After creating a completely new style of cinema with Citizen Kane (1941), Orson Welles became somewhat of an outsider, or a rebel of the studio lot. Once the studio claimed final cut of his second masterpiece, The Magnificent Amersons (1942), Welles abandoned all hope for success in collaborating with studios. He embarked on adapting Franz Kafka’s novel, The Trial, into a cinematic nightmare. The film includes the same Wellesian style of cinematography included in Kane and Ambersons. Two scenes in particular exhibit a certain majestic quality, hailing themes of the story through the way it is shot.

The first scene includes the protagonist, Joseph K., waking up to find investigators suspiciously entering his room and interrogating him. The scene opens with an incredible four minute single shot, consisting of K. getting out of bed, getting dressed and answering the investigator’s questions. The camera follows K. as he walks from screen right to screen left, panning slowly in an elegant movement. Several times, the camera zooms in to give a feeling of intensity and tilt upwards to capture the Wellsian signature low angle, allowing K. and the investigator seem as if they are towering over the audience. It gives the impression of almost a theatrical quality, like a point of view from an audience watching a play. Another characteristic of the scene includes yet again, another signature trick: deep focus. The camera is set where everything in the background (specifically the investigator) can be as visually coherent as everything in the foreground (K). Of course, this effect’s function is used so that both K. and the investigator can walk all over the room and still remain in focus. Welles uses a wide angle along with the deep focus, giving to the effect of the room appearing short and with much depth. The mixed proportions of the actors and size of the room come together in giving off a claustrophobic feeling – almost a nightmarish quality.

The second scene includes K. chasing after a disabled woman dragging a trunk outside. This scene, also shot in a single uninterrupted four minutes, however is filmed in an extreme long shot, follows the characters by usage of a beautiful tracking shot. The scene being filmed in an extreme long shot, gives emphasis on the grandeur of the towering buildings in the background, but also exhibits perspective of the buildings to emphasize more three-dimensional quality to the image. While the landscape takes much focus, the real subject of the frame is indeed both characters, whom the camera follows as they walk into further open space. The contrast of size also establishes the feeling and appearance of a nightmare. This scene perfectly counters the previous one, where in the first, all characters seem like oversized individuals in a small world, but in the second, they appear like tiny ants, isolated in a vast world.