Updated May 3, 2007

ENGLISH 114: INTRODUCTION TO FILM, Fall 2006

Section 2: Monday, 6:00-9:30 p.m., Professor Larsson

Week 15, April 30, 2007

Extra Credit papers are due tonight. No other papers will be accepted or read.

Final Exam will be at 6:00, this room, on Monday, May 7

· Questions related to the last 2 weeks of class (Sound, Citizen Kane)

· Cumulative questions about terms and concepts covered in the reading and in class. There may be some general questions relating to films seen earlier this semester. You should know the terms in red fonts on “Terms to Know” web page

· Questions about mise-en-scene, cinematography, editing and sound in a film clip shown during the exam.

Bring a full-size (8 ½ “ X 11”) Scantron sheet and a # 2 pencil.

**REASONS FOR CITIZEN KANE’S INFLUENCE**

1. Controversy of Production History

Scandal caused by references to William Randolph Hearst (right) nearly stopped film’s release, crippled its distribution

· For more, see documentary The Battle over Citizen Kane (available in Memorial Library)

· A fictionalized (and somewhat inaccurate) account is presented in the HBO production RKO 281

· The best book on the subject is The Making of Citizen Kane by Robert Carringer (also available in Memorial Library)

2. Content and Narrative Form Are Somewhat Unusual for Time

· Theme that criticizes American “success ethic”

· Criticism of living, powerful man

· Complexity of flashback structure

· Somewhat open ending

3. Dramatic and Innovative Uses of Film Style

· Complex use of props and other elements of mise-en-scene to support narrative, suggest meanings

· Dramatic uses of low-key lighting

· Unusual uses of camera angles and extended camera movement

· Innovative development of “deep-focus” cinematography

· Use of overlapping dialogue and sound for emotional context

Effect of Hearst Controversy on Welles and Citizen Kane

· RKO President George Schaefer replaced

· Control of The Magnificent Ambersons taken from Welles,
ending is re-shot and re-cut, original footage destroyed

· Welles continues to work in theater and film but never has full funding and full control at same time again

· Kane earns critical praise but does not succeed at box office

· Kane is pulled from theaters, put on shelves at RKO, neglected and forgotten

· Re-released in early 1950s

· Acclaimed “greatest film” by international critics at Brussels World Fair

· Remains at top of “best films” lists ever since

Indirect Influence on American Films

· Downbeat themes, complex narrative structures become more common by end of World War II

· Innovations in lighting, deep focus cinematography developed further

· Helped to spur development of film noir style in 1940s and 1950s

(Film Noir: American films from late 1940s and 1950s labeled “black film” by French critics because of downbeat themes and dark passions in narrative, notable use of low-key lighting and extreme camera angles.)

Direct Influence on Future Filmmakers and Critics

Other notable Welles films:

The Magnificent Ambersons

The Lady from Shanghai

Othello

Touch of Evil

Chimes at Midnight

What Does “Rosebud” Mean?

A sled

What does sled mean to Kane when dying?

Questions not answered by knowing what Rosebud is:

· Why does Kane change?

· Does he really change?

· What did Kane really want from his life?

Other props and setting elements suggest possible answers:

· Glass Globe—Snow reminds Kane of childhood, sled

· Statues, Art, Castles—Possessions that don’t mean as much as sled

· Jigsaw Puzzle—Rosebud is just “one piece” of the puzzle

· “No Trespassing” Sign—

· Indication of Kane’s wealth and status

· Suggests emotional distance that Kane keeps from others

· Suggests that some questions can’t be answered

Role of Narrators in Citizen Kane

Flashback structure creates mystery: What is Rosebud?

Each narrator does not know but suggests answer or what Kane’s goal was:

Thatcher: To be “everything you hate!”

Bernstein: Something Kane lost?

Leland: Love, but none to return

Susan: Love as power, control

Raymond: “He was a crazy old man. He said a lot of crazy
things”

· Depth of information from each narrator is objective, reinforces belief in facts of Kane’s life

· Range of information for each narrator is restricted to period when that person knew Kane best

Thatcher: Unsympathetic character, never got along with
Kane

Bernstein: Most positive interpretation of Kane but more
limited in how well he knew him

Leland: Kane betrays ideals and personal friendship

Susan: Used by Kane for own purposes

Thompson is the means by which we learn what each narrator knows

One exception to objective narration:

Possible mental subjectivity in opening scene (falling snow)

Camera reveals information no one knows, especially at tend

Narration and Time in Citizen Kane

Plot time

· Begins with Kane’s death

· Follows Thompson as he interviews narrators

· Duration is about a week

· Takes story out of chronological order

Story Order (Duration: “more than 70 years of a man’s life”)

