Citizen Kane Essay Example for Free

Citizen Kane Essay The film Citizen Kane (1941), directed and written by Orson Welles and Herman Mankiewicz, is an American film drama that use various film techniques to illustrate themes, attitudes, and the development of a story. Welles use of camera angles, lighting, movement, symbolism and expression allow the audience to comprehend and understand the themes such as power and exploitation that are present in this movie along with many other themes that pertain to the life of the main character, Charles Foster Kane. Many of the filming techniques that are used in this film illustrate Kane and his feelings and transitions through and about his life. Citizen Kane is a film that demonstrates the importance of how simple scene techniques can help develop a story. After viewing the film, the audience comes to understand that the main theme of the movie is centered around the importance of childhood. Throughout the movie, symbolism is used to reinforce the theme. Thompson, the reporter, attempts to figure out the meaning of the word â€Å"rosebud†, Kanes last words before passing away. Kanes life seems to be a mystery to some people, and the word â€Å"rosebud† is that missing piece to Kanes life. Thompson never figures out what â€Å"rosebud† means, but at the end of the movie we see the word â€Å"rosebud† on the sled that was thrown into the fire. At this point the audience understands that rosebud is indeed symbolic of his childhood and the missing piece of his life. Earlier in the movie, Kane is outside playing with that same sled while his parents are discussing a plan to send him away. â€Å"Rosebud† can now be connected to the snow globe which represents his childhood in Colorado. Thomson said that â⠂¬Å"rosebud† was a missing piece in a jigsaw puzzle. He is illustrating that Kane always felt that he lost his childhood and himself. All he had to show for it was that sled and the snow globe. Further importance on the theme of his childhood is illustrated through lighting when Thomson the reporter investigates Tatcher to get a better understanding of Kanes childhood. When he enters the room there is a very distinct, glowing light that is angled in such away that it focuses on a book containing information about Kanes childhood. Right away, we see the importance of Kanes childhood in the developing plot. To further emphasize this importance, when Thomson opens the book, the audience notices the very distinct contrast between the bright light on the book and the dark area surrounding the book. Throughout the movie, the director is hinting to the audience that his childhood is symbolic of something very important which just might be the answer to the question, â€Å" What/who is Rosebud?† By now the audience understands that that Kane was unable to have a normal childhood due to a lack of say and power. This is illustrated using a depth and focus effect. In the early parts of the film there is a scene in which Kane is outside playing while his parents and banker are negotiating his fate. The actors are ordered in such a way that the mother is always in front, followed by the banker, Kanes father, and then Kane. Kanes mother seems to have the power due to her position in this scene. It is important to notice that although Kane is in the far depths, he is still in focus, but with limited power. As we transition through the movie, Kane gains power and is in the front of this scene but there is always depth and focus in the shot to illustrate a hierarchy of power. Another theme in the movie that is reinforced by this technique of depth focusing is relationships. As Kane develops through the movie, the audience recognizes that he is losing his power and his weakness leads to broken relationships. When he takes control of the Inquirer, he is constantly surrounded by people and they are not physically distant from him, but as his status on the hierarchical system dwindles down, he begins to distance himself from others in scenes. When Kane fires Leland, we see a great deal of depth and distance between the two but both remain in focus. In this same scene Bernstein is standing in the doorway at a distance away from Kane but he has no significance. The way the actors are positioned illustrate how Kane is developing as person and with other people around him. When Kane gets taken away by Tatcher at a very young age, his life is transitioning into one of power and corruption. When his employees and partners welcome him for the first time at the Inquirer, all the shots are low angle shots. The angle also makes it seem as though Kane is significantly larger than everyone else in the subsequent scenes. It is as though the audience is looking up to him just as his employees are, illustrating the theme of power that Kane now holds. Exploitation is a theme that begins to develop after Kane has taken control of the Inquirer. His need for power continues to grow and he becomes more and more corrupt. Not only is there corruption within his company, but he comes to exploit other peoples thoughts and ideas. As Kane obtains more power and greed, he gets the idea to run for governor, but in the process he gets exploited in regards to his developing relationship with Susan. This is where the movie transitions from power to weakness. Up until this point there has been many low-angle shots to illustrate Kanes growing power. When Kane loses the election, the film moves transitions into high-angle shots. Prior to anyone even saying that the election was over, the scene setting clearly illustrates that the election was lost. Even though the office looks like it is a mess, it is very empty. No campaign crew, no feeling. The shot then moves to Kane. During this scene Kane speaks with two different people but his face is down and hidden from the audience. The camera is constantly at a low angle illustrating Kanes diminishing power. Furthermore, this is the first scene with Kane in which there is limiting lighting in the room, which reinforces the concept of an empty feeling. As mentioned before, the director uses deep focused shots to illustrate a hierarchy of power. Throughout the movie, deep focused shots are also used to put significance on a specific actor. In the deep focused shots, actors are usually separated by long distances, like in the scene where Kane is talking to Susan across a long corridor with Thompson as the interviewer. When either Kane or Susan speak, the camera shot is always focused in front of them to draw attention to what they are saying. Another technique used to put focus on Kane throughout the movie is by drawing in on Kane by passing through and object or person through a continuous shot. This filming technique is used in the first scene of the movie. The scene begins with the audience closing in on a â€Å"No Trespassing† sign, and then passes through the sign to reveal a house with light coming from one window. This might not be a significant amount of light, but the lighting does illustrate the importance of what lies beyond those windows. The scene continues through a garden, over fences, etc. but the whole time the lighted window stays in the same position, continuously bringing a attention to its significance. Of course as the scene continues it is that of Kane passing away and revealing the mystery which follows throughout the film. The director attempts to always keep the attention on Kane even when it seems as though he is fading out of the discussion. The audience can always find a relationship between the characters of a story/film and the main themes. In the film Citizen Kane, the relationship between the characters and important themes are illustrated by filming techniques that range from camera angles to symbolism. Throughout the movie symbolism played an important role in determining the main theme and what â€Å"rosebud† meant. Kanes development as a person and place in society was illustrated through camera angles, lighting, and depth. These techniques not only assists the audience in understanding Kane, but also understanding other characters and the relationship Kane had with them.

