An introduction to film/cinema as narrative for a 7th grade ELA class using "Citizen Kane" as our text. Lots about artistic intentionality, identity, and thinking of theme. I revise this every year and there are many ideas for add-ons. Happy to share but also curious about feedback ideas.

1. Film Art
A different way of studying narrative, artistic
choice, and literary devices!

2. Journal
 Are movies “art”?
 How are movies different than novels? Why
don’t we study movies like we study novels?
 How are movies similar to novels?

3. Film Form

4. What do you see?

5. What’s going on?

6. Form
 The human mind craves form
 If you’re listening to a song and it abruptly
stops or you’re reading a book you like and
misplace it before you’re done, you feel
frustrated
 Art invites us to create meaning with our
mind, to look for patterns, and think even if it
is as simple as “have I heard this before?”

7. Classic example
 The Boy Who Cried Wolf:
 One day a young shepherd was watching his
flock and was bored so he cried, “Wolf! Wolf!” and
everyone in the village came to help him. When
they got there he laughed at them and they left.
The next day, similarly bored, the boy cried, “Wolf!
Wolf!” and the villagers again ran to the rescue
but only found the boy laughing at them. The day
after that, a terrifying wolf came and the boy
yelled “Wolf!!! Wolf!!!” but nobody in the village
believed him and nobody came. And the wolf ate
the boy…

8. What’s this story about?
 It’s about a boy who has some laughs and then
dies on the job.
 It’s about how communities exist on trust
 It’s a morality story in which the message is that
people shouldn’t lie
 It’s a reminder of the dangers of nature
 It’s a story about how peoples’ desire not to look
ridiculous outweigh their desire to protect people
in danger
 It’s a reminder that working alone is dangerous

9. Boy Who Cried Wolf –
form and meaning
 Plot summary
 Explicit meaning
 Implications (reading between the lines)
 Relation between narrative and
viewer/historical moments
 Ideological implications/references

10. Formal Expectations
 Of course the story isn’t that complicated…
 The PLOT of the story is easy, but there are cues
in the story that tell us it’s bigger than the plot
 Absence of dates, proper pronouns, or details (boy’s
hair color etc.) suggests the story is not historical
 The format of the story (two lies, then a wolf attack)
reminds us of similarly structured stories
 The boy meeting a bad end reminds us of other
cautionary tales
 In the suburban 21st century Bay Area there are little
applications to lupine safety warnings

11. Form is not the same as
content
 Rather, it is the system in which all the parts
of art create a pattern that change perception
 subject of a painting, brush strokes, color choice,
style choice, social existence, thematic
implications, emotional response of viewer etc.
 Art may have cues that make us think about
things beyond the actual content of the art
 the form of the art can be bigger than just what
the art is about

12. Activity
 Assume “A” is the first letter in a series
A
 What follows?

13. AB
 “A” was a clue
 You made a formal hypothesis
 Basically following the alphabet as you’ve been
taught
 Your expectation was confirmed
 What follows AB?

14. ABA
 Whoa!!!
 The new form takes us by surprise
 We are now puzzled
 We readjust our expectations
 What follows ABA?

15. ABAC
 What other possibilities were you thinking?
 Lots of you probably though ABAB
 Your expectations limit possibilities as well as
select them
 If you guessed ABAB you probably will be
able to make a strong hypothesis about the
next letter
 What will be next?

16. ABACA
 You entered into active participation with the
form of this series creating, and readjusting
expectations as your experience unfolds

17.  As we watch our film think about what
expectations you have, what patterns you
see, and what choices the filmmaker is
making

19. Ground Rules
 This is class – you aren’t doing anything except
watching and thinking about this movie
 Do not watch this movie on your own and ruin it
for everyone else
 I’d appreciate help with the blinds when we
transition to this topic
 No talking – save questions and comments for
later
 We’ll probably be journaling on these activity
days
 I will always warn you if there might be

22. Citizen Kane
 1941 Drama
 Written, directed, and starring
Orson Wells
 His first film
 Similarities to biography
William Randolph Hearst
 Powerful media mogul (more
later)
 Tried to prevent from film
getting released
 Considered by many critics as
the greatest film ever made

23. Orson Welles
 Success as radio and stage actor
 War of the Worlds broadcast and panic
 Interest in the power of media to
shape popular perceptions and
sense of reality
 He was interested in how the media
speaks to and/or represent the
people
 Contradictions and ambiguities in
the message of the film.

