Film Noir
Sin City
Brick
Film Noir What is it? In nutshell …. •
An American film movement that happened in the 1940s and 50s.
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The narrative conventions focussed on downtrodden men, usually involved in crime, who were on a downward spiral.
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Whilst men, and their crisis in masculinity, were the focus of films, women were also represented. They usually came in the form of femme fatales, who were incredibly attractive on the surface but evil below and helped the men on their downward spiral.
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The crisis in masculinity was caused by World War 2; all the men had gone of to war and women had replaced them in the work force. When they returned they found the traditional roles they had occupied where no longer appropriate.
Film Noir • Film noirs are nearly always set in the city. • These films have disrupted narratives by making full use of flashbacks and a narrator’s voice over. • The figure of the detective plays a huge part, as does crime in general. • Film noir has roots in the literature of Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett
Film Noir •
Film noirs are full of iconography, most notably their use of high contrast (chiaroscuro) lighting. The films are full of jagged lighting schemes.
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This comes from the fact film noir is influenced by the art movement of German Expressionism, which also used chiaroscuro lighting.
Notes on Film Noir – Paul Schrader • Characters corrupt, themes fatalistic, tone hopeless. • Film noir not a genre, rather a period. • Difficult to define as everyone has their own definition.
Notes on Film Noir – Paul Schrader Influences: • • • •
World War II and post war disillusionment. Post War Realism. German Expressionism. Hard boiled tradition in literature.
Notes on Film Noir – Paul Schrader Stylistics: • • • • • • •
Lit for night Oblique and vertical lines in set and lighting design. Actors and setting have equal lighting emphasis. Compositional tension better than physical action. Water Romantic narrative Complex chronological order