How does Welles create an air of mystery in the opening to Citizen Kane?

How does Welles create an air of mystery in the opening to Citizen Kane? 

Welles uses a lot of metal fencing in the opening scene. This adds a sense of mystery to the building. The ‘No Trespassing’ sign clearly shows that the house is very secure and visitors aren’t wanted. This would make the audience question what is in the house and why the owners don’t want anyone entering the house. Match fades were used three times on the fences to emphasize the importance of the fences. It also shows how important the house is and gives a sense of imprisonment inside the fences.

There is a good use of non-diegetic music in the opening of Citizen Kane. It is very dramatic and adds a sense of danger to the opening. Without the music the opening would be very bland and a lot of the drama would be lost. It also adds a sense of excitement to the scene, the music grabs the viewer’s attention and without the music the scene wouldn’t be as gripping. The music is also very prominent and is one of the main focuses from the scene.     

In the scene, the weather is very foggy and rather misty. This gives a sense of drama to the scene and gives the viewer the idea that something is going to happen. It also rather creepy. Citizen Kane is a thriller so the creepiness element is very important and the fog and mist in the opening gives the viewer a good idea of what the film is going to be like. The weather is very stereotypical of thriller films. The mistiness and fogginess adds an air of mystery as it suggests the fog is shrouding something.

 There is an extreme close up on the man’s mouth which adds an air of mystery. It doesn’t show who the man is and just focuses on his mouth. He says, “Rosebud” and then the emphasis changes to something else. Throughout the whole scene it is never shown who the man is so it grips the viewer’s attention and makes the audience want to watch on and find out who the mysterious man is. The word “Rosebud” also adds mystery. It appears to be quite a random word to use and it isn’t explained at all in the opening of the film.

In the opening there is a lot of emphasis on a snow globe. There is an extreme close up of the inside of the snow globe which is then zoomed out to reveal that it is a snow globe. The importance of the snow globe isn’t revealed in the opening so it is a very mysterious object that the viewer would expect to be explained in the film. When the snow globe is dropped it smashes. This could be a use of foreshadowing and could symbolize something that happens later on in the film. There is also an unexplained link between the snow globe and the word “Rosebud”. That link also adds mystery.

Throughout the opening of Citizen Kane, there is a light on in the top right hand corner of the shot. It is very mysterious as the viewer does not know where the light is coming from. Eventually, the shot gets closer to the light and it is revealed that the light is coming from a window in the house. This now adds a different air of mystery and the viewer wonders what is in the room. When the light is turned out the music stops very dramatically. This shows that something very important happened inside the room that involved the light being turned off.

When the snow globe is dropped and the man holding it appears to be dead, a nurse arrives on the scene very quickly. This is mysterious as the viewer does not know why the man has a nurse and why she is needed. It is also rather mysterious as to how she arrived so quickly without much of a warning. Also, when she finds the man dead she wraps him up very quickly as though she is expecting the death of the man and she is prepared for it. She doesn’t appear to have a solemn expression on her face and it makes it look like a rather unimportant death as no-one else appears to be made aware of his death.

There appears to only be two people in the house, the man and the nurse. This is rather mysterious as you would expect a house of that size to have more than two people living in it. It also suggests that the man, who appears to be the owner of the house, is very wealthy and can easily afford to live in such a big house. This makes you wonder how he has so much money, why he lives in such a large house with just a nurse and does he have any family. I think that the house is very important to the opening for those reasons and the mystery it creates.