24. Let’s watch!
0-3min

25. Opening Scene
Let’s watch

26. Review opening scene
 What is unique about this opening?
 Who is this person?
 Where are we? How would you describe this
place and what inferences can you make about
the person or events?
 What actually happens?
 What questions do you have?
 What is the tone or mood of this movie going to
be?

27. Let’s Watch Again
 Citizen Kane is famous for being a film many
thing you can watch without sound and still
understand what is generally happening
because the camera gives you so much
visual information for you to make inferences

28.  What does this sign
mean? Where do we
usually see it?
 Humans are curious –
this warning is
shrugged off to satisfy
that curiosity

29.  We continue to be
curious about this
window
 Everything else in the
scene is interesting –
in fact the window
might be the more-
boring piece of this

30.  Then we’re inside the
window in somebody’s
bedroom
 He says “Rosebud”
then dies

31.  We are confused – and that’s the
point
 You don’t see people’s faces
 The setting is confusing and
sometimes flips around suddenly
 Deliberate disunity
 We have expectations based on
stories
 Repetition and variation means that
we actively as viewers develop
awareness of the film’s formal

32. Expectations
 We are left with so many questions after the
beginning
 Usually opening scenes introduce the movie, not
confuse us
 And usually people don’t DIE in the first scene
 Based on our experience of other films, we know the
narrative structure of this film is going to be very
different…
 Just like the ABACA activity, we pick up on cues
and create expectations
 When those expectations aren’t met, then suspense is
created

33. BTW
 When examining art
you have to get in the
habit of analyzing
CHOICES that the
artist made
 Look at the window,
does it look familiar?
 Is this on purpose?
We don’t know. We
assume “yes” and
make an analysis
from there…

36. Next Scene

37. Newsreels
 Before TV news, most
Americans went to
movie theaters to see
footage of current
events
 Especially during WWII
 Format of these would
have been very
relatable to people
watching Citizen Kane
in 1941

38. Historical context
late 1930s & early 1940s
 The New Deal
 class politics
 Rise of Fascism
 World War II still a fresh memory
 “Yellow journalism”
 News based on sensationalism and crude
exaggeration.
 Media moguls used newspapers to
advance business interests rather than
report news

39. William Randolph
Hearst
 Inherited money from father’s silver
success during California Gold Rush
 Started several newspapers including
SF Examiner
 World’s largest news organization
 Known for sensational stories
 Hearst family is worth $28 billion today
 Big personality, ego, and impact on
journalism
 Failed marriage and political
aspirations
 HUGE celebrity and champion of poor but
also erratic, isolated, and wealthy

40. Hearst Castle
 Built by William Randolph Hearst
and a good metaphor for his
wealth
 Took 28 years to build
 127 acres of gardens, 56
bedrooms, 68,000 square feet
(White House = 50,000)
 Thousands of important
paintings, statures, and antique
furniture
 A zoo, airport, movie theater, etc.

41. Hearst vs. Wells
 When Orson Wells made Citizen Kane it was
clearly a movie about William Randolph
Hearst
 Hearst tried to have the movie destroyed and
threatened theaters that showed it
 Even though it is considered by most film
critics to be one of the greatest films of all
time, Citizen Kane never won any awards

42. Let’s watch
We’ll watch from the begging to review the very first scene one more time

43. Newsreel Clip

44. Newsreel Clip
 Compare the first two scenes
 The death scene
 The newsreel clip
 What is different about the feel, goal, or
execution of these two scenes?

45.  The first few minutes are mysterious and
confusing
 The newsreel clip is the opposite – clear,
objective, and providing LOTS of facts
 We know EVERYTHING about this guy and
the movie is 12 minutes in!

46.  Of course the movie isn’t over
 Again, expectations tells us there has to be more
 So even though we have LOTS of factual
information about this guy, we know there is
going to be more and we are curious
 All of this is done on purpose – ARTISTIC
INTENTIONALITY

47. Even though the first
two scenes are very
different, they have the
same effect: we are
curious and want to
know more

48. Charles Foster Kane
Timeline
 Put the following moments in the correct order
1. Builds an opera house for his second wife, Susan Alexander
2. He tries to get involved with politics but there is some kind of affair
3. Kane starts newspapers
4. Mom inherits worthless land that actually is a silver mine (the
“Colorado Lode”)
5. Newspaper empire established – everyone gets their news from
Kane
6. Spends his time in his HUGE “Xanadu” mansion alone and

50.  What has
happened in the
first two scenes?
 What questions do
we have?
 How is this movie
similar to other
movies/stories
we’ve
encountered? How
is it different?

