At first glance, Citizen Kane appears to be a realistic movie. But the majority of Citizen Kane was special effects. This is a mark of a technically brilliant film. Special effects like matte shots, multiple exposure, and miniatures were used in the film. Many shots used an optical printer to combine multiple images. Special effects helped placate costs, reducing the film’s budget. But when people watch the film, most would not guess the sheer number of special effects used. Most people would assume that movies such as Star Wars or science fiction of Citizen Kane’s time would have used many more special effects but Citizen Kane used at least as many, if not more than most of the movies during its time. Because the special effects don’t draw attention to themselves, they improve the viewing of the movie to the audience (Gianetti, 491). One of the beginning shots of the film is of Xanadu, Charles Kane’s palatial house. It’s an extreme long shot. It looks real, however, Xanadu is a matte painting that was a few feet tall. Most…show more content… This created the idea that audience was not invited and is going to great lengths to eavesdrop. But what looks like one long shot at first glance, in reality is not. It’s made up of two different shots, the exterior and the interior of El Rancho. The outside of El Rancho is a miniature and the camera is craning over a model of El Rancho. However, it seems to transition almost seamlessly into a real set. This is because it was concealed by rain and a lightning flash at the exact moment. Watching it, the viewer doesn’t notice that there was a point to the lightning flash, but merely assumes that it is just a product of the storm outside. Because the audience doesn’t realize that this was a special effect, this makes it really effective and brilliant (Citizen