Citizen Kane, a classic American dramatic film, is considered to be the ultimate classic masterpiece and the world's most famous and highest rated film, as it is ranked the number one best film of all time. It was the first movie Orson Welles, a theatrical genius, co-wrote, directed, and produced at only an age of twenty-five years. The subject of this movie is the life of Charles Foster Kane, known as Citizen Kane, which is played by Welles himself. Dating back to 1941, Citizen Kane set a high standard for the art of cinematography as it made cinematic advances and technical innovations on many fronts. A new style of film making was created with innovations varying from the use of deep focus technique, camera positions and angles shots, story telling and aural techniques.
The most innovative technical aspect of Citizen Kane is the extended use of deep focus technique which is considered to be the most significant contribution to cinematography.
Orson Welles, March 1, 1937
English:
A deep focus shot: everything, including the hat i...This technique allowed him to photograph backgrounds with as mush clarity as foregrounds, as opposed to having only the people and things in the foreground in focus. Such a technique is noticed in the scene where Kane's parents are filmed discussing his future while he's seen through the window in the foreground playing outside in the snow. Deep focus makes possible for the film maker to showcase overlapping simultaneous actions, where the mise-en-scène becomes more significant since the physical environment in which the film takes place should be then taken into account. Besides, is it important to note that the cast members that Welles's had chosen for his film had never made a movie before and were all classically trained theatrical actors. Their theatrical background played an important role and had an impact on the success of...