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Important Discoveries in Chemistry Since the dawn of man, chemistry has been the tool used to fulfill our search for knowledge. A multitude of discoveries have changed the way use chemistry. These discoveries are being made every day and they change the way we see the universe. The following is a sample of important discoveries in chemistry. 1. Discovery of the Atom The idea that atoms make up matter has been around for centuries. However, it has only played a role in chemistry for the past 200 years, and the idea hasn’t taken off until the last 100 years. Ancient Greek philosopher, Demokritos, was one of the first to propose the idea that matter is made up of smaller units. He called these units, â€Å"atoms†. The word atom means unable to be divided. Demokritos also thought that the atoms moved through an infinite â€Å"empty†. Aristotle, however, believed the world contained continuous substances; his belief would be dominant for the time period. The atom would not be scientifically theorized until 1808 by John Dalton. His atomic theory states: All matter contains indivisible and indestructible particles called atoms. The atoms of any one element have the same mass and properties. Compounds are the result of the combination of different atoms. The rearrangement of atoms results in a chemical reaction. Today, nothing in chemistry would be the same without the idea of the atom. Not only is it the basic building block of all matter, but it is also the basic building block of almost all of our knowledge in chemistry. 2. Discovery of the Electron The electron was discovered by J.J. Thompson, a physics professor at Cambridge University. The discovery would be the result of Thompson’s experiments with cathode tubes used in electric and ... ...ial agent was at its greatest. The U.S. pushed industry to produce the penicillin mold. Towards the end of World War II, 650 billion units of penicillin were produced every month. 7. Discovery of Water in Martian Soil A more recent discovery might set the path to discovering life on another planet. Data collected by NASA’s Curiosity rover shows that Martian soil holds about 2% water. The rover’s â€Å"Sample Analysis at Mars† instrument heated a soil sample to 835 degrees Celsius. The resulting gases were oxygen, chlorine, and surprisingly, water vapor. Laurie Leshin of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute says that a cubic foot of the soil would yield a couple pints of water. From what we know so far, this water is drinkable. However, no one has worked out how to use the soil as a resource for water. One idea is to use a condenser to cool the water vapor into a liquid.

