Visual storytelling lessons from Citizen Kane, one of Roger Ebert's favorite films

Last week, a mere two days after he wrote an article entitled "A Leave of Presence," the acclaimed and beloved American film critic Roger Ebert died. Like millions of other people, news of his passing deeply saddened me. I loved Ebert's writing, his wit, and his determination battling illness

these past years, but I will always remember him from the '80s with

Siskel & Ebert. Their

authenticity was so rare and appealing back then (it's still rare

today). I learned a lot about what makes for a good film over the years by reading or listening to Roger Ebert. Since the '90s, Ebert took time to write about many, many good films from the past. "I think of old films as a resource of treasures," Ebert writes on his website. "Movies have been made

for 100 years, in color and black and white, in sound and silence, in

wide-screen and the classic frame, in English and every other language.

To limit yourself to popular hits and recent years is like being Ferris

Bueller but staying home all day." The old films have something to teach us, he thought. "I believe we are born with our minds open to wonderful experiences, and

only slowly learn to limit ourselves to narrow tastes. We are taught to

lose our curiosity by the bludgeon-blows of mass marketing, which

brainwash us to see 'hits,' and discourage exploration."

Greatest film of all time?
One of Ebert' favorite films—he sometimes referred to it as his top favorite film— was Citizen Kane (1941) by the legendary Oreson Welles. “Whenever I am asked what the greatest film of all time is, I

always say Citizen Kane,” Ebert says at the end of his commentary of the film

on DVD. Though Ebert said that it's a silly question since it’s

impossible to really compare and rank all the different types of films in some

sort of list. “But Citizen Kane

to me,” admits Ebert, “is so inventive, so fresh every time you see it, so new,

that I never get tired of seeing it." Ebert watched the film at least thrity times in his life with various groups of people and he always learned something new about the film, he said. "You have to be an active viewer with Citizen Kane—it challenges you," Ebert says in his commentary of the film. The absolutely wonderful thing about this version of Citizen Kane on DVD

is that it includes a commentary track by Roger Ebert which is very

ensightful and a delight to listen to. His commentary is fantastic. (Believe it or not, you can even

watch two men—David Bordwell and Jeffrey Lerner—give an interesting commentary on the commentary track made by Roger Ebert.)

As a tribute of sorts to the great Roger Ebert, I am reposting a piece I wrote a couple of years ago on Citizen Kane below.

Lessons from Citizen Kane (redux)


Citizen Kane is considered by most film critics and filmmakers to be among the best American

films ever produced. The fact that the film's lead actor, writer, and

director — Orson Welles — was only 25-years old, and it

was his first movie,

makes the film even that much more remarkable. It's a wonderful film

that is fresh even today, but are there lessons in the making of the

film that we can apply more broadly to other creative arts including

presentations? I believe there are. The film was innovative and used

techniques in storytelling and production that were not common for the

time. There are many things that made the film remarkable, such as the

good use of makeup to age the actors, the physicality which Welles

brought to the screen, the natural feel of the dialog achieved by

allowing actors to cross-talk, the smooth transitions and continuity

achieved via J-cuts, unusual camera angles, long scenes without a cut,

use of subjective camera, and on and on — but here are a few below from

which we can extrapolate lessons for our own presentations or speeches

in all their myriad forms.

Story Structure.
Although the unconventional (for the time) nonlinear narrative approach is a tad confusing at times, Citizen Kane made clear use of the basics of storytelling structure: Exposition (beginning), Conflict (middle), and Resolution (end). Beginning:

the exposition is furnished early in the form of a newsreel (popular in

the '40s) to give a history and overview of the protagonist's life.

This infomation was crucial as the rest of the movie goes through Kane's

life via flashbacks. MIddle:

There is the reporter's conflict to find the meaning of "Rosebud"

(Kane's last words), and there were the many internal conflicts which

existed within Kane himself and his relationships with his friends,

enemies and wives, etc. End: Although it looks like the end

will be unresolved, at the last moment the meaning of Rosebud all makes

sense in the final few seconds (though questions remain).

