Fdm 3351: Orson Welles And Citizen Kane

Front 1

Welles' History in Theater and Radio

Back 1

directed and acted in Broadway plays
-founded Mercury Theatre company
-wrote, directed, starred in weekly CBS radio series Mercury Theatre on Air
-War of the Worlds Broadcast

Front 2

Welles RKO contract

Back 2

signed two picture deal
-gave him complete control over projects
-Brought Mercury Theatre cast with him

Front 3

Citizen Kane

Back 3

1st feature under RKO
-film is a portrait of William Randolph Hearst

Front 4

Cinematography of CK

Back 4

Gregg Tolland = cinematographer
Long Take- sequence shot
Deep Focus-fore,middle,background all in focus (hollywood shallow focus)
Deep space staging- staging of important narrative or thematic activity on all three planes of action
-expressive lighting- employs lighting to express thematic issues and character

Front 5

Sound of CK

Back 5

-sonic depth in a monaural soundtrack using aural depth cues (created sense of fore,middle,background)
-overlapping dialogue- used it to create a realistic sense of actual conversations

Front 6

Editing of CK

Back 6

Lightning Mix- use of continuity on the soundtrack to link together images, often over long periods of time
-used montage to compress large amounts of story information

Front 7

Welles' relationship with the major studios

Back 7

made films for RKO but were edited without his permission, this happened with all of his other projects with the studios

Front 8

Welles' Work in Europe

Back 8

-gained a great deal of creative freedom in Europe, but lost Hollywood's technical and financial support
-spent too much energy finding funding

Front 9

Welles as an independent film maker

Back 9

acted in other peoples movies to fund projects
The Trial- used closed and open spaces to create tension and claustrophobia
-F for Fake- last film Welles completed
-Touch of Evil- last attempt to work in Hollywood; edited behind his back
-Magnificent Ambersons- follow up film to CK; edited behind his back