Citizen Kane

Historical Markers of the Modern Soundtrack

Developed for RMIT Media Arts

Layers

Layers are discrete units of temporal/sonic information, ie. each layer is distinguished by content (what sounds constitute the track) and duration (how long, short, intermittent and/or recurring its contents). In a pre-mixed state, tracking is determined by when action occurs, thereby constituting a `horizontal/linear' development. At any one point in the total soundtrack there will be a finite number of layers of sonic information. As the film develops, this number will fluctuate. These fluctuations partially determine concepts of `dense' and `sparse' soundtracks.

Levels

Levels are comparative values of layers, ie. each level is distinguished by volume (loud, soft, separate fro other sounds or blended with them) and continuity (whether said volume level is maintained or changed during a layer's duration). Final mix determines the precise interrelationship between the tracks by altering the above factors, thereby constituting a `vertical/dimensional' development. The dynamic flow of a soundtrack is shaped by changes in these factors.

Processes

Multi-levelled soundtracks have been produced in 3 main ways (dates are approximate and overlap considerably!):

1. live on set (c.1929 - c.1939) - a number of mikes are positioned on the film set and fed into a mixing desk of up to 4/5 inputs maximum. Mixing would be done `live' while the scene shoot is in progress.
2. live post-production (c.1939 - c.1949) - a similar or identical set-up to the above, except recreated in a studio sound-stage while watching a projected playback of edited and timed sequences. Multiple mikes would be fed into mixing desks that had virtually doubled in umber of inputs. (CITIZEN KANE falls into this category.)
3. multi-tracking (c. 1949 onwards) - multiple and disconnected sounds are layered in post-production, initially by tape machines being incorporated into the final mixdown of live sounds, then eventually (by the mid to late 60s) directly onto multi-track recorders proper.

Profile: ORSON WELLES

Started career as an actor. Moved into directing for theatre (1936-38). Noted for creative direction of Shakespeare classics. 1937 formed Mercury Theatre Company with John Houseman. 1938 transferred MTC to radio on the CBS network - hence Mercury Theatre Playhouse. Started inventive explorations of how sound could be used in the construction of dramatic narratives. Worked closely with Bernard Herrman (who had been working as staff composer/orchestrator at CBS radio for some time).

Welles' most famous MCP production: WAR OF THE WORLDS (30th October 1938) which used soundtrack manipulation to create the impression of a radio programme being interrupted by urgent news reports. This play also simulated on-location `eye-witness' live hook-ups, static interference and transmission breakdown, all to create the impression that the station you were listening to was being affected by the Martian invasion. Play caused mass hysteria and instigated Welles' reputation as an enfant terrible.

This reputation carried over into his first film for RKO - CITIZEN KANE (1941) - which translates his preceding 3 years of radio production experiments and achievements into the film medium. Herrman used as composer, plus much of the film consists of a distinctive `multi-layering' of levels of soundtrack information. Other films directed by Welles which continued this approach to soundtrack construction: THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS (1942); THE STRANGER (1946); MACBETH & THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI (both 1948); and TOUCH OF EVIL (1958).

Close analysis: CITIZEN KANE (1941)

1. In the opening scene where all characters are shown in a dark room, we are made to focus on the voice of a character. Note function of narrator - as `voice-over' narration, his face is shown only in silhouette. The narrator's voice functions as someone who was not a `witness' to the story as it unfolds through a range of other characters' voice-over narrations. This opening (and the role of the reporter) remind us of how much CITIZEN KANE is predicated on the soundtrack - to such an extent that it is could be viewed as a visualization of a radio play.

2. First meeting between reporter & Mr. Carter: note use of overlapping dialogue, where 2 scenes dissolve not only visually but also aurally. Note also repetitive poetic use of phrase "Mr. Carter" which is highlighted by the device of having both Carter & Kane not simply speak dialogue, but recite and/or dictate letters to each other. This device allows the spoken word to undercut or enforce a sonic quality to the written word.

3. Reverberation used on sound of paper boy's voice. Reverberation fades as narrative passes back to the past. Various ellipses function through this device - from present to past & back again; from start of Kane's day at the paper to the end of that first day, etc. A single `sound effect' is thus used to connote and denote a multiple of temporal zones/phases.

4. Kane's first recital of declaration of principles for his new newspaper: note how shadow on Kane's face & low volume yet clarity of vocal tone - all of which contribute strongly to the characterization of Kane's psychology. A trait is also instigated here and carried on elsewhere: that when Kane speaks the truth, he does so in lowered tones; when he bullshits, he bellows loudly.

