From the Opening Sequence of Citizen Kane to the Final Shot of The Birds: A Filmic Microanalysis of Three Painted Scenes

Abstract

This article aims to highlight the importance of matte painting in cinematographic construction and to emphasize the analytical value of these pieces of artwork. To this end, three painted scenes were chosen and sub- jected to a multifaceted analysis that under- lines their contribution as pictorial creations, their role in landscape painting tradition, and their function as an element of filmmaking con- struction, within a set film model, while provid- ing evidence for the unique ways in which this technique connects film and painting.