NMED 2030
Jan 14th 2008
NMED 2030
Today’s Class…
Finish Watching Citizen Kane
(1941)
Citizen Kane Analysis
Scene Analysis
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• How Citizen Kane Transformed
Cinema…
– Writer/Director
Orson
Welles,
along
with
Cinematographer Gregg Toland, came up with
several new filming techniques that literally changed
the world of cinematography.
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• Depth of Field
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• Depth of Field
•
Depth of composition of a shot,
i.e., where there are several
planes (vertical spaces in a
frame): (1) a foreground, (2) a
middle-ground, and (3) a
background; depth of field
specifically refers to the area,
range of distance, or field
(between the closest and
farthest planes) in which the
elements captured in a camera
image appear in sharp or
acceptable focus.
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• Depth of Field
Description
•
One of the techniques that the movie is
most famous for is “deep focus.” As you
can see in the image on the right, all of
the characters—including the child in the
window—are in focus. Toland achieved
this through the use of a wide-angle lens
to create a large depth-of-field. When this
wasn’t possible, he would shoot the
scene with the foreground fully lit and the
background in darkness. Then, he would
rewind the film and shoot the scene over
again, with the background in focus and
fully lit and the foreground in complete
darkness. This is called an in-camera
matte shot.
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• Depth of Field Analysis:
• Extreme depth-of-field in
shots in Citizen Kane
heighten dramatic value.
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• Lighting
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• Lighting
•
Lighting was also an important
aspect of Citizen Kane. In this shot,
the strong backlighting is used to
make the character in front appear
as only a silhouette and therefore
anonymous to the viewer. The
smoke that fills the room helps to
show the light beams coming from
the projectors as well as the lamp
on the table. This use of lighting can
also be seen in the image on the
left, in which the high-contrast
lighting creates a foreboding
atmosphere.
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• Low-Angle Shots
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• Low-Angle Shots
•
Another thing that made Citizen Kane
stand out from other movies of its time
was the way it used low-angle shots. The
sound stages in Hollywood filmmaking
made it impossible to show low-angle
shots without revealing the microphones
and lights that hung above the actors. To
overcome this problem, Welles built
whole sets with ceilings made of draped
muslin, so the microphones were hidden
above the cloth ceiling. Then, he cut
holes in the set floor for the camera, so it
could get the lowest angle possible. It
made Kane in particular appear “larger
than life”.
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• Editing Episodic Sequences - Passage
of Time
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• Editing Episodic
Sequences - Passage
of Time
•
One of the story-telling techniques
introduced in this film was using an
episodic sequence on the same set
while the characters changed
costume and make-up between cuts
so that the scene following each cut
would look as if it took place in the
same location, but at a time long
after the previous cut. In this way,
Welles chronicled the breakdown of
Kane's first marriage, which took
years of story time, in a matter of
minutes.
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• Sound
• Welles brought his experience with sound from radio along to
filmmaking, producing a layered and complex soundtrack. In
one scene, the elderly Kane strikes Susan in a tent on the
beach, and the two characters silently glower at each other
while a woman at the nearby party can be heard hysterically
laughing in the background, her giddiness in grotesque
counterpoint to the misery of Susan and Kane. Elsewhere,
Welles skillfully employed sound effects to create a mood, such
as the chilly echo of the monumental library, where the reporter
is confronted by an intimidating, officious librarian.
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• Sound
•
In addition to expanding on the potential of sound as a creator of
moods and emotions, Welles pioneered a new aural technique, known
as the "lightning-mix." Welles used this technique to link complex
montage sequences via a series of related sounds or phrases. In
offering a continuous sound track, Welles was able to join what would
otherwise be extremely rough cuts together into a smooth narrative. For
example, the audience witnesses Kane grow from a child into a young
man in just two shots. As Kane's guardian hands him his sled and
wishes him a "Merry Christmas" we are suddenly taken to a shot of
Kane fifteen years later, only to have the phrase completed for us: "and
a Happy New Year." In this case, the continuity of the soundtrack, not
the image, is what makes for a seamless narrative structure.
