American Expressionism

American Expressionism

1. The filmmaker who might be said to define the term American Expressionism is Orson Welles, exploring the expressionist style throughout his career after his ground breaking debut of Citizen Kane (1941) to his final piece Touch Of Evil (1958). The 26 year old made the most ground breaking entrance into cinema history, starring, directing, co writing the original screen play of Citizen Kane, his successes rest on the many innovations of cinematic technique that radically depart from the Classical Hollywood Style

2. Innovative Shots

   • Together Welles and Cinematographer, Greg Toland experimented relentlessly, coming up with visual devices and optical effects such as the distorted image as the nurse walks into the room in the opening sequence of Citizen Kane, In this shot they places a diminished glass a short distance in front of the wide angle lens, which in turn creates this an oblique disoriented image adding to the confusion of the scene the audience is thrown into.

3. Expresionist Lighting

   • Chiaroscuro
     • Creates a dark and brooding atmosphere in scenes such as the death of Kane, the contrast of light and shadow generate an air of mystery and suspense turning the quest for the meaning of Rose bud into a a journey through the darkness and despair that haunt Kane.
   • Low Key Lighting
     • In the Lady From Shanghai, low key lighting used throughout the sequence to trap the character in a frightening world of shadows and to create a strong sense of depth, creating an atmosphere of fear and menace as darkness surrounds the character and threatens to swallow him up.

4. Radical Camera Angles

   • Extreme high and low angle compositions in Citizen Kane are employed to dramatise many of the. pivotal moments in Kane's life as he is leftt isolated and alone,. Film Scholar Marilyn Fabe suggests that low angles in the film project extreme psychological states, usually they are put into aeffect to announce a character as dominant or confident, however Welles has an interesting variation on this idea, shooting Kane from a low angle when he is most defeated, eg. after Gettys threatens to expose his adulterous affair, the low angle makes Kane appear as demented and grandiose rather than powerful.

5. Narrative

   • The non linear narrative of Citizen Kane is one of the defining characteristics that separates it from the CHS , use of multiple flashbacks, overlapping structure of 6 different narrators recalling the life of Kane, allowing Welles to explore the inner contradictions and complexity of human behaviour.
   • The first person narrative of The Lady From Shanghai (1948) from the perspective of a male character trapped in a web of deception, whilst also employing a femme fatale figure illustrates the expressionist conventions of the noir genre securing its place as one of the seminal American pieces in that category.

6. Deep Focus Cinematography

   • The most pioneering technique of the movement comes with the use of deep focus cinematography and the long take in Citizen Kane. The snowbound scene demonstrates this expressive reverse tracking movement in which the three planes of the scene where constantly in focus, young Kane in the background, his father in the middle ground, Thatcher and the mother in the foreground, this maintenance of continuity, space and time marks the high point of cinematic realism of the 1940's.

7. Extreme Sound Realism

   • Welles set out to achieve realism in sound creating a naturalistic soundtrack of overlapping dialogue, exaggerated sound effects and extreme voice effects with scenes displaying sound resonating through the empty space and high ceilings in the great hall in Xanadu which Welles transformed into a giant echo chamber.