3000 presentation 13: citizen kane
TRANSCRIPT
One Man’s Perspective
http://youtu.be/upC8pX3RY0Ahttp://www.errolmorris.com/content/aborted/projects_donald.html
http://youtu.be/Wd9z9Y-q3Is
Citizen Kane (1941)
Study GuideEMC/JOUR 3000Edward Bowen
“Citizen Kane” (1941)
RKO Studios, Executive Producer George SchaeferMercury Productions
Produced and Directed by Orson Welles
Original Screenplay by Herman J. Mankiewicz and Orson Welles
Cinematography by Gregg Toland
Original Score by Bernard Herrmann
Edited by Robert Wise
Special Effects by Vernon L. Walker and Linwood G. Dunn
Sets by Percy Ferguson
Est. Budget $ 840,000 Est. Initial Box Office $690,00Eventual Est. Box Office $1,586,000 (US)
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505270_162-57395368/citizen-kane-as-seen-from-hearst-castle/
William Randolph Hearst (1863-1951)
Hearst Castle, San Simeon, California
William Randolph Hearst (1863-1951)
Xanadu, Florida Everglades
William Randolph Hearst (1863-1951)
William Randolph Hearst (1863-1951)
With Actress Marion Davies
William Randolph Hearst (1863-1951)
Roman a clef / Film a clefA fictional story comprised on non-fiction elements and veiled characters.
The Supremes?
The Clintons?
Bob Fosse?
Curt Cobain?
Anna Wintour?
Huey Long?
William Randolph Hearst (1863-1951)
Roman a clef / Film a clef
Newspaper tycoon.
At 23, he asked his father to let him run the San Francisco Examiner.
Sensational stories and inflammatory editorial content designed to boost circulation.
Hearst to artist Frederick Remington regarding Cuba: ”You furnish the pictures and I'll furnish the war.”
Failed bids for Mayor and Governor of New York.
Began as a populist; ended as a reactionary. Consorted with fascists, including Hitler.
Built Hearst Castle in San Simeon, California between 1922 and 1947, decorated with an extensive art collection.
Hearst financed Marion Davies’ movies and publicized her career, pushing her to abandon comedy and take on more dramatic roles.
William Randolph Hearst (1863-1951)
Roman a clef / Film a clef
Born rich, the pampered son of an adoring mother.
When Hearst met Marion Davies, she was a famous and successful beauty.
Hearst and Davies never married.
Twice elected to Congress.
“The Real Citizen Kane”http://podcasts.howstuffworks.com/hsw/podcasts/symhc/2009-12-30-symhc-citizen-kane.mp3“How the Hearst Castle Works”http://podcasts.howstuffworks.com/hsw/podcasts/symhc/2010-01-06-symhc-hearst-castle.mp3
William Randolph Hearst (1863-1951)
Roman a Clef
Samuel Insull (1859-1938) From humble origins, he helped build America’s electrical industry and infrastructure and became a utilities magnate. Married a Broadway ingénue, Gladys Wallis, almost 20 years younger than he. Built the Chicago Civic Opera House in 1929. Third String New Your Times Drama Critic Herman J. Mankiewicz, assigned to review one of her plays, returned to the newsroom drunk and passed out after writing only the first sentence of a negative review.
Roman a Clef
Harold McCormick (1872-1941)
Married into the powerful Rockefeller family.
Divorced to marry opera singer Ganna Walska, whose career he lavishly promoted.
Roman a Clef
By coincidence, as related by Welles in his autobiography, he once found himself alone in an elevator with Hearst. It was the night of Citizen Kane's San Francisco premiere, and Welles invited him to the opening. "He didn't answer. And as he was getting off at his floor, I said, 'Charles Foster Kane would have accepted.'"
