Citizen Kane is Orson Welles' 1941 film that tells the life story of newspaper tycoon Charles Foster Kane through a series of flashbacks. It was Welles' first feature film and he was given significant creative control by RKO studios. The film pioneered numerous innovative cinematography techniques like deep focus photography and long takes. It also featured expressionist lighting and camera angles as well as an unconventional non-linear narrative structure that examined Kane's life from different perspectives. Citizen Kane was both a critical and commercial failure upon release but is now widely considered one of the greatest films ever made.