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• Sound
•
Welles also carried over techniques from radio not yet popular in the
movies (though they would become staples). Using a number of voices,
each saying a sentence or sometimes merely a fragment of a sentence,
and splicing the dialogue together in quick succession, the result gave
the impression of a whole town talking -- and, equally important, what
the town was talking about. Welles also favored the overlapping of
dialogue, considering it more realistic than the stage and movie
tradition of characters not stepping on each other's sentences. He also
pioneered the technique of putting the audio ahead of the visual in
scene transitions (an L-cut); as a scene would come to a close, the
audio would transition to the next scene before the visual did.
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• Dissolves
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• Dissolves
•
Opening Sequence: The “No
Trespassing” sign is the first
introduction to the dark, looming
estate of Xanadu, empire
palace of Charles Foster Kane.
We cut in towards one of
Xanadu's windows; the room in
which a light is shining. As we
reach the window, the light
vanishes, and we dissolve into a
snowy blizzard. We hear the
immortal "Rosebud" mentioned.
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• Innovative Composition
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• Innovative
Composition
•
Citizen Kane is a great example of
how a movie can be considered a
series of artistic images. It shows
that cinematography is like
photography in that it involves
capturing images that are visually
pleasing to look at. They both
require skillful execution while trying
to find the perfect shot. This movie
is especially important because it
used new techniques, which are still
in use to this day.
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•Bottom Line…
• Citizen Kane is an excellent text for formal scene
analysis.
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• Scene Analysis
– Is an important film production practice that allows
filmmakers to study, shot-by-shot, all the pieces that are
used in conveying a message in scene.
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• Scene Analysis Definitions:
– Scene: A scene is used to mean several shots, which is
more to do with the word’s origin in theater. The term scene
and sequence in film production are interchangeable.
– Frame: A single image (of a series of them) on a piece of
film.
– Shot: A shot is the action contained from one edit in point, to
the out point.
– Mise-en-scene: The mise-en-scene refers to the
arrangement of scenery and properties to represent the
place where a play or movie is enacted. They are the
physical elements of a the composition of a frame.
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• Scene Analysis Assignment:
1. Choose a scene/sequence from your favourite film
and conduct a scene analysis
2. Try to choose a scene that is LESS THAN two
minutes.
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• Scene Analysis Assignment:
PART ONE: Word Document
•
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•
•
•
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What is the title?
When was it made?
Who is the director?
What is the story?
– What is the director trying to tell us?
– What's the main idea the director is conveying to the audience?
What is the genre?
What is the time period?
What is the location?
Where is the scene in the story? (beginning, middle, or end)
Who are the characters?
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• PART TWO: Excel Chart
• 1. Choose 3 out of the following 12 components for
analysis
• 2. Describe & Analyse each Shot Using those 3
components
– Describe means list everything you see and hear
– Analyse means what mood, tone or effect does this
component create for you/the audience
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• PART TWO: Excel Chart
• Tools of Analysis
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Acting Styles (characters, age, sex, physical traits)
Cinematography (close-up, medium-shot, long shot, depth of field, low-angle, aerial, etc)
Lighting
Editing (pace, etc)
Dialogue (must be transcribed)
Sound Effects
Score (describe genre, instruments must be listed as well closely as possible)
Costumes (wardrobe if clothes are contemporary - i.e. jeans and Hawaiian shirt; hair styles
are important)
9. Visual Special Effects
10. Set Design
11. Mise-en-scene/Set Décor
12. Stunts (choreography)
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• Next Class:
• Be sure to bring :
– a set of headphones
– A DVD copy of the film you chose as your favourite. If you
cannot locate that specific film from Blockbuster or on DVD
from the library, choose and bring one of your favourite films
to analyse for the next two classes
• We’ll be working on scene analysis in Wednesday’s
lab.
• Scene Analysis is due at the end of class on
January 23rd