William Randolph Hearst (1863-1951)
http://www.moviemoviesite.com/Films/1941/citizen_kane/background/the_wrath_of_hearst.htmhttp://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2011/05/citizen-kane-at-70-the-legacy-of-the-film-and-its-director/237029/
The Technical Dimension
Cinematography – Gregg Toland
The Technical Dimension
http://youtu.be/lFwcNXfjslg
Cinematography – Gregg Toland
The Technical Dimension
http://youtu.be/ezcj4kAF3w8
Opening – “No Trespassing”Effects ShotsMatch Dissolves
The Technical Dimension
http://youtu.be/uN1dkhqlcqo http://youtu.be/-r0b_XeRkG4 http://youtu.be/LZOzk7T93wEhttp://mtmedia.mtsu.edu:8888/ebowen/CK Open.mov
News on the MarchEmulating a Style
The Technical Dimension
http://mtmedia.mtsu.edu:8888/ebowen/CK News On the March.mov
News on the MarchThe March of Time
The Technical Dimension
http://youtu.be/cI7udRx5vpE
News on the MarchSir Basil Zaharoff
The Technical Dimension
http://www.thoughtequity.com/video/clip/49301031_014.dohttp://www.thoughtequity.com/video/clip/49301031_008.dohttp://www.thoughtequity.com/video/clip/49301031_016.do
Deep Focus, Wide Angle Lenses, and Blocking
The Technical Dimension
Deep Focus, Wide Angle Lenses, and Blocking
The Technical Dimension
http://youtu.be/QrzbdfqZnSc http://mtmedia.mtsu.edu:8888/ebowen/CK Bust.mov
Deep Focus, Wide Angle Lenses, and BlockingThe FireplacePerspective
The Technical Dimension
http://youtu.be/dwBGYG6-vh4 http://mtmedia.mtsu.edu:8888/ebowen/CK Fireplace.mov
Lighting
The Technical Dimension
http://youtu.be/sQxY6HctOPA http://mtmedia.mtsu.edu:8888/ebowen/CK Declaration.mov
MontageBreakfast16 Years =2 Minutes
The Technical Dimension
http://youtu.be/vU2INYJOLzw http://youtu.be/RamGMa9Sb1U http://youtu.be/VTyOC8GF-qghttp://mtmedia.mtsu.edu:8888/ebowen/CK Breakfast.mov
Low Angles
The Technical Dimension
http://youtu.be/8fa0bxI-I2k http://mtmedia.mtsu.edu:8888/ebowen/CK Low Talkers.mov
Special Effects – Linwood Dunn
The Technical Dimension
http://nzpetesmatteshot.blogspot.com/2011/01/rko-home-of-kong-kane-androcles-mr.html
Special Effects – Original Glass Mattes
The Technical Dimension
http://nzpetesmatteshot.blogspot.com/2011/01/rko-home-of-kong-kane-androcles-mr.html
Special Effects – Matte Components
The Technical Dimension
http://nzpetesmatteshot.blogspot.com/2011/01/rko-home-of-kong-kane-androcles-mr.html
Special Effects –Matte Shots
The Technical Dimension
http://nzpetesmatteshot.blogspot.com/2011/01/rko-home-of-kong-kane-androcles-mr.html
Special Effects – Deep Focus via Special Effects
Practically everything here is matte art (by Mario Larrinaga or FitchFulton) with even the reflectionupon the polished floor. Foreground and background are shot separately so both can be rendered in focus.
The Technical Dimension
http://nzpetesmatteshot.blogspot.com/2011/01/rko-home-of-kong-kane-androcles-mr.html
Special Effects – Matte Shots
A three part composite - the road and sea are separate plates split screened together, with a Chesley Bonestell painted beach, treeline and sky.
The Technical Dimension
http://nzpetesmatteshot.blogspot.com/2011/01/rko-home-of-kong-kane-androcles-mr.html
Special Effects – Matte Shots
A full painting with small mid section live action plate and a slow optical push in.
The Technical Dimension
http://nzpetesmatteshot.blogspot.com/2011/01/rko-home-of-kong-kane-androcles-mr.html
Special Effects – Matte Shots
A multi-part composite with mostly painted theatre, live action elements with stage And standing Observers, and a split screened in Gettes in the near foreground.
The Technical Dimension
http://nzpetesmatteshot.blogspot.com/2011/01/rko-home-of-kong-kane-androcles-mr.html
Special Effects – Linwood Dunn
The Technical Dimension
http://youtu.be/eCkYlCBFV6w
SoundOverlapping Dialogue
The Technical Dimension
http://youtu.be/4G8kakbhENAhttp://mtmedia.mtsu.edu:8888/ebowen/CK Screening Room.mov
Sound Design as IllusionWelles' most basic use of sound was to create the illusion of offscreen elements, to make the viewer "see" what is not actually onscreen. This is most striking in the rally scene, when gubernatorial candidate Kane is giving a speech in a huge, packed hall. The speech is loaded with lines that draw thunderous applause. In reality, of course, there is no huge hall, no clapping crowds, just a few matte paintings and the sounds of applause, just as outside the building after the rally we hear a marching band without seeing one.