ICT impact on social networks size and strengths Essay

Information technology has formed the backbone of socio-economic progression. It has opened the social condensation and propelled communication and business progress to higher performance and productivity levels. However there are various implications on the society that are being looked at as checks and balances in this advancement. The hypothetical position on social networks as within the dimensional and convectional implications is that, ICT has reduced the strength of social networks as well as the strengths of the social networks. The overall and the subsequent repercussion is condensation of the social integration and incubating social diversity into a less dynamic society due to lack of social networks. Overview on ICT impact on social networks A debate has come up on this hypothetical implication on the social networks and how social integration can be reconstructed and strengthened again. According to various research attributes and findings on implications of ICT diversity in the society is mainly based on disintegration of social networks. Andreina M (2002) points out that information technology has become an important tool in the society. She argues that the impacts of the internet on sociability are more diverse. People with lower social skills are negatively affected by ICT developments. These assertion project ICT as a key element social network disintegration. Social networks, according to Andreina, M. , bring together people of different sorts and helps bond society constituents. What is the impact of ICT on social networks size and strength? The hypothetical argument of ICT disintegrating size and strength of social networks is based on the diversity of ICT. Alan N, & John P, R (2002) point out that ICT is revolutionary. This makes its implications on social networks vilified. Current social-economic views on social networks and ICT Alan N, & John P, R (2002) further argue that ICT is a major historical event. At individual level, the revolution might be related to the social impact of IT, in terms of new ways of relating to other people and maintaining social contacts. The behavioural impacts of two-way communications formats, like the internet and the telephone, i-phone and phone messaging. They are used subtly to establish and maintain social relationships forming new infrastructures that facilitate different patterns of interaction. These implications reduce the size and strength of the social networks. There is less communication between certain social partners and groups reducing social interaction. ii- Social networks A synopsis that draws out the contentious breakage of social networks is that they are units of the people who meet and mingle freely to discuss and share their aspects of live. Social networks have incubated new types of networks which fit in to the ICT revolution. Seen in the context of Andreina M (2002), cyberspace networks and cell phone communication-video conferencing social networks have emerged as the breakaway social networks as a result of weakening of human-social networks. The emergence of ICT weakened social networks, and Andreina informs of cognitive and social digital networks are part of the more general cognitive and social networks that individuals are in and can access. Traditional and electronic social networks In her argument on diversity of social network transformation, Andriena examines the rise of technology as also a filler of the gap left by the weakened and less sizeable social network. Social networks consist of mainly friends, family and business circles that regularly meet to share ideas and merge to reach various principal objectives. According to Andreina, this is the offline outlook of social networks. She argues that, the internet cognitive and cultural space cannot be considered separated from the offline experience. If conceptual, it is particularly true when considering the diffusion of ubiquitous technology and cross-channel integrated communications on the net. Andreina M (2002) This point out the dynamism in social networks is now being transformed into a less strong position which is the cyberspace and video conferencing in phones and group messaging through mobile telephony. Earlier outlook of the social networks drew out a picture of a cohesive society where in meeting and sharing through live conversations. The picture today is different, more mobile phone calls and emailing is seen to replace meetings hence, subsequent weakening and reduction of size of the social network. How social networks have changed with emergence of technology Emergence of ICT based networking has transformed the facade of social networking, especially on issue based perspective as well as cognitive socio-economic approach. Earliest communication technologies, like simple conversations that evolved into more long distance forms illustrate the basic nature of one-to-one targeted communications. Meyer. K. , John P, R, Alan N, Anthony, A. (2002); besides, major concerns on the social transformation focus mainly on social life and personal communication and mass communication. Erstwhile, Meyer K. , John P, R, Alan N, Anthony, A. (2002) argue that the change focus is on the social networks secondary activities, social network company and the social network location. Secondary activities feature group television watching and so forth while social company looks at type of individual representation in terms of rankings in social stature. Time spent by the group’s members, by family members or by friends has become lessened. There is also a decline in level of discussion and verbal communication in live meetings due to the ICT based communication through which the persons in the groups exhaust most of their talks successively and comprehensively.

Wrongful Convictions And The Criminal Justice System Essay

Wrongful convictions heavily presided in Canada before adequate measures were taken to help prevent them. Many victims of wrongful convictions were subjected to the flaws in the Criminal Justice System, in which has undergone drastic reforms to repair some of the many imperfections. In Canada, the state provides compensation for individuals deemed factually innocent of the crimes they were charged for only through ex gracia, which simply means, â€Å"payment by the state, †¦ made voluntarily, as a favour out of kindness or grace, and without recognition of any legal obligation† (Entitlement of Compensation- The Legal Framework). However, in order to be considered eligible for financial compensation, certain guidelines must be met under the Federal/ Provincial Guidelines on Compensation for Wrongfully Convicted and Imprisoned Persons, which was established in 1988. (Entitlement of Compensation- The Legal Framework). The guidelines as specified in the Federal/ Provincial Co mpensation for Wrongfully Convicted and Imprisoned Persons require that, an accused individual be convicted and imprisoned, and the conviction and imprisonment must be declared a miscarriage of justice as a result of new factual evidence presented (Entitlement of Compensation-The Legal Framework). Also, the individual must have been convicted and imprisoned under the Criminal Code of Canada, and the individual must be acquitted in the Court of Appeal, following a referral made by the Ministry of Justice.Show MoreRelatedThe Wrongful Conviction Of Criminal Justice System1185 Words   |  5 Pagesâ€Æ' A conviction of a person accused of a crime which in the result subsequent investigation proves erroneous.It depicts as any conviction which is apparently not committed by the convicted.I have studied many cases that why wrongful conviction has occurred even with doing a systematic probe, having with an affirmation and evidence. 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