The non-linear structure of the narrative.
Citizen Kane

unfolds in a nonlinear and in a sense circular way. The movie loops

through time, recollections of Kane's life told through the memories of

witnesses to Kane's life. The newsreel obituary footage at the beginning

was important for the nonlinear approach to work. Says

Roger Ebert on this device: "[the newsreal scene] keeps us oriented as

the screenplay skips around in time, piecing together the memories of

those who knew him." Most good presentations and keynote addresses

follow a linear progression that is clear and engaging, but there is no

reason that you could not craft your presentation in a non-linear style

so long as you build in structure so that people know what you are doing

and know where you are in the progression. For example, you could build

a story about the ultimate success of your research (and why it

matters), but you could at times go back to an earlier stage even before

your research started to tell a short anecdote that was a precursor to

your current research questions, even though you did not know that at

the time. Nonlinear is more challenging, but if the flow is well planned

and efforts are made to make things clear for the audience, it can be

very engaging. Whether your presentation narrative unfolds in a linear

or more of a nonlinear fashion depends on how you craft and develop the

structure of your talk, not on what type of software you use, or whether

you use software at all.  (In the photo above Welles is visiting co-writer Herman Mankiewicz (center) in the California desert while writing Citizen Kane. John Houseman (right) is holding a copy of the screenplay.)

Variety in pace and visual treatments
In Citizen Kane

there is great variety in the pace and setting of scenes, even though

it was not a big-budget picture. Some scenes move very slowly and are

quickly juxtaposed with fast-paced montoges. Many scenes are quite

visually subdued while others are visually dynamic and full of myriad

elements and movement. This variety of what Bruce Block in The Visual Story

calls "Rythmic patterns" is another example of contrast, and contrasts

remember are interesting to our brains. While there is good visual

variety, including unusual camera angles and set designs, there is also

good affinity among the visual treatment throughout the film which

contributes to a consistent overall look of the movie. This is a

reminder for us too in the design of multimedia presentations that while

great visual variety can be an effective technique to get attention and

illuminate messages, there must also be a clear visual theme. Often

this theme may be subtle but it helps establish cohesion among the

different elements and helps communication generally.

 
ABOVE: The flashbacks unfold in a variety of scenes. Left is

a still from a slower paced scene with an unusually low camera angle

featuring dialog between only two characters in the newsroom/campaign

headquarters. Right is a still from the rambunctious

party scene that has the feel of a fast paced musical. (Note too that

they are filmed on the same set.)

Deep Focus
One

of the most remarkable things about the film visually is Welles's use

of deep focus. Deep focus is achieved when everything in a shot is in

focus. Often in cinema the foreground will be in focus and the

background out of focus, or vice versa. This tells the audience where to

look in a scene. When everything is in focus on screen, however, you

need to use other techniques such as composition and movement to lead

the audience's eye, suggesting where to look first, second, and so on.

Welles used lighting to emphasize focal points. He also used eye gaze

and staging to lead the viewer's eyes, yet with everything in focus the

viewer is free to roam around and becomes more involved with the visual.


ABOVE: This

scene actually starts outside with the boy and the camera moves all the

way back and through the table (the table splits in two to let the

camera pass, though we do not see this trick of course). In this still

you can see how everything is in focus and there is a clear foreground,

middle, and background. Though young Kane playing in the snow is a small

visual element, its light and movement get attention. Young Kane's fate

is the subject of the conversation and his enclosure in the frame of

the window is symbolic of the imprisonment Kane will feel at the thought

of being sent away from home to be raised by his mother's banker, Mr.

Thatcher.

This

deep-focus technique was effective in creating deep space. Deep space

is generally speaking more interesting to the eye as it involves the

viewer and asks the viewer to participate more. By keeping everything in

focus you allow the audience to be more involved in scanning the image.

