To be honest, watching Citizen Kane for the first time I felt myself slightly falling asleep. The black and white made the movie feel very dark and it felt like every shot was crowded with lots of old men standing around talking about nothing that interested me. When the film finished I was left wondering how this could be considered a cinematic masterpiece and why it is renowned as a classic. However, I wanted to at least try to understand what made it so influential so I decided to watch some of the extras since I had rented the DVD of the film.
One of the extras I found was a commentary track over the entire movie, breaking down each scene and what went into it, and, I have to admit it made me take back what I said before. The extra outlined how little money Orson Welles actually had for the film and explained how many of the clips in the beginning were taken from the RKO archive and that even many of the sets were a combination of old movie sets repurposed, miniatures, and matte paintings.
Another really interesting fact about the movie that I learned and wanted to share was that many of the ceilings were made from fabric so that microphones could be hidden above. When light is shined up on the fabric it appears completely solid which is an interesting trick Welles came up with.
Overall, while this wasn’t my favorite movie we have watched, I still am glad I have now seen it and can understand ‘rosebud’ references. Although, the plot did not speak to me, I do have a great appreciation for the ingenuity, craftiness, and ambition Welles had in creating this film and am interested to see what thoughts everyone will have in the discussion.