Citizen Kane (Cinematography)

This guide accompanies a lecture on cinematography and Citizen Kane. A guide for narrative elements and Kane may be found here.

  1. Answer before you watch: what do you know about the film Citizen Kane? What expectations (if any) do you have about the film?
  2. What type of mobile framing introduces us to Xanadu in those opening shots?
  3. What is the shot distance used when Kane utters his last word? Why do you think Welles decided on this framing?
  4. How does Welles use mobile framing to move the viewer into Susan Alexander’s nightclub?
  5. List at least three scenes that employ deep-focus cinematography.
  6. When does Welles use canted angles/levels? What is happening at this point onscreen? How does the cinematography enhance the situation?
  7. In the breakfast table montage above (during which Kane’s and Emily’s marriage deteriorates), Welles decompresses time via shot/reverse shot exchanges and what type of mobile framing technique?
  8. From what angle does Welles shoot the scene in which Leland is drunk and Kane has just lost the election? How does this cinematography contribute to the characters’ feelings, mentality, etc.?
  9. Watch Welles’s camerawork throughout. How and when does his camera move? How does it connect characters, or does it?
  10. What shot distance does Welles use in the last shot of the film? Why do you think he decided on that distance?
  11. Answer after you watch: this film is constantly listed as #1 on the American Film Institute’s (AFI) list of Top 100 Greatest Films. After seeing the film in its entirety, can you think of any reason(s) why that is?