Matt Hobbs - Citizen Kane
What first strikes you in the film Citizen Kane is just the absolute massive scope of everything. From the towering Xanadu to the close ups of the imposing characters, this is a film that really turns a critical eye on the grandeur of the object, and in so doing the American obsession with over indulgence.
While the film could have easily started with Charles Kane as a boy on the streets, it instead starts with a time line of the man's life at his death. Doing this allows Orson Welles to forefront the image, as the opening montage becomes of series of grand structures and scenes. One after the other, each of a more and more massive scale. From the towering Xanadu, to the birds eye shot of the union square as literally a sea of people, Welles puts the idea of the American dream on display from the very beginning. This effect is achieved due to the often used low angle shots to show us the buildings giving each place not only a stature to it, but also a dark, foreboding aspect to it as well. Welles’ heavy use of shadows also add to this the opening is at times very reminiscent of the early German expressionist films (the way the buildings are sculpted with the light reminds me of Cabinet of Dr. Caligari). As the film progresses and the characters are introduced, we often see them in close up, and very frequently from low angles. Again this is a technique used with success throughout the film to really situate the people as men of power. In this way Welles really turns the camera on what Americans generally equate with success. By making the standard objects of power so immense and sinister he really forces the viewer to analyze what it means to be successful and if our view isn’t itself a little warped and twisted