FILM NOIR CODES AND CONVENTIONS

Film noir is made with many different and interesting styles some example of those styles are; during a film noir there is usually rain and a large portion of the film takes place at night this helps to reflect and magnify the dreariness towards the audience so they can see the drama of the film not just in the acting but also in the set and shots, having characters smoking is not just because it was fashionable to do so during the years film noir was being largely produced it does also serve a point in the shot as smoke can bring characters together or obscure shady characters in shadow.

 Film noirs use other styles/settings like low key lighting (something that creates a strong contrast between light and dark areas of the shot) high angle shots, a gloomy underworld of crime and corruption, a very specific iconography (guns, urban settings) anti heroes and disillusioned jaded characters. All of this presents a dark atmosphere of pessimism, tension, cynicism and oppression

Crime and murder is a common theme in most if not all film noirs in addition to this theme is the standard issue greed, and jealousy is frequently the criminal motivation in these films. Film noirs tend to focus on a hero that is clearly not the bog standard hero we now come to associate with the word hero, these “anti heroes” are so clearly flawed in so many ways and morally questionable it can at times become unclear that they are supposed to be heroes that is how far from the norm they stray.

Femme fatales are usually powerful women who are generally not to be messed with as they are very powerful and dangerous people who have a romantic relationship with them usually end up dead or destroyed and just shells of their former selves. Femme fatales use their sexuality to seduce men and to get them to do what they wish at times, however the woman usually manages to make the man feel he is in control of her, not realizing her power, which can usually be connected to why these men meet such grizzly ends.


TWO EXAMPLES OF CLASSIC FILM NOIR

Some examples of classic noir films are Stranger on the Third Floor a story of a man called Michael Ward a reporter and the key witness in a murder trial. His evidence is that he saw the accused Briggs standing over the body of a man in a diner this is instrumental in having Briggs deemed guilty. Afterwards Ward’s fiancée Jane is worried whether Ward was correct in what he saw and Ward becomes haunted by this question. Next Ward’s neighbor is killed the same way as the man in the diner. But Ward is arrested for trying to point this out to the police. And so Jane goes out to try and clear Ward by finding the sinister stranger that Ward saw on the stairwell.

Another classic film noir is Phantom Lady, After a fight with his wife, Scott Henderson, a handsome and successful 32-year-old civil engineer picks up a mysterious woman in a bar and they go out. The woman refuses to exchange names, becoming the phantom lady of the film. When Henderson returns home, he finds cops waiting to question him because his wife has been murdered with his necktie. Henderson and the cops try to find the phantom lady who can provide him with an alibi but fail. It's up to Carol Richman, Henderson's loyal secretary with a secret, to trace the phantom lady and set Henderson free. In what may be the film's most famous sequence, rhythmic inter-cutting between Elisha Cook, Jr.'s frantic drumming at a seedy night club and the leering responses of sexy secretary Ella Raines climaxes in a heated sexual encounter without actually showing a sex act on the screen.

FILM NOIR HISTORY AND OVERVIEW

Film noir started in the 1930s however films from that time period were not classed as film noir they were a set of films that were being called gangster movies which some film scholars believe film noir is just an extension of this genre but that is a topic still up for debate.

Film noir did not gain popularity until the 1940s one of the films that pioneered this new film genre was stranger on the third floor. Coincidently the first 20 years of film noir were the best years this genre ever saw 1940 through to 1960 were regarded as the classic period.  Nino frank was a film critic born in Barletta-Italy; Frank is the first known person to coin the term film noir. This name was given to films that had a dark seedy undertone in Hollywood in 1946.

Film noir has usually convoluted storylines involving flashbacks and voiceover narration used as a structuring device; classic storylines usually involve a male hero who clearly has flaws and seemingly appear to audiences as an antihero. Some of the other classic characters are a hardboiled detective, corrupt policemen, femme fatales these strong women are directly reflective of what was going on at the time theses films were being made, women having important jobs helping America work in male absence taking jobs at steel mills for example and these women were made strong and independent and once men returned from the war they were struggling to come to terms with this new breed of self independent women who before they left were seen as second class citizens.  

World War 2 had been a major factor in why these films were so dark, seedy, drenched in paranoia and pessimistic. The oppression of the Nazi Germans on many eastern European countries saw many talented Jewish directors move to Hollywood looking to make a career in directing bringing with them their own sad stories and emotions transmitting them into the films that they made.

Film noir started off as B movies this is what you used to get when you went to the cinema an A movie and a B movie two for the price of one. These B movies were usually made to test out new talent actors/directors due to the budget of these films being so low the studio paying for them didn’t tend to take much notice of them so the directors could put in more creative styles of their own choosing and have darker messages in the film.

WELCOME TO MY BLOG

Hello my name is Rhys Hayman i am an AS-Media student studying at suffolk new college. In this assignment i will have to make a two minute opening sequence of a film noir for viewing of the ages 15-18. The film should reflect the pace, mood and styles of film noir, the film will have music and titles.

By the end of the assignemt i should be able to demonstreate skills necessary to making and editing a film. My research and planning will be done to help with the project and have my skills to make them adequate enough to succesfully make my film.

After the film is done i will make an evaluation of the finished film product paying my main attention on the area that i was in charge of , to help with the evaluation i will be making a short film as a preliminary exercise so i have something to compare with.