Film presentation 2

Film studies from Lucy Ford

Film presentation

Citizen Kane Film Review

Is Citizen Kane the greatest film ever made?

Citizen Kane is a film about the life of a man called Charles Kane. The film tells us the story of his life, his childhood, rise to riches, his fall and his death. The main story of the film is that the detectives in the film and us as an audience are trying to discover what Kane’s last word meant, which was ‘rosebud’. This is explored throughout the film as the detective visits old friends of Kane to try and discover if they knew anything about ‘rosebud’ or what it was. We are then shown flashbacks of Kane’s life, from their point of view, and throughout the whole film we are shown basically the whole of Kane’s life through these flashbacks. I think that this is a very sophisticated way of portraying a story, especially for the time that it was made. However, I did think that sometimes they dragged out certain scenes for too long, which I personally think made it a bit boring at times.

The opening of the film was very sophisticated for the time as there were many dissolves used in this scene (where one shot blends into another) which, is an example of elliptical editing, where time is compressed. The audience can tell that it has been compressed but it makes it shorter, which can tell a story but in a quicker way. An example of this in the film is when the flashback of Kane and his first wife's marriage deterioration is shown. This is effective on the audience as it tells you all you need to know in a short clip but also, it allows the audience to easily compare their relationship from the beginning to the end of the elliptical editing. They are shown at the beginning sitting very closely together on the table and then at the end they are far apart, we can easily make the assumption that things haven't gone well during their marriage as the clips are not that far apart from each other. This is due to the elliptical editing. Another example of this is when Thatcher says 'merry christmas' in one period of time, when Kane was a child and then it cuts to him saying 'and a happy new year' in another period of time when Kane is grown up. This easily, smoothly and sophisticatedly compresses time so that his whole life leading up to that point doesn't have to be shown. I think this is really clever and and a mature way of doing this. It not only makes time shorted, it makes it look really professional too.

The news reel at the beginning is a really good way of summarising quickly what happens in the film. It creates enigmas in the audiences minds as it doesn't reveal too much information about the story. Like a news reel, it conveys a very general view of the situation and doesn't go into detail about the characters. This happens later during the flashbacks; the characters are developed and as an audience you get emotionally attached to them and feel differently about the situations that were mentioned in the news reel previously. It is a very clever and professional way to summarise the story and create enigmas as it links into the film after it's finished as we find out some of the characters were watching it as well as us.

The use of lighting in the film really creates effect as often it is used to create mystery. After the news reel is shown there are only two beams of key lighting, hence we can't see the characters properly and only see their silhouettes creating a sense of mystery. Another scene that has effective lighting is when Kane writes his promises down with his colleagues. Kane's face is dark while the other men's faces are lit up and visible. This could be a suggestion of foreshadowing what happens in the future as dark colours connote evil and negative things whereas you would associate brighter colours/lighting with more good and positive things. We may begin to believe that in the future, these promises he is making and writing down will not be kept and Kane's popularity will decline. Finally, the lighting was effective in the scene where Kane's wife discovers his affair with ms Alexandra. The low shadowy lighting on the man's face creates and essence of mystery and maybe that something bad may be about to happen.

I think that these techniques were very sophisticated for the time, and the thought that went into the way the lighting was set up and what it would connote was so good and professional and it reciprocates films that are made now, which I think could make it one of the best films ever made.

Some of the things I liked the most during the film, was the use of the news reel as a narrative device as I thought it was very innovative and original. I personally liked the way that the ending was put, it was like both the characters and audience had given up on trying to discover what 'rosebud' meant and then we were subtly shown what it actually was and what it symbolises and it's quite an 'oooh' moment when you realise. I also liked the use of elliptical editing to compress time and show a long period of time in a shorter form. I think that this is amazing as they didn't have half the editing skills/programs we have these days yet they still managed to created a masterpiece in editing, cinematography, mise-en-scene etc for it's time.

Aside from all of the positive I do believe there was some negative sides to the film. Firstly, I think that some scenes were dragged out for too long. Also that there were one too many flashbacks, which made it quite repetitive and made you want to just find out what 'rosebud' is.

