Film Analysis of Citizan Kane essays

Film Analysis of Citizan Kane essays Citizen Kane 1941, directed by Orson Welles, and composed by Bernard Herrmann, has been listed as one of the greatest films ever made. Although this was Bernard Herrmanns first film score, he definitely laid the cornerstone of greatness in this film of which his other works would soon join. A bit of noteworthy information that should be addressed about Bernard Herrmann is his scoring style in Citizen Kane, as aptly stated in Robert L. Carringers book, The Making of Citizen Kane. The classical Hollywood approach to film scoring during that time was represented in works by composers such as Max Steiner, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, and Miklos Rozsa. The main features they emphasized on was full symphonic scoring symbolic of late nineteenth century European romanticism, particularly Wagner, Mahler, Strauss, etc. What makes Bernard Herrmanns approach in Citizen Kane so special is his avoidance of using a full orchestra to score the music. He also employed unorthodox techniques such as smaller groupings of instruments that normally wouldnt be grouped together in an orchestra setting, which youll hear very frequently in the Leland flashback. His basic structure throughout the movie is a leitmotif. Only the opera sequences and the ending are scored for a full orchestra. The flashback from Citizen Kane I have decided to use is the Jed Leland flashback. The Jed Leland flashback gives the viewing audience a look at Charles Foster Kanes first wife Emily Norton and events leading up to the eventual marriage with Susan. The Jed Leland flashback begins with a close up shot of Mr. Thompson looking on at the Huntington Memorial Hospital tucked away underneath a large bridge. Right away as soon as the scene starts we are given a very strong but brief music score in the major. The tone stands out as the prominent feature, with the help of a lot of emphasis put on soft wind instrument i.e. flutes, clarinets etc. accom...