Film Noir

Film Noir

Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as stretching from the early 1940s to the late 1950s. Film noir of this era is associated with a low-key black-and-white visual style.

In the lesson
In the lesson we as a class, watched some films in black and white. We watched and discussed "Double Indemnity" by Billy Wilder and how it was typical of a thriller. There were long shots where the face of the character was obscures, so we couldn't see only see his sillouette. This is a successul thriller convention as it raises a lot of questions to who he was. In addition to this, dramatic music, low key lighting, low angle camera shots all raise questions and make the character seem very mysterious- typical of a thriller.

Double Idemnity

Double Indemnity starts with a figure walking towards the camera the man is on crutches but he still looks powerful as the camera is at a low level making the figure look taller and having more status. The film is in black and white and the music is loud and dramatic, implicating that the character has a high status. The music then speeds up as we see a car race. The setting juxtaposes the music as it seems relatively calm. As the music get quicker and the car I racing towards the camera the audience become tense as they believe that the car is going to crash. The music then calms down as the car is pulling up to park. Another element that the opening sequence uses that is effective is the fact that the audience sees a character get out of the car, however they do not see his face, this creates a mystery as the audience do not know who the character is. The low key lighting is effective because it obsures the characters features. At the end of the opening there is diegetic dialogue between the man and what appears to be a police officer to explain the story. We than watched "Kiss me Deadly" by Robert Aldrich;

Kiss me Deadly

 The opening of Kiss Me Deadly starts with a scred women running down a dark road, we do not see what she is running from but she is scared of something as the director has used hyperbolic breathing. This is a convention of a Thriller. The road appears to be isolated and dark which shows that the women is vunerable to danger, or in this case the approaching car.  The low key lighting emphasises this. Then, both a women and the man are in the same car, behind them constantly there is a car that looks like it is following them, however you only see the lights of the car, again, creating tension.
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