The Technical Dimension
http://youtu.be/-6pIwzU9isQ http://stephen-hunt.suite101.com/sound-design-in-citizen-kane-a292792
Sound Design as SuggestionA more imaginative use of sound was to add depth and power to a scene, to evoke feelings in a suggestive, almost subliminal way. This is most evident in the scenes inside Xanadu, Kane's vast "pleasure dome." When Kane and his wife Susan speak to each other, their voices boom. One is tempted to say they echo, but there is no echo. There should be, given the size of the space they occupy, but Welles chooses to just enlarge the sound, giving it a spooky, otherworldly quality, as if Xanadu was not just a palace but another planet. Something similar happens when the reporter Thompson is speaking to the butler Raymond: here the voices have the sound of people speaking in a sepulcher.
The Technical Dimension
http://stephen-hunt.suite101.com/sound-design-in-citizen-kane-a292792
http://mtmedia.mtsu.edu:8888/ebowen/CK Raymond.mov
Sound Design as EmotionYet a third use of sound is to convey the emotional state of a character beneath the surface action. The most glaring example comes just before the enraged Kane destroys Susan's room after she leaves him: we see a cockatoo flap its wings and screech, the noise a substitute for the screaming of Kane's wounded ego. A more subtle instance comes when Kane and Susan are arguing in their tent and Kane slaps her. We hear, in the deep background, a woman screaming, as if being attacked. Likewise, after Susan attempts suicide, we see her in bed explaining to her husband what drove her. On the soundtrack are faint echoes of the opera singing that made her a laughingstock.
The Technical Dimension
http://stephen-hunt.suite101.com/sound-design-in-citizen-kane-a292792
Music – Bernard Herrmann
The Technical Dimension
http://youtu.be/226TtyMrJH8
Music – Bernard HerrmannTwisted Nerve – Kill Bill Volume 1
The Technical Dimension
http://youtu.be/E84OWq6z3IQ
Make-Up
The Technical Dimension
http://youtu.be/eCkYlCBFV6w
Baroque Style, Chiaroscuro, Tenebrism
ba·roque (b-rk)adj.1. also Baroque Of, relating to, or characteristic of a style in art and architecture developed in Europe from the early 17th to mid-18th century, emphasizing dramatic, often strained effect and typified by bold, curving forms, elaborate ornamentation, and overall balance of disparate parts.2. also Baroque Music Of, relating to, or characteristic of a style of composition that flourished in Europe from about 1600 to 1750, marked by expressive dissonance and elaborate ornamentation.3. Extravagant, complex, or bizarre, especially in ornamentation: "the baroque, encoded language of post-structural legal and literary theory" (Wendy Kaminer).4. Irregular in shape: baroque pearls.n. also BaroqueThe baroque style or period in art, architecture, or music.
The Technical Dimension
http://regiesh.qwriting.org/2010/10/25/film-analysis-citizen-kane/
Baroque Style, Chiaroscuro, Tenebrism
Baroque painting was often dramatic, theatrical and lit with very distinct light and dark contrast.
Chiaroscuro - A sharp contrast between light and dark
Tenebrism: a style of painting where chiaroscuro, or using violent contrasts of light and dark, becomes a dominating feature.
The Technical Dimension
http://regiesh.qwriting.org/2010/10/25/film-analysis-citizen-kane/
The Dramatic Dimension
Flashbacks
The Dramatic Dimension
http://www.davidbordwell.net/blog/2009/01/27/grandmaster-flashback/http://www.dvdtalk.com/dvdsavant/s59flashback1.html
Flashbacks“The Power and the Glory” (1933)
The Dramatic Dimension
http://youtu.be/tyPERLdKV7ghttp://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9C0DE5DE1231EF3ABC4F52DFBE668388629EDE
Rosebud
The most basic of all ideas was that of a search for the true significance of the man’s apparently meaningless dying words. Kane was raised without a family. He was snatched from his mother’s arms in early childhood. His parents were a bank. From the point of view of the psychologist, my character had never made what is known as “transference” from his mother. Hence his failure with his wives. In making this clear during the course of the picture, it was my attempt to lead the thoughts of my audience closer and closer to the solution of the enigma of his dying words. These were “Rosebud.” The device of the picture calls for a newspaperman (who didn’t know Kane) to interview people who knew him very well. None had ever heard of “Rosebud.” Actually, as it turns out, “Rosebud” is the trade name of a cheap little sled on which Kane was playing on the day he was taken away from his home and his mother. In his subconscious it represented the simplicity, the comfort, above all the lack of responsibility in his home, and also it stood for his mother’s love which Kane never lost. Orson Welles (1941)
It’s a gimmick, really,’ said Welles, “and rather dollar book Freud.
