Camera Advancement in "Citizen Kane"

Citizen Kane made cinematic advances in many unique ways. Its most significant contribution to the art of cinematography came from the use of a technique known as “deep focus”. The term “deep focus” refers to having everything in the frame, including the background, in focus at the same time. This technique is used as opposed to having only the people and objects in the front being focused upon. The “deep focus” technique makes it mandatory for the cinematographer to combine the lighting, the composition, and the type of camera lens to produce the effect they desire. Again, with “deep focus”, a director can showcase overlapping actions, and the mise-en-scène of the film becomes more critical. Manipulating the mise-en-scène with a certain amount of effectiveness for deep focus actively brings together the whole frame without leaving the viewer befuddled. “Deep focus” is most emulated in scenes that depict Kane’s loss of control and his personal isolation. This is because it gives the viewers an unobstructed view of the space that he commands, as well as the space for which he has no power over. Gregg Toland is the cinematographer that Orson Welles chose for his film, Citizen Kane. This is as a result that he had used the technique in an earlier film he had worked on, The Long Voyage Home, so he had experience. However, Citizen Kane marked the first time it was used so this much or had the amount of success that it had. This film introduced the film industry to the potential of other creative and innovative cinematic techniques as well. Just one of the innovations used was a technique known as the "wipe”. This is where one image is "wiped" off the screen by another image, a technique that we as an audience now see in much more modern films.



Welles chose a cast that was an asset to the film. Moreover, they were important to the success of the “deep focus” technique. This is because the actors were classically trained theatrical actors. What’s astonishing about this is the fact that this is the first time they would appear in a film. Their stage training helped them to place themselves firmly in each scene, an essential attribute when using “deep focus”. The cinematography and acting technique combined so perfectly that the total control Welles was given over casting was justified. The fact that Citizen Kane is so versatile makes it an important film to the cinema world.



Another important technique employed in this film is the storytelling. Again, this is common in film now a day, but was brand new to an audience back in 1941. Citizen Kane portrays a long period of time realism and acts like a biography the way the film allows its characters to grow old while keeping the context of the story line. Instead of being told in chronological order, Kane’s story unfolds in overlapping segments that add more information as each narrator adds his or her story. Telling Kane’s life story entirely in flashbacks was another innovative approach to storytelling. Flashbacks had been used in earlier films, but Citizen Kane used them most effectively. The flashbacks are given from the perspectives of characters who are aging or forgetful, and leaves us hanging on the edge of our seats to uncover the answer to the unanswered questions. It gives us multiple first person accounts, which are not seen in other films of the same time period. The storytelling techniques succeed in painting Charles Foster Kane as an enigma, a tortured, complicated man who, in the end, leaves viewers with more questions than answers and inevitably invokes sympathy rather than contempt. Especially when he left the surrounding characters with no answer to his famous last word, “Rosebud”.




WORKS CITED

"Citizen Kane" filmsite.org. Web. 10 May. 2010
"Citizen Kane" imdb.com. Web. 10 May. 2010
"Citizen Kane" movieimages.com. Web 10 May. 2010

"3:10 to Yuma" Character Analysis

In 3:10 to Yuma, there are two characters in which the film focuses on. These two characters are outlaw Ben Wade, played by Russell Crowe; and rancher Dan Evans, played by Christian Bale. At first, it would appear that these two characters have nothing in common. Ben Wade is the nastiest outlaw alive and robs banks, stagecoaches, and trains. On the other hand, Dan Evans is a hard working rancher who attempts to give his family the best life he possibly can.



Let’s start off with Ben Wade. He is played up by the newspapers and authors as the most dangerous man to walk the face of the earth. While he is extremely dangerous there is also an extremely sensitive side to him. He enjoys drawing, and not only drawing, but drawing subtle things. The first drawing in which we are introduced is a hawk perched up on a branch. The second drawing we are introduced to is the back of a naked woman. The final drawing we are introduced to is Dan sitting in a chair. All of these represent moments of subtlety and shows us another side of Ben Wade that the general public is never shown nor knows it exists. The side that does exist to the public is the gun slinging side for which he was nicknamed “The Hand of God”.



Now we move on to Dan Evans. The rancher who has fallen on hard times when he is first introduced. His barn has been set ablaze by the henchmen of an impatient debt collector. After, Dan and his sons witness a stage coach robbery by the notorious outlaw Ben Wade. Dan agrees to help take Wade on the cross-country journey to the town of Contention where they will place him on the prison train to Yuma. Dan's motivations are more driven by desperation than Mr. Smith's Samaritan nature. An unspoken motivation is for him to prove to his kids that he is what they think he is.



Throughout the film Wade and Evans go back and forth with each other, although we start to see a bond develop. Their relationship first started when Evans and his children were riding looking for their cattle. They have their confrontation in which Wade takes the horses from them, but soon thereafter leaves them tied up to a tree, unharmed. This shows a sign of respect for Dan. Later on as the two are both in town, they run into each other at a saloon. Wade offers Dan money, and Dan gets greedy with what he wants, but Ben respects him for his bravery. This is where Wade gets caught, and is upset with Dan for not warning him, although he already knew the sheriff and his crew were on their way. Throughout the journey to take Wade to Yuma on the 3:10 train, they both have scraps with each other and develop a rough bond. The main objective on this mission for Dan was to pay back the debt so he can better support his family. The main objective on this mission for Ben is to escape and not take the train to Yuma. Both of these plans pan out, but probably not as well as either of them has hoped. Dan ultimately ends up paying the debt, on top of gaining more money for his family, and owes it to Ben a great deal for getting on that train. That is an example of the bond they developed for each other. Another example, probably the best one, is when Dan confesses that he really lost his leg at the hand of one of his own men.


WORKS CITED

"3:10 to Yuma" comingsoon.net. Web. 10 May. 2010
"3:10 to Yuma" imdb.com. Web. 10 May. 2010