51. Review
 Even though the first two scenes
are very different, they have the
same effect: we are curious and
want to know more
 What do we think this movie is
going to be about? Why?
 We have a lot of information
about Kane
 What don’t we know…

52. Let’s Watch Next Scene –
reporters and Thatcher
12:30-30:16

53. Thatcher Flashback

54. Faceless Reporters
 What is their purpose to the
story?
 Why can’t we see their faces?
 Not a mistake – ARTISTIC
INTENTIONALITY – when the artist
does something on purpose, we pay
attention and analyze why
 What is their job?
 To find out who Kane “really” is
 Yet we don’t know who they are
because we can’t see their faces
 Their job is our job – we as a viewer
are in the process of figuring out this
riddle…

55. Review: who have we
met?

56. Susan Alexander
 We don’t really get
information from her
 What do we learn about
Susan Alexander and
what questions does it
raise?
 Can we make an
predictions about this
character for the movie?
Why?

57. Walter Thatcher
 Kane’s trustee
 Rich powerful banker
 What does Kane think of
him?
 Doesn’t like him
 Specifically tries to destroy
his business and the way he
conducts his affairs

58. What do you think of
Kane so far?
 What motivates him?
 What adjectives can you
use to describe his
personality?
 Do you like him? Is he
sympathetic?

59. Note: timeline and use
of flashbacks
 We skip around a lot
 Kane as little boy, young
adult, old man
 It’s clear based on visual
cues that we are going from
one to another
 Notice the use of transitions
 White page to white snow
 Poor, forgotten sled to fancy,
rich sled

61. Focus on:
cinematography

62. Cinematography
 The art of “painting with light”
 The photography part of film-making
 Telling a story without sound
 Citizen Kane is a film many people think you can
watch on mute and still get most of the emotions or
facts of what is happening!

63. Movies = language
 Movies are like language
 Language has tools (alphabet), rules
(grammar(, art (inflection, word choice), and
expectations (syntax, convention)
 Movies have rules
 build on your expectations
 breaking them in purposeful ways
 making lots of decisions affecting the information
you see and the emotional response or intellectual
cues that information is designed to give you

64. What to look for in
cinematography
 Exposure/ Aperture
 Shutter Speed
 Shot Sizes and
transitions
 Camera Angles/Moves
 Scenes and sequences
 Framing
 Depth/saturation of
color
 Tone of color or
intensity
 Position of actors or
props

65. https://www.youtube.com/w
atch?v=BXAr2yiYCV4

66. Some examples

67. Some examples

68. Some examples

69. Some examples

70. Some examples

72. Interesting Quotes
 CK “if I hadn’t been rich, I might have been a
really great man”
 WT “What would you have liked to have been?”
CK “Everything you hate.”

74. To think about

75. Next Clip
30-49:28

76. First Some Background
 We’re going to meet Bernstein
 Kane’s financial advisor and current executive for
Kane companies
 Old friend
 We’re going to see Kane start his newspaper
in a flashback
 We also see some humor and a musical
 These were standard things in movies in the
1940s
 It just seems odd to us a little…

77. Let’s Watch!

78. Bernstein Flashback

79. Bernstein flashback
 We see Kane start the
Enquirer with high
ideals and low
standards
 Kane buys his way to
success and
celebrates
 Also collects statues
 And a fiancé
 Questions?

80. Declaration of Principles
 Kane has this dramatic
moment
 Offering himself as a
savior or spokesman for
the poor and the general
public
 Is he a do-gooder? Is he
idealistic? Is he just a
sham artist who knows
how to get people to like
him?

81. Bernstein flashback
 We see Kane start the
Enquirer with high
ideals and low
standards
 Kane buys his way to
success and
celebrates
 Also collects statues
 And a fiancé

83. Focus on: Sets

84. Sets
 Sets are the physical objects that characters
interact with and among
 Props, scenery, etc.
 A container for human events in a film
 Filmmakers CONTROL their setting which
means (except for documentaries)
 most sets are manufactured and therefore reflect
CHOICES which the filmmaker uses to show
THEME or build the story with non-verbal cues

85. What do
you see?
How could the
choice of the
set impact the
narrative or
mood of the
scene? What
information
does the set
give us (even
sub-
consciously)?