1868	Mrs. Kane gets deed to mine
1871	Thatcher takes Charles back east
1891	Kane comes into inheritance, takes over Inquirer
1898	Kane finishes hiring Chronicle staff, fans war fever, tours Europe
1900?	Marries Emily
1916	Runs for governor, divorced by Emily, marries Susan, Leland goes to Chicago
1918	Emily and son killed in auto accident (mentioned in newsreel)
1920?	Susan’s opera tour, Kane fires Leland
1929	Stock Market crash, Kane forced to sell off assets
1931?	Susan leaves Kane
1935	Kane tours Europe (“There’ll be no war”)
1941	Kane dies

Story Order and Narrators in Citizen Kane

	NEWSREEL	THATCHER	BERNSTEIN	LELAND	SUSAN	RAYMOND
1868
1871
1891
1898
1900?
1916
1918
1920?
1929
1931?
1935
1941

· Narrators’ segments overlap in story time, but each advances a bit further in Kane’s life.

· Multiple views form “jigsaw puzzle” without a final answer.

Plot also manipulates frequency as element of time

· Newsreel depicts some of same events in other sections (Kane and Susan’s wedding)

· At least one event portrayed twice by human narrators:
Susan’s opera debut

Citizen Kane and The Classical Hollywood Cinema

Plot (Thompson’s search) does follow basic pattern:

1. Actions caused by characters with goals or desires

§ Thompson wants to find out what “Rosebud” means

§ Rest of film follows his search

2. Characters encounter conflict in achieving goals

§ No one knows what Rosebud is

3. Characters or situations change because of conflict

§ Ambiguity—Why does Kane change? Does he change?

§ Thompson accepts his failure and goes home:
“I don’t think any word can explain a man’s life”

4. Narration tends to be objective and less restricted (with exceptions)

· No reason to doubt facts that narrators tell (but they may be incomplete)

· Thompson winds up knowing more than any one narrator

5. Events and film style strongly linked to chain of cause-and-effect, not just presented for own sake

§ Exception: film style calls attention to itself in camerawork, lighting, etc.

6. Strong degree of closure: Most questions are answered, most problems solved, although there may be some loose ends

· Kane is dead

· Thompson accepts failure and goes home

· Rosebud is revealed to audience, but meaning remains unclear

Story (Kane’s life) does not conform to pattern:

1. Actions caused by characters with goals or desires

§ Actions are caused by Kane, but his motives are unclear

2. Characters encounter conflict in achieving goals

§ Kane creates most of conflicts he experiences himself

3. Characters or situations change because of conflict

§ Kane may have changed a great deal but exact reason is not clear

§ Kane may not have changed at all

4. Narration tends to be objective and less restricted (with exceptions)

· No reason to doubt truth of events, but some parts of Kane’s life are left unrevealed

5. Events and film style strongly linked to chain of cause-and-effect, not just presented for own sake

§ Exception: film style calls attention to itself in camerawork, lighting, etc.

6. Strong degree of closure: Most questions are answered, most problems solved, although there may be some loose ends

§ Kane is dead

§ Not clear that he has learned anything from his life

Meaning in Citizen Kane

Referential

§ Refers to historical events of past century (Spanish-American War, World Wars I and II, Great Depression, etc.). Audience would have experienced most of these

§ Strong parallels between Kane and William Randolph Hearst

§ “Xanadu” modeled on Hearst Castle at San Simeon, CA:
http://www.hearstcastle.com/tours/

§ Similarities between Kane and other self-made millionaires (Robert McCormick, Samuel Insull)

§ References to media barons implies criticism of wealth, media power

§ Thompson’s news agency similar to Time-Life, Inc.

§ “News on the March” similar to “The March of Time” newsreel

§ Newsreel narration is in “Time-ese” backward sentence constructions (“Mightier than the Pharoahs was Charles Foster Kane!”)

§ Thompson and colleagues are anonymous figures in corporate newsgathering machine (remain in shadows)

Explicit

§ Thompson’s narrative: “I don’t think any word can explain a man’s life” (People are too complex to be defined by a single word)

§ Reinforced by “No Trespassing” sign at beginning and end

§ Kane’s narrative: No clear explicit message

Implicit

§ Money can’t buy happiness

§ Power corrupts (maybe)

§ Wealth and power should not be used for individual goals

§ Kane’s (and Hearst’s) style of “yellow journalism” has been replaced by new media

Symptomatic

§ Women (Emily, Susan) defined by relationship to men but male power is shown as reason for much of their problems

§ Criticizes American success ethic, abuse of wealth and power

§ Only criticizes abuse, not system of journalism or capitalism, suggests need for reform of individuals, not major social changes

SOUND IN CINEMA

§ Last major element to be integrated into the film experience

§ Experimental uses of sound in cinema date back to beginning (Edison, etc.)

