being the “people’s champion,” to his ultimate demise resulting from his lust for the American dream of fame and success. From the scene depicting Kane’s meeting Jim Gettys, the audience observes that Kane has aborted his youthful ambitions and has become self-absorbed, which leads to his downfall. Welles conveys this to viewers in this scene by mise en scene, camera angles, movement, lighting, and narrative.
The scene opens with a shot of Kane and his wife, Emily Norton, arriving at Susan’s building where Jim Gettys is waiting. The camera zooms in on Kane and Norton standing at the door and finally a medium shot is obtained. This shots shows the importance of the two and the building they are about to enter. The only light provided comes from the double doors, which separate the two. They enter the building and Kane receives a stiff look from his wife because of the landlord’s familiarity with Kane. The camera follows the two up the stairway.
In the next shot, the low angle camera follows Kane as he ascends the stairs. This shot makes Kane look powerful and invincible. Kane and Norton first encounter Susan at the top of the stairwell in the doorway which is light up. Before Susan can finish her sentence, Gettys emerges at the center of the doorway, which places all importance on him. The lighting comes from the room behind Gettys, so he is nothing more than a dark shadow symbolizing his evil and corruption. Next, a medium shot of all four characters is taken at eye-level.
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All four of them will be affected by the forthcoming events and are trapped in the situation. The lighting in this scene shines on everyone facing Gettys, but leaves him as the dark figure. Emotions between Kane and Gettys come to a head and confrontation is destined. The camera then changes to a medium close-up of Kane and Gettys squaring off with Norton placed in between to calm to the emotional tensions.
Lighting plays another key role here because Norton is the only one light up, leaving Kane and Gettys as darkened beings. This visual symbolism is apparent throughout the rest of the scene as well. In the next shot, Kane and Norton are portrayed with a medium shot while discussion continues about the love affair and its role in affecting the election. Susan then enters the scene since she too will be affected by Getty’s plot. Kane and Susan are placed side by side in the frame because it is their affair that has led to the situation. Once again, Kane is nothing more than a shadow.
The film now switches to a medium shot of Kane and Gettys, with Norton to the side. Susan is cut out of this clip because she has been silenced once again. Kane and Gettys do not care about her or anyone else, just their own personal agendas. The main focus in this shot is on Kane as he approaches Gettys in search of confrontation.
They are both battling for their lives and the emotions intensify. The lighting in the room is low key and is coming from behind Kane and Gettys, leaving them both in dark light as they confront each other. The next shot exemplifies good use of staging positions, which help viewer’s understand the characters better. It is a medium shot of Kane and Susan in the center trapped between Norton and Gettys. The low key lighting puts both Kane and Susan in the dark with their dirty deed. Norton remains light up and she offers to give Kane a chance to accept Getty’s deal.
Susan steps into the well light foreground and tries to deny the love scandal, but Gettys immediately silences her. This shot parallels other shots where Susan is always getting cutting off by others. Her voice is never heard by anyone. Kane is shown standing silent in the dim background for he will not admit that he is licked. Now the audience is given a point of view shot from Kane’s perspective. A medium shot of Susan, Norton, and Gettys all facing Kane is provided.
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Analysis of Citizen Kane Citizen Kane was released in 1941 under the direction of Orson Welles, an American director originally from Kenosha, Wisconsin. Welles was a sensation of both the stage and radio when he was invited to bring his Mercury Theatre group to Hollywood to direct any movie he chose. He was 24 when he signed with RKO to direct Citizen Kane. Unlike directors such as Hitchcock and ...
A small portion of Kane’s silhouetted head is in the frame showing that the camera is positioned at Kane’s eye-level giving us his point of view. Gettys, Norton, and Susan all voice their views to Kane, and all three are light up. This contrasts Kane’s shadow and helps viewers to realize that Kane is independent from the others and he is only concerned with himself. It is important to notice that Norton is distanced from Kane by Susan, for she has separated the couple and is the cause of Kane’s current problem.
The camera then cuts to a low angle shot of Kane between Susan and Gettys. The low angle shot shows that Kane is still strong in his autonomous beliefs. This is also a reverse angle shot because Kane is shown from Norton’s point of view. The lighting is rather high key here when Kane steps forward toward Norton and into the light. The camera reverses a couple of times during the argument, showing the different perspectives and giving the audience as close a look as possible into each character and their dialog. The camera turns to a medium close up of Norton with Gettys beside her.
She is advising Kane of what he ought to do. Gettys is in the frame with Norton because they both feel that Kane should give up the election. The high key light on Norton shows that she has figured out the best course of action, though she is alone in her view. The high key lighting is contrasted by low key lighting when the camera cuts to a medium, low angle shot of Kane.
Kane has his own agenda and certainly will adhere to it, since he has been disconnected from Norton during the entire scene after the entrance. Kane is shown with Susan and Gettys on each side of him with the light coming from behind Kane. The low camera angle centered on Kane displays the high level of self-pride that he has. He proclaims that there is only one person in the world that matters to him and it is visually apparent whom he is talking about. The film then shifts to a medium, eye-level shot of Norton between Gettys and Kane. The lighting is low key, but Norton remains well light as she concludes her conversation with Kane, who is still a darkened figure.
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Though the two are next to each other in the frame, the difference in lighting helps one to understand their division. Their division is finally depicted as Norton leaves the room and Kane is left with Gettys. Gettys then steps into the light and departs, leaving Kane in the darkness with his decision. The scene concludes with Kane yelling towards the stairs and his shadow is projected on the door with hard lighting.
Kane refuses to lower his ego and save himself and his family from public embarrassment. The scene cuts to a high angle shot of Kane running after Gettys toward the stairway, as Kane’s heated emotions are finally let loose and hee begins to realize what is to come. Gettys disappears down the stairwell and Kane’s loud furor echoes within the frame. The camera now looks down on Kane thus making him seem powerless to Getty’s blackmail. The camera shifts from high to low angle as it looks up the stairwell at Getty’s descent. A close-up of Gettys is visible with Kane seen over his shoulder yelling threats from the top of the staircase.
Forgotten Susan moves next to Kane and a quick close-up of Kane is presented to show his facial expressions of rage. The clip cuts back to the stairwell, where Kane is shown alone in dark light as the front door is closed. He is yelling to empty space, so it is understood that his insults and threats are useless. The final shot takes the viewer back to where the scene opened, in front of Susan’s apartment. Though this time Gettys is with Norton at the door as they both begin to depart.
Kane arrived with his wife, but she leaves without him further reiterating how his selfish decision has broken them apart even more. The camera zooms out on the building as they each go their separate ways. Kane’s outlook on life changes throughout the film leaving him as a corrupted, self-destructive man. The scene where Kane meets with Jim Gettys shows viewers Kane’s self absorption and the extent to which he will go to maintain his power. Orson Welles conveys this through cinematography and mise en scene. The life that follows this scene is one of lust and fame, ultimately resulting in emptiness and obsession..
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