You can create depth by using contrasts such as big/small, dark/light,

texture/textureless, bright colors/muted colors, warm/cool colors, sharp

focus/blurred focus, and so on. ) "An audience watching a film or video

does not notice more than three vanishing points. You only really need

no more than three levels of illusionary depth," says Bruce Block in The Visual Story. You can see a clear illustration of these three levels in the stills above and below.


ABOVE:

This is a good example of deep space. Note the three men and the three

levels of space. The close up on Kane left is bold and dramatic. More

light is cast on Jedediah in the middle ground. This effect was done

with an optical printer, layering the shot on the left with the shot on

the right as it was too difficult to produce the deep focus using only

the camera and light manipulation.

Leading the eye
An

audience member can focus only on one relatively small area of a

composition at a time. You can influence where the viewers will look on a

screen by manipulating contrasting elements, but movement on a screen

is the most powerful way to get someone's attention, which is why it

must be used with discretion.  A larger and brighter element will slip

from focal point once even a tiny element moves on a screen. In

multimedia presentations animation must be used sparingly and always

with a purpose. A little bit of animation can get attention or emphasize

an element, but lots of animation will just become background noise.


ABOVE: Another

example of deep space and a clear foreground, middle ground, and

background. In the background Kane's size is diminished further by the

size the widows, symbolic of the humiliating mood he was in at the time

due to financial difficulties. Although the background element is small,

our eye keeps track of it as it (Kane) moves to the back and then

toward the front. Movement — even when the element is small — will alway

get the eye's attention, even when competing with larger and brighter

elements, so long as those other elements are relatively static.

 
Above Left:

In the large photo above the fireplace Kane is looking down in the

direction of Mr. Bernstein. The reporter who is slightly taller looks

downward to Mr. Bernstein. This has the subtle influence to point your

eyes in the direction of Mr. Berstein, even though everything is in

focus in the scene. Right: Note how your eye naturally

is drawn to the little boy (Kane as a child) even though everything is

in focus, including all four actors—all eyes are in the direction of the

boy and the placement of the actors draws lines to the boy.

Techniques integral not superlative to the storytelling


While the film introduced many innovative technical elements that did

indeed get noticed by the audience, these techniques were not

superfluous but were rather used to support the narrative in a unique

way, in a sense becoming part of the narrative. "Orson Welles took a

visual style and flaunted it — he made the style an overt part of the

story. The technique was inseparable from the narrative, not just its

humble servant," says Chris Dashiell in an article entitled Kane Reaction

on cinescene.com. In the world of presentations there is nothing wrong,

for example, with using bold software or design techniques to aid your

narrative, but these techniques must be used to make the messages

stronger or impact your audience in a different way, not merely to show

off or impress with dazzle. Techniques — impressive or not, new or not

— must never be merely cosmetic or a decorative veneer. Ideally, they

become "inseparable from the narrative."

                                  “Create your own visual style...
             let it be unique for yourself and yet identifiable for others.”
                                           — Orson Welles

The takeaways
• Lead the viewer's eye by establishing clear focal points in your visuals.
• Use size contrast (and other contrasts) to create depth.
• Use movement (animation) with discretion and clear intent.
• Create good variety visually (and in terms of pace), but have a clear visual theme as well.
• If you use multimedia, be bold and make it part of the narrative rather than a sideshow.
•

Have a clear and simple structure. Whether your narrative is linear or

nonlinear depends on your approach and planning, not on which software

you use.
•

Experiment, take a risk, try something new. There is no one best way

(or best app) when it comes to creating & delivery powerful

presentations.

Link
The DVD includes a commentary by Peter

Bogdanovich and another one by Roger Ebert. The boxed set of two DVDs

also comes with the documentary "The Battle Over Citizen Kane" which was

very interesting indeed. Highly recommend the DVDs There is now a 70th Anniversary edition in blu-ray as well. (Amazon).