Orson Welles (1963)
The Dramatic Dimension
http://www.wellesnet.com/?p=187
Rosebud – The Unsolved Mystery
No one finds out what “rosebud” means …
except all of us.
The Dramatic Dimension
Thompson, and the Heart of Darkness
The Dramatic Dimension
http://www.jstor.org/stable/1225401
Multiple Narrators, Various Perspectives
I wished to make a motion picture which was not a narrative of action so much as an examination of character. For this, I desired a man of many sides and many aspects. It was my idea to show that six or more people could have as many widely divergent opinions concerning the nature of a single personality. Clearly such a notion could not be worked out if it would apply to an ordinary American citizen.Orson Welles (1941)
The Dramatic Dimension
Multiple Narrators, Various Perspectives, Unreliable Narrators
THE BLIND MEN AND THE ELEPHANT. A HINDOO FABLE. John Godfrey Saxe
It was six men of Indostan, To learning much inclined, Who went to see the Elephant, (Though all of them were blind),That each by observation, Might satisfy his mind. “God bless me!—but the Elephant Is very like a wall!” “This wonder of an Elephant Is very like a spear!” “The Elephant Is very like a snake!” “'T is clear enough the Elephant Is very like a tree!” “This marvel of an Elephant Is very like a fan!” "The Elephant Is very like a rope!” And so these men of Indostan, Disputed loud and long, Each in his own opinion, Exceeding stiff and strong, Though each was partly in the right, And all were in the wrong!Moral So, oft in theologic wars, The disputants, I ween, Rail on in utter ignorance, Of what each other mean, And prate about an Elephant, Not one of them has seen!
The Dramatic Dimension
Multiple Narrators, Various Perspectives, Unreliable NarratorsRashomon (1950) Akira Kurosawa
The Dramatic Dimension
http://youtu.be/xCZ9TguVOIAFull Movie: http://youtu.be/LhHkDb6H5_c
Multiple Narrators, Various Perspectives, Unreliable Narrators
“The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari”“The Usual Suspects”“Fight Club”“Sucker Punch”“Titanic”
There are three sides to every story: my side, your side and the truth. And no one is lying. Memories shared serve each one differently.Robert Evans “The Kid Stays in the Picture”
The Dramatic Dimension
The Auteur Dimension
The Auteur Dimension
I think a movie needs a boss. There has never been a motion picture of consequence that has not been, broadly speaking, the product of one man. This man has been the producer, could be the writer … should be the director… Good pictures … bear the signature … of this dominant personality… When it is absent, a motion picture is a mere fabrication of the products of various studio departments … as meaningless as any other merchandise achieved by mass production.Orson Welles, 1941
The whirlwind surrounding the making of Citizen Kane is well known. Orson Welles, the brash prodigy of stage and radio, earned the envy and scorn of Hollywood veterans by striding onto the RKO lot with an unprecedented contract awarding him a three-picture deal, a massive budget, and the final cut of his first film—the Holy Grail of filmmaking. The controversial subject of his cinematic debut riled one of the most powerful men in the world, and upset the delicate balance of the studio system. Orson Welles earned every drop of ink written about his impending career in film.
The Auteur Dimension
http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2011/05/citizen-kane-at-70-the-legacy-of-the-film-and-its-director/237029/
A film is never really good unless the camera is an eye in the head of a poet. Orson Welles
The Auteur Dimension
The Federal Theatre ProjectThe Mercury PlayersThe Mercury Theatre on the AirThe War of the Worlds
The Auteur Dimension
Orson WellesBy 1937, Orson Welles had taken Broadway by storm with a series of innovative and imaginative theater productions.
