Saturday, March 21, 2020

Citizen cane essays

Citizen cane essays There are many out there who tell us that Citizen Kane (1941) is one of the best films ever made. As for me not knowing all there is to know about Filmmaking and the array of techniques used, one can by no means get the complete worth of it. Being able to comprehend the setting, light use, depth of frame and basic composition make Citizen Kane the masterpiece it is. It is paramount that we take notice of these aspects as you view the film. When settling on which of the four parts of the film to analyze, I came to the determination that the lighting and the use of shadows are one of the significant and attention-grabbing aspects in the film. Furthermore, as the film is in black and white it adds to the description throughout the film, more than the other aspects, for me. The film was very sanitary and effortlessly edited. Both high key and low key lighting techniques were used throughout the film (Belton, 1994, p. 50). This was done to illustrate the different emotions of each scene. I established there were times when there was a certain use of lights used to put emphasis on close up shots of the actors faces. There are three different aspects I paid attention to during a second screening of Citizen Kane; lighting, use of shadows, and use of lighting and shadows combined to form an intrinsic interest or just to contrast each other. High- key lighting, which is a high amount of fill light which washes out shadows cast by the key light (Belton, 1994, p. 50), was used often during the film frequently during times of strife or a big change of events. For instance, the thematic mixture between Suzans operatic manifestation and the different newspaper front pages. This was an important part in the life of Suzan and C. F. Kane. Another example is when Kane loses his campaign for governor. His headquarters was very bright though no one was there rejoicing, also during the fight that Kane and Suzan got into when she told him...

Wednesday, March 4, 2020

A Short List of Synonyms for Shorten

A Short List of Synonyms for Shorten A Short List of Synonyms for Shorten A Short List of Synonyms for Shorten By Mark Nichol Shorten is a serviceable word for describing how to reduce the extent or length of something, but some synonyms are available to use in its place. Abbreviate stems ultimately from the Latin verb abbreviare, the root of which is from brevis, meaning â€Å"short†- the same word from which brevity (â€Å"briefness†) and brief are derived. Abridge, which has nothing to do with bridges (it has the same origin as abbreviate), is often used in the sense of diminishing effect or strength or shortening a written compensation by excising parts. To curtail is to limit or reduce as if by cutting (its obsolete predecessor, curtal, referred to cutting an animal’s tail short); its derivation is curtus, Latin for â€Å"short†- which came to be used in English as curt, an adjective usually applied to a brusque statement. Truncate is ultimately from the Latin word truncus, the source of trunk (as well as truncheon- the original term for a billy club- and the rare word obtruncate, which means â€Å"cut the top from†). The original sense is an adjective meaning â€Å"with square or even leaves†- leaves that appear to have been artificially shortened and straightened. Elide means â€Å"omit†; it usually pertains to removing a letter, word, or phrase from a document but also has a general sense of â€Å"shorten†; the noun form is elision. Syncopate means â€Å"cut short,† but it also applies to the linguistic process of syncope, in which part of a word is elided, as in g’day for â€Å"good day.† It’s also the verb form of syncopation, which refers to music rhythm based on giving stress to weak rather than strong beats. There is also a group of short words- often, in their pronunciation, suggestive of abrupt action- that refer to cutting something short, including bob, chop, clip, crop, cut, dock, lop, and snip. Other terms referring to cutting, often in reference to vegetation, include mow, pare, prune, and trim; shave and shear are similar. Prà ©cis, a noun referring to shortening or condensing (from French, and the ancestor of precise), is also a verb; other terms are compress and contract, as well as condense and its close synonym digest (from the sense of the word, also associated with assimilating food into the body, of arranging and dividing). To abstract, profile, and summarize are similar actions, though they involve outlining content rather than reducing its length. Likewise, to epitomize is to serve as an example rather than to actually reduce. Shrinking, meanwhile, involves literally reducing in size rather than abbreviating. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Vocabulary category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:100 Exquisite AdjectivesExcited ABOUT, not "for" Educational vs. Educative