Citizen Kane: Blog Post

Citizen Kane is filled with different cinematic elements in different unique ways giving the movie and perfection with elegance and something to ponder on. The element I would like to focus on the lighting that is used in the film.

In the film, lighting was used effectively at the moment when the three news reporters were discussing about what Charlie Kane meant when he said rosebud. The lighting indicated that the men are serious and their faces are hiding away from the camera suggesting that the men could be evil and the darkness in the movie. It could also show of how the director wants to cut their faces because it's showing how the news reporters are manipulating the story around.

Along with the midnight like darkness being put on the reporters faces, the lighting is effective in when the wife, Susan, left Charlie Kane after she denied of continuing her singing career being controlled. On the scene when Charlie's wife was is leaving him, she walks away through the darkness into the darkness "world". This could suggest that she is heading toward a dark path in her life as she walks away further and further away from her husband. Her walking away could have a foreshadow of her life going downhill as she steps away from Kane and her singing career.

With these two being very effective, the least very effective one is when at young, Kane is given up to another family. In that scene, there was minimal light and shadows that the characters produce don't matter as it it's not important in the scene as much as the characters being blurred out. How the director's use of lighting helped with the film was that the movie showed key themes and foreshadows with the use of lighting by exploiting that the characters are going to go to dark play or being evil in some way by being blended with the darkness. The director's use of repeated extreme close ups show the expressions being shown on characters.

The close ups show the characters being surprised at what is presented in front of them to the characters looking at something dramatic that's an important key aspect of the movie. Another film in which the lighting played a key role was Insidious. In Insidious, towards the end, a professional is in shock by what she is witnessing. How we can tell is when she looking at him, the room is filled with darkness and only her is filled with light suggesting that she is the source in which the devil is trying to go to. In her close up, she looks in horror and in shock as if she is looking at something will try to kill her.