§ First successful commercial use of sound and film in 1929: The Jazz Singer, with Al Jolson; within 3 years, almost all films made in sound

o Clip: The Jazz Singer

§ Some critics and filmmakers opposed sound

o Fear of “canned theater”

o Fear that sound would overwhelm expressive means of mise-en-scene, cinematography, editing

o Create a false sense of “reality”

§ Others realized that sound created new areas of opportunity

§ First system (Vitaphone) was sound-on-disc (like long-playing record), could be difficult to synchronize with image

§ Soon replaced by sound-on-film system (“optical sound track”)

(from http://www.dolby.com/consumer/motion_picture/dolby_in_pictures3.html )

§ Stereo, magnetic sound track on film introduced in 1950s

§ Digital, multi-channel “surround sound” now common

§ Being replaced by digital sound on separate CD, cued to film

Soundtrack is usually result of compilation of several (or many) individual sounds and soundtracks

§ 3 basic elements, usually composed of at least one track each

o Voice (dialogue, narration)

o Noises (ambient noise, sound effects)

o Music (diegetic or nondiegetic)

§ Silence now has value in itself as well

Some early filmmakers realized ways that sound could be used creatively

Filmmaker may emphasize sound for its own qualities or in combination with the image

§ Alfred Hitchcock, Blackmail (UK,1929)

§ Josef von Sternberg, The Blue Angel (Germany, 1930)

Music and Image—Hans Zimmer on Black Hawk Down

ACOUSTIC PROPERTIES--Elements that make each sound unique

Volume/Loudness (produced by amplitude of sound waves)

Pitch--How "high" or "low" sound is (produced by frequency)

     Quality/Timbre--"color," "texture," "feel" of sound
          [“flat,” “echoey,” “nasal,” etc.]
          produced by mix of sonic vibrations that make sound unique

Three types of film sound--Voice, Music, Sound Effects/Noise

Usually each type is recorded separately, then combined with
others

Sounds achieve effects by selection, alteration and combination

Ambient sounds usually filtered out, but may be emphasized
Some sounds may be given more importance than others

(APPARENT) SOURCE OF SOUND

DIEGETIC SOUND

Comes from a source inside the "story world" (diegesis)
of the film whether we see it on the screen or not

Voice--Characters speaking

Music--Band, orchestra, phonograph, radio, etc.

Noise--Produced by objects in the diegesis (wind, traffic,
gun shots, machine noises, animal sounds, etc.)

NONDIEGETIC SOUND

Has no probable source in the diegesis, sound is "added
over" the scene

Voice--Non-character narrator

Music--"mood music" to enhance emotion of scene

Noise--Very rare, used for comic effects but also for other
reasons

DIEGETIC SOUND CAN BE:

Onscreen or Offscreen

External or Internal

RHYTHM IN SOUND

     "Beats" produced by music, sound effects, person talking, etc.
     Rhythmic patterns may be simple or complex
     Rhythm in sound may work with or work against rhythm in
          mise-en-scene, camera movement and/or editing

FIDELITY IN FILM SOUND

Refers to whether the sound is "faithful" to its apparent source
in the film

DIEGETIC SOUND CAN BE:

     Simultaneous (occurring at same time we see it being produced
          on screen)
     Nonsimultaneous (audio "flashback" or "flashforward" or other use      Sound Bridge--

Sound from one scene carries over into the next or

Sound from next scene begins before previous scene has
ended

SIMULTANEOUS DIEGETIC SOUND CAN BE:

Synchronous--Sounds exactly match their source onscreen
Asynchronous--Sounds do not exactly match source

DIEGETIC SOUND				NONDIEGETIC SOUND
Onscreen			Offscreen	No direct relation to space and time of narrative
Simultaneous		Non-simultaneous	Sound may match actions on screen, but are not directly produced by them
Synchronous	Asynchronous	Sound comes before or after action that “produces” it

Examples:

Citizen Kane

Interactions of onscreen and offscreen diegetic sound with images

I Know Where I’m Going!

Nondiegetic voiceover narrator

Taxi Driver

Non-simultaneous diegetic voiceover

Swing Time

Music, rhythm, image, narrative

Lagaan

Musical conventions in “Bollywood” film, dubbed soundtrack, rhythm, volume

The Triplets of Belleville

Playing with fidelity in sound effects in animated film

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REASONS FOR CITIZEN KANE’S INFLUENCE