The rise to plenty of fame and power from a foundation of no fame and power is what Citizen Kane, one of the most critically acclaimed films of all time, is all about. This film contains elements of space that serve not only for practical purposes but also to mimic the overall theme of the film. The film follows a reporter who struggles to tell the story behind the mysterious Charles Kane’s dying word, “Rosebud” and his journey into the world of Mr. Kane that never results in him finding the meaning of the dying word. Deep space and focus use helps to create the overall style and meaning of the film. The two most noteworthy reasons for deep space are to give us more information about the characters, and to allow the viewer to find things without being shown them directly.
For example, in the scene where Kane’s mother is signing him off to Mr. Thatcher, a wealthy banker who promises him a better life, the primary shot contains three distinct viewpoints. This is one of the most iconic and regarded scenes in the film, and it’s for a good reason. It isn’t comprised of a series of shots, so Orson Welles is allowing us to look around the frame rather than cutting to closer images of the characters.
This scene is the inciting incident for the rest of the film, and while it does emphasize the distance between the three parties who all have something different to say about Charlie Kane’s adoption, it more importantly highlights Charlie Kane’s separation from all of the parties. This is a repeating theme throughout the film.
Another scene like this is the one where Charles is talking to his friend and business partner, Mr. (Jedediah) Leland. 
The use of deep space in this shot helps to separate Jedediah Leland from Charles Kane along with the help of prop placement and lighting. In this situation, Charles fires Jed from the newspaper company. We see that Mr. Bernstein is in the background overlooking the situation, Jed is in the light and behind bars while Kane sports shadows across his figure. This helps to mirror the once platonic relationship that has been reduced to an employer-employee dynamic and how both characters are trapped inside of their own idea of how the world works. Once again Charlie Kane is separate from everyone else in this scene, creating an isolated feeling for the viewer. The main difference between this scene and the other scene is that in this scene, all of the characters are separate from each other, creating a seemingly supermassive frame that takes a few seconds of looking at to identify all of its components.
The use of deep space in this shot helps to separate Jedediah Leland from Charles Kane along with the help of prop placement and lighting. In this situation, Charles fires Jed from the newspaper company. We see that Mr. Bernstein is in the background overlooking the situation, Jed is in the light and behind bars while Kane sports shadows across his figure. This helps to mirror the once platonic relationship that has been reduced to an employer-employee dynamic and how both characters are trapped inside of their own idea of how the world works. Once again Charlie Kane is separate from everyone else in this scene, creating an isolated feeling for the viewer. The main difference between this scene and the other scene is that in this scene, all of the characters are separate from each other, creating a seemingly supermassive frame that takes a few seconds of looking at to identify all of its components.
A final example of deep space usage in Citizen Kane is during another iconic scene.
During Kane’s political rally, it was important to capture the grandiose effect created by the area covered on screen. This scene was not actually shot in Madison Square Garden, it was shot in the studio with a paper cut out of Madison Square Garden which had holes for light to seep in. The depth of the shot serves to highlight the mass that Kane has become and capture not just individual images of components of the scene, but the entire scene itself.
During Kane’s political rally, it was important to capture the grandiose effect created by the area covered on screen. This scene was not actually shot in Madison Square Garden, it was shot in the studio with a paper cut out of Madison Square Garden which had holes for light to seep in. The depth of the shot serves to highlight the mass that Kane has become and capture not just individual images of components of the scene, but the entire scene itself.
The use of space in this film highlights characters and their relationships with each other in unique ways, helping an audience to look where they choose, being exposed to different perspectives at once by use of single shots instead of a series of shots. Among one of the first films to do this, Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane is an inspirational film to critics and filmmakers alike and remains a classic after almost eighty years.
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