86. • The Chair
• Makes
Bernstein
look small/
important at
the same
time

87. • Kane’s
portrait
• Literally
looking over
Bernstein
(showing
power
relationship?
Memory
always
there?)

88. • Pictures
• This is a
movie about
memory and
that’s what’s
happening in
this scene
(why are the
photos
disorganized
?)

89. To think about

90. Discuss

91. Jed Leland’s Flashback
 We learn about Emily
 We learn about his
failed political career
 We learn about how
Kane met Susan
 We learn how Leland
and Kane stop talking
to each other

92. Emily and the scandal
 We see Kane’s first wife go
from loving newly-wed, to a
little bitter at his newspaper,
to estranged
 What is the scandal here?
 Why does Emily leave Kane?
What does Kane’s behavior
show us in this scene?
 What do you think of Susan?

93. What do you think of
Leland?
 He is like Kane in many
ways
 But how is he different?
What do they fight about?
 Do you think he’s a good
friend to Kane? Is he a
sympathetic figure?

94. Jed Leland’s Flashback
 We learn about Emily
 We learn about his failed
political career
 We learn about how Kane
met Susan
 We learn how Leland and
Kane stop talking to each
other

96. Focus on: transitions
 Editing is the process of connect scenes
 A CUT is a simple edit
 But there are fades and bleeds and swipes
and all sorts of different tools that can tell the
story
 This may seem simple, but these transitions
tell a story and can be beautiful for the eye or
mind

97. Examples

101. Movies are language
The things we see are choices
Those choices signal to us
artistic intent
The goal of the artists is what
we are analyzing, thinking
about, reacting to, and learning
how to be better storytellers
from

102. Complete Kane check-in
 Quick, journal-like responses to some
questions and quotes

103. Interesting Quotes

104. KANE: A toast to love on my
terms. Those are the only terms
anybody ever knows - his own.

105. LELAND: Guess all he really
wanted out of life was love.
That's Charlie's story, how he
lost it. You see, he just didn't
have any to give.

106. SUSAN: I don't know many
people
KANE: I know too many people
maybe we're both lonely.

108. Next clip – Susan’s
flashback
1:25:30 – 1:38:10

109. A note: there will be a scene with an implied suicide attempt, please
feel free to leave the room if you need or talk with me

110. Discuss

111. Susan’s Flashback I

112. Journal – write as much as
you can as fast as you can
with examples from the film
 Does Kane love Susan?
 Why does Leland send Kane that note of
“Declaration of Principles”?
 Why does Kane do that crazy clapping thing?
 What do you think of Susan? How would you
describe her? Do you like her?

114. Journal Check-in: what do you
think of this movie? Describe Kane
and tell me what you think of him?
What is the conflict in this movie?
Is it different for different people?
What do you think the theme is
going to be or be connected to?

116. Last clip – the rest of
Susan’s flashback and
the Butler
NOTE : we will see a moment of domestic abuse which is very upsetting – if
you are worried about this scene you can see me, leave the room or otherwise
take care of yourself

117. Remember: I will be pretty
upset and hurt if anyone
ruins the ending for
anyone else – we won’t
watch movies in class
anymore if this happens

118. Last Clip Re-Cap
What do you think? What questions do you have?

119. OMG!!!! We discovered
what “Rosebud” is!

120. Rosebud was Kane’s sleigh
when we was a boy!
 How did you feel when you
found out about this?
 What does this mean for our
understanding of Kane?
 Is this a satisfactory ending?
 Why did Kane care so much
about this sleigh?
 What did you think Rosebud
was before this ending?

121. Who is Charles Kane?
 That was our (the reporters’ question)
 Find out about Rosebud and you discover
who Kane is --- do we???

122. Journal: Kane and
Susan’s relationship
 How would you
describe their
relationship?
 Why does Kane
behave this way to
Susan?
 Why does Susan
still feel “sorry” for
him?

123. Sub-conscious
associations and
symbolism

124. Did you notice?
 The snow globe
is a big deal – he
says “Rosebud”
twice in the film
and the snow
globe is in both of
those scenes
 Where have we
seen it?

125. Puzzles

128. Key Quotes