The use of deep focus made it seem like every single thing in the scene was important and hence made you watch it more intently and pick up more information. In the instance when Thatcher loses his estate the fact that everyone is in focus makes you consider both of their facial expressions and how they are feeling about the situation. Also, when Kane's mother gives him up, you can see him playing outside in the snow, this shows his childishness, where he didn't have to worry about anything which could draw your attention to how much it will change in the future.

The characterization in the flashbacks made the audience be able to connect with the characters as we get into the story and begin to connect with the characters and when certain situations happen we feel more emotional about them. This is because of the way we have connected with the characters; we feel like we have grown up with Kane and even through it's not from his point of view we do feel empathy for him in certain parts of the film.

Overall, I do think citizen Kane deserves to be considered one the best films ever made as it has shaped so many ways of working in the film industry now, like cinematography, lighting and editing. Without this film would we have all of the skills we do today? I don't think that Citizen Kane is the best film ever made; however, it is certainly up there.  

Feminist Film theory 

In this article/essay, the author writes about how women are represented in the film industry. The beginnings of feminist criticism was directed at the stereotypes of women, mostly in Hollywood films.
The article states that Hollywood films created endless, repetitive representations of women that were considered derogatory and had a negative effect on the female audience.
 They mainly focus on classical cinema in the beginning. The discussion here is that women were just represented as sexual objects for the male characters/audience. 'In classic cinema, voyeurism connotes women as 'to-be-looked-as-ness.' This suggests that the women were just there as eye candy for the male characters/audience, they weren't used, for example, to portray a certain message or they weren't there for any importance; they were just there to make the place look nice.
It states that the male characters are represented to be 'more perfect, more complete and more powerful...' compared to the representation of female characters which suggests that they are 'passive and powerless.' The audience is then said to 'identify with the male character rather than the female character in the film.' This suggests that males are superior to females, and that females couldn't think for themselves, defend them selves, or have their own opinions. They were basically there to be seen but not heard.

The author states that in classical cinema a female character 'has to be found guilty' of something usually resulting in two endings; death (an example: alfred hitchcock's psycho) or marriage (in alfred hitchcock's Marnie). This suggests a closure on the woman. They won't be able to make their own decisions again as they are either dead or tied down in a marriage where the husband is the superior person in the relationship. This also suggests that a woman is only used for a small amount of purposes in a film; as something to look at or someone that has done something wrong, so the males can rectify the problem. This significantly lowers the female independency level suggesting that they rely on men solely.

The article talks about 'the male gaze' which is the idea that women are only in films to be looked at by both male characters and male audiences. The author states that as a result of this female audiences 'may negotiate masculinisation of the spectatorial position in Hollywood cinema...' Which I think basically means that the female audience will begin to question the fact that the way that females are presented in films will begin to make the target audience primarily male. Also, the industry will realise that they can draw in large male audiences if they portray women in a slightly provocative way.

Many other topics were covered too including female subjectivity, female desire, on masculinity. Other topics covered in less detail were things like The Final Girl which appears in horror films. It is where the girl 'fights, resists and survives the the killer-monster'. Also, the subject of gay and lesbian criticism.


I thought that some of the things mentioned were interesting to read, particularly the things that I mentioned. I found that I could relate to some of the topics raised because I felt like the things that were said were correct in my eyes. The article went into great detail in each subject which allows you to understand each thing clearly. I also liked the way the author incorporated films in it too, it made you able to visualise the film and and compare it with the theory so you are able to contextualize/understand it. I think that the use of photos in the article was good too as it made it more interesting and easy to visualise in your mind. The use of years (years of films and theories etc) in the article is useful because it is always useful to know years and dates of different things.

some words i didn't know:
narcissistic: having eccesive interest in oneself and one's appearance
psychoanalysis: a system of psychological theory and therapy that  investigates the interaction of conscious and unconscious elements in the mind.
patriarchal: characteristic of a system of society or government controlled by men.
omitting: leave out or exclude (someone or something), either intentionally or forgetfully.

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