Citizen Kane-Silent viewing for editing techniques

I'm going to start this blog, back to front.

When I came to the end of the film of Citizen Kane, I had to take a deep breath, because it was humbling how much effort went into shooting this film. The camera and lighting techniques which were made by Oscar winning Director of Photography; Gregg Toland, who tragically died really early, I found out.

During the 1930s, Toland became the youngest cameraman in Hollywood but soon one of its most sought-after cinematographers. Over a seven-year span (1936–1942), he was nominated five times for the Academy Award for Best Cinematography, including a win in 1940 for his work on Wuthering Heights

I was really impressed by the shots where actors would walk from a shot being in the shadows, and then moving slightly forward to be shot in the light, or sometimes the reverse, going from a being in the dark and then walking into the light.

Citizen Kane, was a hard film to watch in silence at the beginning, it took me four tries to get to the end of the film, but i was glad I held on. It was a remarkable film to watch, because of so many factors; Charles Foster Kane's (Foster Kane) prosthetic s as he became older and older was so well done, as was Orson Welles when he played the aging Kane.

The lighting work in the black and white was amazing, absolutely amazing. The amount of shots that used the light and the dark to express the tone of character, whether it was the anger and rage of Kane when his wife left him.

What also come to mind is the way, the house-mansion he lived in was so much literally larger than life. The fire place was the size of a football goal, and when Kanes wife or Charles F Kane was standing in the fire place, it was done so well.

Another scene that stood out for me was when the reporter was searching through archives of Foster Kane's life, the shadows and the lights used when he was shown into the room, and the enormity of the room he was in again, was just so well done.

Overall, I learnt more about camera angles, than I did about editing for this film. I really learnt how you can shoot a scene with so little, but well placed camera's and thinking about the organising of the shots, really hit home to me.

This was a thoroughly good film to watch, and thanks to Orson Welles for making such a dynamic entrance into the film world, at such a young age. 25???!

I thought this was a wonderful little big thing at the end of the movie.