Film Noir

Film Noir
The Big Combo (1955)

Friday, 16 January 2009

Research Into The Genre

For our film opening we will be using the popular film genre Film Noir.

- What are the conventions of the genre?
  • Low key and chiaroscuro lighting
  • Femme fatale
  • Black, white and grey
  • Cynical and hard-hearted male protagonist
  • Murder
  • Detective
  • Twisting storylines
  • Amnesia (suffered by protagonist)
  • Ominous shadows
  • 'Skewed' camera angles
  • Dark, gloomy interiors
  • Ambient music
  • Dark alleyways
  • Rain-slicked streets
  • Dimly lit apartments
-The genre's recent success
Film noir films were very popular in the 1940s and '50s, but have declined in demand since the introduction of technicolour film. A few well known examples of film noir are The Big Combo (1955) which was directed by Joseph H Lewis and became famous because of the iconic noir shot at the end of the film of a silhouetted man and woman surrounded by fog (shown above). Another well known film noir director is Alfred Hitchcock who is famous for the films: Strangers on a Train (1950), Shadow of a Doubt (1943) , Notorious (1946) and The Wrong Man (1956).
More recent noir films have been technicolour, however they still retain classic conventions of the genre, for example Snatch (2000) and Dead Man's Shoes (2004).
Originally the film noir genre was used to describe stylish Hollywood movies, but has spread worldwide since the 1960s as nowadays more and more countries have the means to produce high-budget films and distribute them.

-Film Noir openings
Most noir films begin with the opening credits (even in neo-noirs) and then in a typical opening the main characters are introduced (normally the detective, femme fatale and a murderer) through a series of cutaways to them, most of the time showing how they are all connected. In all noir films the opening will create some sort of an enigma, and in many that we have watched the enigma is what the detective is investigating.

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