5. Staff photo of Chronicle: a `linguistic' dissolve is employed by using words instead of just images: "20 years ago" becomes "6 years ago" as a photograph dissolves from first version to second version.

6. Enquirer staff party: note orchestration of vocal textures/timbres - Kane, Leland & Bernstein. Each voice has its own unique quality, thereby allowing for complex over-lapping & dissolving, as each vocal identity is still maintained in the mix. Vocal differences are also employed on a secondary level - ie. contrasting between young voices of the past (the narrative) and old voices of the present (the narration).

7. Condensation of time through repetition of Kane & Emily's breakfast conversations: note how their deteriorating relationship is illustrated by their gradual loss of speech, until they simply hold written words up to each other (he, the Enquirer; she, the Chronicle) blocking their vision of the other in total silence.

8. Kane's big speech at the rally: note relationship between size of background image, the auditorium amplification of Kane's bellowing voice, and the height of Kane's self-importance. Everything is `amplified': scale & perspective are distorted.

9. Kane's initial & principal attraction to the young Susan is through her voice. At first it is full and personal, when she sings to him privately in her apartment - the 1st phase of her vocal timbre. Kane likes her `working class' whine (`the people') plus the captivating quality of her solo singing (the bird he will soon place in a gilded cage as an object of natural beauty he desires to possess).

10. The backstage chaos of the opera is indicated by the cacophony of noises, instruments and singing voices. Note Susan's strained scales over it all, desperately trying to keep control. The opera finally starts - Susan's voice thinly projects out into the auditorium. It wafts up into the rafters where the riggers (ie. the `real people') can hear the voice how it really sounds - weak. They silently give it the thumbs-down. (This is the 2nd phase of her vocal timbre.)

11. Kane typing up Leland's review: an example of a delicate shift in the sound mix. Leland - drunk - awakes to the distant sound of typing. In his stupor he half-thinks he is doing the typing. Realizing it isn't, he presumes it will be Kane faking a good review. Ironically, the sound of typing Leland thought his own actually is what Leland would type (a bad review). Note dramatic cut to extreme-close-up sound of typing as ECU image of the word `weak' fills the screen. Leland enters Kane's office - rattling sound overrides Leland's voice, but goes soft and brittle as Leland says to Kane "I didn't know we were talking". Shifts in sound correlate shifts in their relationship.

12. Trio of voices engaged in power struggle over Susan's voice - Susan, piano, tutor. Each is engaged in a struggle of power and pitch, each trying to bend and control the other. Kane enters and provides a 4th voice of control - the ultimate controller. The singing which opened the scene - viewed then as `truthfully-imperfect" is now replayed exactly, but viewed as `falsely-adequate'. All but Kane realize that Susan cannot sing opera. Everyone's silence is read by Kane's as consenting to his view.

13. Replay of scene 10 - this time the focus is shifted to present the perspective of where the voice is being directed (to Kane and by the tutor).

14. The sound of applause - the true sound of `the masses' - is a sound that cannot be falsely controlled or directed by Kane. His single handclaps after Susan's performance try to cover the silence (ie. the `sound' of the audience's rejection) but a single person - no matter how `big' he is - cannot individually fabricate the sound of applause.

15. 3rd phase of Susan's voice: faint breathing after her suicide attempt. Note match between an electric light globe dying and the mechanical pitch-shift of Susan's voice winding down (tape manipulation). Distant music plays as she softly explains her suicide attempt to Kane, symbolizing both her fading & distant operatic career, as well as the `sound of opera' ringing still in her ears. That background sound dies: Kane consents to her discontinuing opera.

16. Susan's voice - now controlled and constricted by Kane, confined in the Xanadau castle/prison - becomes shrill and screeching. (This is the 4th phase of her vocal timbre. Note her final vocal phase is that of the raspy gin drinker in the narrative's present.) Note how reverb is used to not only denote the vastness of space in Xanadau, but also connote the communication breakdown (based on unintelligibility) between its inhabitants and the emptiness of their world.

17. Example of extreme juxtaposition of soundtrack `states': Kane destroys Susan's vacated room, creating a huge cacophony. Everything then goes totally silent, allowing us to hear him utter under his breath "Rosebud". This juxtaposition heightens the dramatic effect of the single word.