Joaquim da Silva Fontes, Significação e Estabilidade do Género no ...

persuasion with Kane badly fail. On the other hand, the cinematic techniques used and the
moral symbolism (implied in the issue of real-life newspaper magnate William Randolph
Hearst, in this case) had a strong impact on film noir. One of these major techniques was
the deep focus image in which everything, from foreground to background, is evenly sharp.
In many scenes of the film the action in the far background assumes as much importance as
the events taking place in the foreground. This is apparent, for example, in the arresting
scene that places Kane prominently in the foreground so that he dwarfs the tiny figure of
Susan (Dorothy Comingore), lost in the depths of Xanadu’s vast hearth.
Figure 57. Citizen Kane
It is visually, therefore, that the film forges a dramatic style (conceived by Welles
and his renowned cinematographer Gregg Toland), combining such techniques as extreme
deep focus, varied camera angles including low angles revealing set ceilings or windows,
and unconventional use of lighting and deep shadows, typically found in the film noir style.
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