An article by Gottlieb called “Welles’s Citizen Kane Breaks with Traditional Filmmaking” states that the film Citizen Kane, while groundbreaking and highly influential at the time, was also very controversial. Before the film was released, it faced many problems, and many attempts were made to stop its release. The “Hearst syndicate” tried its best to stop the spread of the film because the main character of the film, Kane, was modeled after William Randolph Hearst (Gottlieb, 2023).
Welles starts the film with the death of the main character and incorporates flashbacks and interviews with those who knew him. It is a story we must piece together and make meaning of on our own as different characters share their own versions of Charles Foster Kane’s life, and we are trying to figure out his true nature. Welles called this technique “prismatic” (Cheshire, 2002). The story is told out of order to provide mystery and intrigue.
Orson Welles’s Citizen Kane (1941) changed Hollywood filmmaking. As an outsider to the Hollywood film industry, Welles brought new, unconventional ideas and techniques to make this film. He expanded the type of stories that could be told in Hollywood films, showing corrupt, powerful people (a more controversial topic than typically depicted in Hollywood) (Gottlieb, 2023). Also, he used some new cinematography techniques. For example, he used low-angle shots that revealed the ceiling and depth of field, which “appeared powerful, modern, hyperarticulate” (Cheshire, 2002).
An essay from the Library of Congress (Cheshire, 2002) called “Citizen Kane” explains the new techniques used in the film that helped change the film industry forever.
The film used wipes (a shot transition in which one image gradually takes the place of another through a horizontal, vertical, or diagonal movement across the screen, while both images remain partially visible), which was innovative at the time.
One other technique that cinematographer Gregg Toland used was deep focus. This is where everything in the frame is in focus (clearly visible and sharp): the foreground, middleground, and background. In other words, there is a large depth of field. Deep focus and long takes were used to make the scenes feel more realistic and true to nature, which is something that Andre Bazin would appreciate (as he has a deep desire for realism in film).
Overall, this source is important because it describes how new techniques used in the film changed Hollywood filmmaking – which stories were told and how they were told.
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