Film noir codes and convections

Since the emergence of film noir into mainstream Europe during the mid-1940s and the rise in prominence which this brought, it has been continually argued whether or not film noir should be considered a genre, with no real judgment being made either way sixty years down the line. The reason why many argue that film noir is a genre is that it is very different to other films under the crime thriller category. This is due to the differences in them such as their use of lighting, narrative and visual in particular.

 Film noir was created very in much the USA however in was not until the films reached the likes of France and other European countries that in rose to significance of a greater scale than the USA. Noir's are well known for being dark and somewhat violent films with often similar story lines of crime and betrayal in urban America. Directors of film noirs frequently used the black and white setting which was a custom to film noirs to create this cold, dark and nervy set for the films. The use of shadows in particular and contrast lighting helped to do this, with many shots of crimes about to take place using shadows to make the criminals grow when getter closer to their victims, again creating this tense feel in these scenes. Another way in which directors used lighting in film noir was to chop the set and characters in abstract shapes and stripes, this formed a shady appearance to the movies, and made the audience aware that something dodgy was going on thus forming a mood which was the basis to the representation of film noirs. Directors would often use abstract shapes and design in the layout of the background to noir’s.

 Another effective tool for noir’s was cinematography. Noir’s were known for using low angle, high angle wide angle and skewed angle shots. These helped to create strange visuals of the characters which appear bizarre to the audience. Close-ups and extreme close-ups were used also as well as Dutch tilts to create the strange genre that is film noir. Also along with these mirrors are used to produce abstract shapes of characters. Special effects were used by directors to portray dreamy visual representation in some noir’s.

 The Mise-en-scene of noirs was important to their personality. Actors especially male would often be seen in trench coats and suits essentially formal dress. Location shooting was introduced in the later film noir’s but this was after the peak time for the noir’s however and contrasted from the previous use in noir’s in which films where shots on only a few sets. A further tool which noir’s used unlike other films of their time was night-for-night shooting – where the parts of films which were meant to be the night time were actually filmed at night, different to many films which filmed scenes in the day and made them look like the night e.g. day-for-night. Much of film noir was set in dark cities with rainy streets and tall overwhelming buildings which generally was an urban setting. Moreover the lighting used for noirs would be seen to be low key and using high contrast images so that there were not many mid-tones used but mostly extreme black or extreme white. The lighting also was used to cut the characters faces in pieces using the props as well such as blinds. A feature which noir's were known for was the male anti-hero who was often central in storylines. He would be the everyday working man who wants to earn a decent living but by one mistake is drawn into an ever worsening spiral. The moral to noirs by using this type of character and presenting them to the audience of films is that crime does not pay and mistakes which you make will eventually catch up with you.


 The narrative to film noir often painted a picture of dark shady characters in urban American. Story lines would frequently include betrayal, double crossing, characters unable to escape the world of crime which they had been thrown into i.e. sin and punishment, heists, murder, whodunit, gangsters and amnesia. Unlike many movies around at the peak of noir, there was commonly an unhappy end to noir’s as couples would rarely end up together, this differed from the usual happy ending of most films. Also a distinctive element to film noir was the dominant and deadly women which were in many plots, they would appear attractive and appealing woman to their prey, but end up being cynical killers, and these were women known as femme fatale which became a famous term relate to noir’s. This in itself was different to other crime around at the time were often this type of character would be male. The idea of deadly woman stemmed somewhat from pulp fiction in the early 1990s where noir has noted as taking many of its ideas from. Another source for the sort of plot film noir that is associated with is gangster films which are a clear link due to the violence both involved. Film noir was well-known for having a non-linear narrative.

 Sound in noir's was intelligently used to add to suspense or just to make viewers aware of an important point in the film. Downbeat jazz would be used to add to the mood during certain scenes. Furthermore bizarre music would be used in situations such as dreams or during a killing to add effect. The sound in the location of noir's was cleverly used at times as well with noises from the urban cities acting as background noise through scenes. Further to this the characters would be used to add to the mood of films in certain scenes, sounds such as heavy breathing would be used, the anti-hero would voice over scenes during flashbacks in films making use of a non-linear narrative. More sounds that were used were unexpected noises to alert the audience as well as the use of silence and quiet in scenes where suspense in key which is an important feature to thriller as suspense is what they are based around.

 Editing in noirs was mostly seen as jumps cuts and dissolves from one shot to the next. A feature in many noirs such as Double Indemnity (1944) was the use of a non-linear narrative where the start is at the end. However continuity editing was used for many scenes as noirs were lower budget film and B films it is quicker and cheaper.

 So with the many different and commonly occurring types of film labelled noirs it can be seen therefore as a fair assessment to say that film noir is in itself a genre rather than a subsection of crime thriller. Due the personality noir's partake which are very much part of their own identity; noirs are clearly apart from other genre of the crime thriller genre.

