Analysis of 'Citizen Kane' opening sequence

Citizen Kane - 1941

The opening scene of the film 'Citizen Kane' (1941), leads us through the place where he residents. An old man is seen on his deathbed with a snow globe in his hands which he is clutching tight on. He whispers his last word, "Rosebud", and then dies. The snow globe falls out of his hands and rolls down the steps till it eventually breaks. A nurse then enters, to find his dead body, and then covers his body with a white cover.

The scene begins, with a close up on a ‘No Trespassing’ sign, which already suggests to us viewers that the property behind this sign would be very old and stranded with possibly no life around except maybe some animals. Also this could be a hint of the character to the audience that he is very controlling and does not want anyone to enter his property. The Camera Tilts upwards, travelling up the fence. There are a few cuts from the lower part of the fence to the top of the fence. This can foreshadow the long life of the old man who is about to die behind that fence, as it is about a 20 seconds long shot.

With each passing shot, the camera is inching closer to the only window which has some sort of light visible; and once we reach it, we find the old man on his deathbed. However when we are moving towards that window, we are shown areas of the lonely property, which has no sort of life visible except some monkey’s which are seated on some bars near a lake. This suggests that the old man which lives there is all alone and has no family or friends and is left alone to die. This can also tell the audience that the old man's life is very lifeless, much like the place where he lives in.

Once we reach his deathbed, we are shown images of falling snow, which eventually fades into a snow globe, making the audience believe that the snow was falling inside of the globe. However it could also be an image which the old man was thinking back to as his last memory before death. This tells us a lot about the film itself; that the film could be presented in flashbacks, narrating the old man's life or important events which finally lead him to die alone. A reason why snow was presented is because the winter usually symbolises death and snow symbolises peace or the cold which could mean that the character was cold hearted therefore is now alone.

Then we have a cutaway to an extreme close-up, where the old man whispers his last word, "Rosebud", but no one is there to hear him. Now this could be a location where he lost something very important; the place where he lives; or a the name of a person which is important to him and gave him that snow globe as that is the only object he is holding tight onto during his last moments which means that the snow globe holds an importance in his life.

After he whispers his last word, he passes away and the snow globe falls out of his hand, rolling down the steps and eventually breaking. The snow globe can represent his life which shows that he was a figure very high up, until he started going downhill and eventually died, shown by the globe breaking.

The sound which is played throughout this opening scene is one organ instrument, representing his loneliness.