Orson WellesBy 1937, Orson Welles had taken Broadway by storm with a series of innovative and imaginative theater productions
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQvq7eulfWc
Orson WellesBy 1937, Orson Welles had taken Broadway by storm with a series of innovative and imaginative theater productionsAnd had been featured on the cover of “Time” magazine.
Orson WellesHis theatrical achievements include a modern dress “Julius Caesar” set in Fascist Italy, and a federally sponsored production of “Macbeth,” set in Haiti, and with an all African-American cast.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZLrqJka-EU
Orson Welles
He was also one of radio’s busiest performers …
“The Shadow”
http://archive.org/details/RkoOrsonWelles-TheShadow-RadioRecodingshttp://youtu.be/tzShbpY-Oqg
Orson Welles
And directed his acting company in weekly literary adaptations for CBS radio, beginning as “First Person Singular,” then as “The Mercury Theatre on the Air,” named for his theatrical company.
Orson Welles In 1938, “The Mercury
Theatre on the Air” was a critical if not a ratings success. Welles was a master of radio as a dramatic medium. He conducted his programs from a podium, as if the show were a symphony, and his actors and technicians an orchestra. He used the medium with as no one before or since.
The Mercury Theatre on the Air“Treasure Island”
July 18, 1938
http://youtu.be/_WBFWGxGmMo http://www.mercurytheatre.info/
The Mercury Theatre on the Air
“Dracula”July 30, 1938
http://www.mercurytheatre.info/
Orson Welles
October 30, 1938
The Mercury Theatre’s version of H G Wells’ “The War of the Worlds,” which imagined an invasion of Earth by Martians, achieved huge notoriety after it caused widespread panic and listeners, believing it to be true, attempted to flee the oncoming invasion. Welles is famous and infamous.
http://youtu.be/Xs0K4ApWl4ghttp://www.mercurytheatre.info/
Orson Welles
He was 23 years of age.
Orson Welles“The War of the Worlds”
http://youtu.be/gfNsCcOHsNI
The contract that gave birth to Citizen Kane was an unthinkable gamble by RKO, but the studio had good reason to bet on Orson Welles. At 20, he lorded over Broadway, first with Voodoo Macbeth, a reworking of the "Scottish play" set in the Caribbean and starring an all-African American cast. He followed triumphant reviews by establishing the Mercury Theatre and rewriting Julius Caesar, setting it in Mussolini's Italy. The curtain rose to universal acclaim. In a 1938 cover story, Time magazine wrote of Welles, "If the career of the Mercury Theatre, which next week will be six months old, seems amazing, the career of Orson Welles, who this week is 23, is no less so. Were Welles's 23 years set forth in fiction form, any self-respecting critic would damn the story as too implausible for serious consideration."
The Auteur Dimension
http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2011/05/citizen-kane-at-70-the-legacy-of-the-film-and-its-director/237029/
The Contract
The Auteur Dimension
http://youtu.be/5RtNESXcOVs
Orson Welles’ first feature film
The Auteur Dimension
Citizen Kane (1941)
http://youtu.be/IGUYOQUzrKU
http://video.nytimes.com/video/2011/03/14/movies/100000000725395/citizenkane.htmlhttp://youtu.be/wiS-E-u9M6A
Citizen Kane (1941)
The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)
http://mtmedia.mtsu.edu:8888/ebowen/OWSFALIF Ambersons 1.mov
The Lady From Shanghai (1947)
http://mtmedia.mtsu.edu:8888/ebowen/The_Lady_from_Shanghai_(1948)_Mirror_sequence.movhttp://youtu.be/G05H0QacqQM
Othello (1952)
http://mtmedia.mtsu.edu:8888/ebowen/OWSFALIF Othello 1.mov
Mr. Arkadin (1955)
http://mtmedia.mtsu.edu:8888/ebowen/Arkadin.mp4
Touch of Evil (1958)
http://mtmedia.mtsu.edu:8888/ebowen/Touch of Evil.mp4
Chimes at Midnight (1965)
http://mtmedia.mtsu.edu:8888/ebowen/Chimes at Midnight Battle.mp4http://youtu.be/3bWraOy6Kw4
The Other Side of the Wind (1972 Unreleased)
http://youtu.be/D0kdTPd5XJM
“Ed Wood” (1994)
http://youtu.be/XqWr_anRIus
http://youtu.be/RYUAPToB4bc
Citizen Jane (2011)