Citizen Kane And The Seven Samurais: Comparative Analysis

Citizens Kane and The Seven Samurai are films that are universally hailed as masterpieces of their era. Their superb cinematography and editing are nothing short of remarkable for the era they were created. These films were able to pave the way for generations to come with their tremendous art styles, techniques, and cinematography. Throughout this paper, I will be going over some of the techniques that Citizen Kane and Seven Samurai pioneered that we still use in modern cinema.

Seven Samurai has some of the most phenomenal action sequences of all time. These action sequences are historical not only for their influence but how they were shot. Marvel’s Avengers uses similar sequences; however, Seven Samurai created this formula. This movie is the beginning of it all. What I like most is how many stories the director was able to get out of such a simple plot. The plot is basic: the villagers need help and thus higher samurai to fight. Yet Somehow Akira Kurosawa manages to create a story that stretches out for over three hours. This plot has been used in movies such as The Three Amigos, Battle Beyond the Stars, and A Bugs life. It’s also told through the eyes of the samurai. Throughout the movie whatever the samurai know is what we know.

The visuals in The Seven Samurai have been portrayed in some of the most iconic films in the industry. For example; the scene where they arrive from the top of the hill on horseback is a technique that has been used in films like Django unchained. When the Samurai walks through the crowd before drawing his sword is seen in The Lord of The Rings, The Two Towers, and The Matrix Revolutions.

One of the techniques I noticed in this movie comes from the dialogue, specifically the phrase “our lot in life”. This is recited in two all-time great movies; A Bug’s Life when the queen ant says it, and is an ionic moment in Star Wars IV A New Hope when C-3PO recites the line. Seven Samurai influence Is still present in as recent as 2018 with the film Mad Max which borrowed scenes from the Seven Samurai almost verbatim. It reveals just how iconic the techniques in this movie really are that they can still be used over 60 years later.

Citizen Kane is regarded as one of the greatest films of all time. The film set the bar for what all Cinema should strive towards and serves as the highest compliment when it comes to comparison. Citizen Kane was released in 1941 and almost 80 years later the film is still regarded as a masterpiece. Why is that? Is it just because it’s that good? That may be true, but the main reason for Citizen Kane’s longevity is its pioneer techniques and its overall influence on filmmaking.

The influence of Citizen Kane on today’s best filmmakers is noticeable. Just look at some of these films that pay visual tribute. Filmmakers like Quentin Tarantino, Martin Scorsese, Wes Anderson and Steven Spielberg have all paid direct tribute to Citizen Kane with their own films. In the early 1940s, Orson Welles was doing things that were unheard of. For example; The film’s non-linear narrative was groundbreaking during a time of simple storytelling. The structure of the film surely influenced other out of order stories. One of my favorite examples is Pulp Fiction. When Welles made Citizen Kane, he was pioneering a visual aesthetic that was unlike anything in previous cinema. Take lighting for example. Film experts know that the director, and cinematographer, work together to use light and shadows as a visual storytelling technique. This technique is due to Welles work on Citizen Kane. Back then most films used to light out of necessity, they needed to light the set and actors in order to make them visible. Welles and his cinematographer Gregg Toland used light to create meaning and to express a feeling. The tone created by the lighting in Citizen Kane heavily inspired films like, The Man Who Wasn’t There, and other blockbuster movies throughout the decades.

Citizen Kane also helped pioneer deep-focus cinematography. Back then most films were shot with shallow Focus. This means that the actors were in Focus while the background was out of focus. This helps to draw the viewer’s attention to the actors. Welles wanted to keep everything in focus at once. In Citizen Kane, the visual theme is just as important as the actors, so Welles needed everything to be visible. You can see Welles’ influence on directors like Stanley Kubrick.

Welles was also a pioneer when it came to camera placement. In the past camera, placement served the actors. Welles decided to show the audience unheard of viewpoints by placing the camera below the floor rather than standard shots and close-ups. Welles would also use wide shots and long continuous takes. Instead of cutting to a different shot, Welles blocked his actors and moved the camera to create different shots within the same scene. We’ve seen this type of technique countless times and still see it. However, without Citizen Kane, nobody would be doing it. While I was watching Citizen Kane in class, I found myself enjoying the film, but it didn’t seem like anything out of the ordinary. It actually felt like I had already seen these techniques before. After doing my research I realized that I have and because of that I believe that’s what makes the best case for this film. It shows just how powerful of an influence it’s had on cinema history.