Undoubtedly, the secret behind any good film lies within the director’s use of stimulating cinematic techniques. The following critical appraisal of the ‘Susan Alexander Kane’ sequence from the 1941 film Citizen Kane, explains how director Orson Welles makes use of apt cinematic techniques to set the scene at nightclub ‘El Rancho’, and to bring about Miss Alexander’s predicament in this particular sequence. The sequence immediately opens with a single flash of white lightning on the portrait of the scene’s protagonist, showgirl Susan Alexander Kane. Through suitable sound effects, the viewer is made aware that the scene begins outdoors, with heavy downpour and thunderous conditions in deep focus on screen. The portrait depicts the showgirl as happy, glamorous and attractive, which can be considered as dramatic irony here, as we are about to discover. The portrait vanishes and the director uses a sudden blackout before exercising the technique of tracking to approach the façade of ‘El Rancho’. Tracking is efficient here as it eases the viewer into the scene whilst effectively building suspense and anticipation. The use of a continuous flash of lightning proves a very effective lighting technique as it allows for the viewer to anticipate conflict and establishes an ambivalent atmosphere from the moment the adverse weather is captured. The harsh sounding thunder that accompanies the flashing lightning is particularly poignant as it allows for the roughness of both the weather and the scene to be conveyed. In this way it is through the cinematic technique of pathetic fallacy that the scene is set, whereby the mood of nature agrees with the mood of the scene. Using an effective crane shot and through startling, prying camera movement, the director succeeds in highlighting the setting of the scene. The blinding lightning repeatedly illuminates the rusty neon ‘El Rancho’ sign outside of the nightclub. The prevailing non-diegetic background music captures an unnerving atmosphere, with its haunting high-pitched chords played loudly on brass and stringed instruments, arousing distress in the viewer. The subjective camera bursts through the neon ‘El Rancho’ sign (almost as if the sign is sliced into two) and zooms through broken skylight to quickly travel down through the sunroof of the nightclub, using a continuity cut to distinguish outdoors and in, and to focus on the table indo