History of Film noir

Film noir is the name given to films which were often crime thrillers with similar plots of a seamy or criminal underworld and cynical characters. The films were best recognized in the early 1940s to late 1950s. The term film noir itself is French and was first introduced to these types of film by French film critic Nino Frank in 1946, when translated into English Film noir means black film/black cinema. Frank along with other French film critics had not seen the films due to the war and watched them following the end of World War 2 in 1946. The critics realised that many films they watched after the war possessed similar dark moods and feeling, crime thrillers set in underworlds usually in major American cities, upon viewing these films Frank named them film noir due to these similar characteristics.

  The German Expressionism of the 1920s influenced the mood of film noirs and was a factor in the dark feel to the movies. Noirs were produced as B movies for Hollywood films which had a-lists stars and were A movies so Film Noir would be the inferior films produced at the time. This meant however that the dark and visual interpretations of reality which film noir created would be less monitored by producers in Hollywood as they focus more on A movies which left directors able to make movies which reflected the mood at attitude of people around the time in which film noir’s were first released.

 Moreover this attitude of which the public had at the time was one of somewhat anger and frustration as the Second World War was at large. Film noir were very much influenced by European film makers who fled to Hollywood to escape the war and expressed their feelings in this type of film. However due to the war the early film noir movie were only available in America as much of Europe was under threat from the Nazis, so it was not until after the war that the Europeans were able to first see film noir’s, and it was at this time in the mid 1940s that Nino Frank defined the crime thriller from Hollywood as film noir’s. Filmakers such as Billy Wilder, Otto Preminger and Fritz Lang were part of the escape to America.

 The narrative of film noir’s were along with being crime thriller very much based around a gangster environment and had many cynical characters who were more seen as working class criminals rather than gangsters seen in previous movies. Many of the central connections or romances seen in noirs ended in disaster, lust motivated wrong decisions made by the characters would spiral downhill, characters were betrayed frequently with murder being a continual inclusion in the movies with bent police officers involved also. 

 Also film noir’s are known for introducing femme fatales who were feisty female characters both attractive as well as confident and predatory killers which different from the naturals view of this type of character being male. The creation of this type of character made it reflect society during the war where many women were working in the working as the men were at war and many women not wanting to give up the workplace jobs after the war either. At the time of the war women took on greater responsibility and this feel is shown by the fatales in the noirs as they are not seen as weak characters but quite the opposite.

 As well as the narrative film noir’s are well known for their use of stark, expressionistic lighting, special camerawork and was usually portrayed in the movies in an urban environment. Also for the very early films which were in black and white this lighting and camerawork combined together to create a dark feeling to the films. The use of the setting in the films backed this up further with rainy streets and alleys, long imposing shadows and tall buildings being used as the setting for noirs.

 Much of the idea behind film noir came from what are known as pulp fiction private eye crime books sometimes referred to as hard boiled books which where earlier than the film noir’s and had similar plots to them. Other sources where it is believed the mood for film noir’s revived from are gangster movies of the early 1900s which accounts who the violence in them.

 Lastly there has been great deliberation over whether film noir should be considered as I film genre or not. Some argue that it is simply the mood, style, point-of-view or tone of the film rather than it being in a separate category of its own but under the crime genre. However due to the differences of this type of film compared to other crime film it is maybe justified that film noir should have its own sub category in the film genre but it is certainly not the view of everyone towards film noir.

 Examples of film noir’s include: The Maltese Falcon (1941) Murder, My sweet (1944) Double Indemnity (1944) The Woman in the Window (1944) and Laura (1944).

Welcome and brief

Welcome, this is my AS Media blog.

The Brief

 

 For the AS part of the media a-level course students are to required to work in groups of four in order to produce a short film opening which should be roughly two minutes in length using film noir thriller as the theme to it. The emphasis of the project is based on the groups working together to create a contemporary film noir or neo-noir as it can also be called whilst still sustaining the characteristics which film noirs are known for in being their principles, mood and narrative. So the dark feel of a civilian underworld where trouble could be around the corner at any time, no one is to trust and where one wrong move can cause one’s world to crumble.

 As well as producing the opening; a target audience must be suggested for the film along with distribution channels in TV and cinema as a further part of the final filming project. This will prove crucial also in that the film opening needs to be in the criteria of meeting a (15-18) certification. There is to be titles on the film opening as well to give a professional feel to the film.

 Lastly for the highest marks to be achieved on the assignment students must be able to display the use of a variety of technical skills in using media technology. As a result of this being the case the assignment will be marked over the areas of research and planning, finished product and evaluation. Despite the task being one which is completed by working in groups the marks for it will be individual to each person in the group which will depend on how much work has between done by each person throughout the project.