1. Citizen Kane
Orson Welles
By Alex Kelly

2. A Brief Overview
Citizen Kane is a film that tells the story
of the life and legacy of Charles Foster
Kane, a wealthy media proprietor.
The story starts from the end, when Kane
dies. In the few seconds before his death, he
utters the word “Rosebud” and drops a snow
globe which then smashes on the ground.
Following the death, news reporter Jerry
Thompson seeks to find answers. What or who
is “Rosebud?”
In the end, Thompson never finds his answer,
but we as the audience do.

3. Content & Form
Content and form work hand-in-hand in a film.
Content is the subject of an artwork or what the
artwork is about and form is how the subject is
expressed and experienced.
Content
Universal themes contained in the entire film
The journey of a character
The purpose of a particular scene (we will get
back to this point later*)
The choices of
Form
shot composition (WHAT we see;
proximity)
The choice of lighting (HOW we see)
Choices of editing (how long; the order in which
we get to see it)

4. Space & Time
In movies, space and time can be uniquely
manipulated through many different ways.
Space
Form Devices:
Shot Selection-proximity to the camera
Editing Techniques- Continuity Editing; Parallel
Editing; Montage Editing
Time
Narrative Devices
Non-linear Plot-Flashbacks
Ellipsis-the omission of time

5. Citizen Kane is a story within a story. Content,
Together come together as one to
form, space and time all
As One
tell us about the life of Charles Foster Kane,
while also taking us through Jerry Thompson’s
search for “Rosebud.”
How It Is Used
There are three fundamentals of film form. One
includes MANIPULATION OF TIME in a unique way. We
see this in the very beginning of the film when
Kane is a young, poor boy who is taken from his
parents and brought into a new life of riches.
The film goes from Kane as a boy at Christmastime
and immediately fast-forwards times to him as a
(Boy)
young(Immediate Fast-forward)
adult at New Years. (Young Adult)
“Merry Christmas...And a happy new year!”

6. How It Is Used (cont.)
The film also uses what is called a “non-linear
plot” or “flashbacks”
In doing this, we start with Thompson’s search for
“Rosebud” in the present time. While he is
searching and interviewing people, their stories
bring us back in time to get a better understand
for what they are trying to tell us.
We also see this when Thompson is looking at
different newspaper articles about Kane. The film
shows the article which may say something along
the lines of “In the winter of 1929...” and we are
then brought back to that time and we are told a
story.

7. A great
How It Is Used (cont.)
use of manipulation of time is the famous
breakfast scene.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RamGMa9Sb1U
In the beginning, Kane and his wife, Emily are
shown as a happily married couple. We then skip
forward to the same setting multiple times, but
with each transition, we see Kane and Emily
gradually distancing themselves from each other.
They are no longer the happy couple they were in
the beginning. Eventually, they get to a point
where the two are not even talking anymore.
Welle’s does a great job here with montage
editing.
Montage Editing: Purposefully speeding up time in order to
watch a long process in just a shot amount of time.
*Content: the purpose of a particular scene (continued on next slide)

8. Purpose of a Particular Scene
Breakfast with Emily
Why was I grabbed by it?
I was grabbed by this scene because I think
it did a great job of telling us a story in
a short amount of time. It showed the slow
progression of a broken marriage very
quickly.
What was the scene about?
Like mentioned on the last slide, the scene
was about Kane and his wife’s marriage
falling about.
What was the function of the scene?
Again, like stated before, the function was
to show us a long process in a short amount
of time.

9. Film Analysis
Citizen Kane: 1941
Touch of Evil (Orson Welles): 1958
Nearly halfway between the release of both
of these movies was the created of color
television (1951). Although color TV was
introduced years before “Touch of Evil”
came about, the movie was still made it
black and white. I would believe that this
is because color TV was still in it’s
infant stage and people weren’t yet fully
equipped to use it.

10. Resources
Dirks, T. Filmsite Movie Review: Touch of
Evil.
http://www.filmsite.org/touc.html
Dirks, T. Filmsite Movie Review: Citizen
Kane.
http://www.filmsite.org/citi.html
Welles, O. Citizen kane.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0033467/
Welles, O. Touch of Evil. ht
tp://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052311/