Film noir is a very stylised genre of film with the audience often being able to tell very quickly if they are watching a noir due to the ascetics of the genre as well as key elements that they often all share in their plot lines. This aid not very noir film will have all of the conventions of a noir but will often have at least a few. Almost every classic noir film is in black and white.
Conventions of a Noir Narrative or Story
Characters
The characters are often the most important part of a film and noir is no exception. There are often types of characters which can be found within many noir films (but not all) and they include:
Private eye or detective - This is often the lead in many Noir films, The most classic noir film revolves around a mystery often a murder which the private eye or detective. The film will follow the private eye or detective on their investigation. This character is always a man and hardly ever a woman in traditional noir. They are usually the hero of the film but are often hard-hearted and morally ambiguous. He often have a downfall due to alcohol or a woman.
The detective often wears a fedora and trench coat over a suit.
Femme fatales - The femme fatal is often beautiful, seductive and highly sexualised. She loves to create danger for the protagonist who usually falls in love with her. She is double dealing and usually has an ulterior motive or something she is trying to achieve and uses the private eye or detective to achieve her goals.
She often wears very seductive clothing such as a low cut dress or a fur coat. She also wears a lot of makeup including lipstick and mascara.
Bland girl - She is more open to interpretation for filmmakers of noir and can be a number of different characters depending on the film. She may be the overlooked woman that the detective should love but instead he goes for the femme fatal. She could also be more of a damsel in distress type character.
Criminal - This is usually the person responsible for the crime committed, usually a murder. This could be anybody in the story with a few exceptions such as the detective himself. The criminal is always found out in the story and usually never manages to get away with the crime.
Corrupt police - The police in a noir are not always but often corrupt. They take bribes from
mobsters to do favour, often making the detective or private eyes job as hard as possible.
Gangsters and thugs - Noir films often have mobsters and gangster who are up to no good. Their main motivation is often money and they will pay the corrupt police to do their bidding. They often wear expensive suits.
There are other characters which can appear in a noir and not all of the mentioned characters will always appear in a noir film together.
Camera shots and angles
Camera angles are another large part of noir and they are often much more different then traditional Hollywood angles and camera shots.
Close ups/Extreme close ups - Close ups and extreme close ups are often used in noir. They may focus on the face to show a reaction or on a particular part of the face such as the eyes when a character is staring at something. Hollywood films are less likely to use these shots as they try not to get to close top a character.
Low angles/High angles - Both high and low angles are often used in noir, they are used to show how powerful a character is, for example a powerful mobster may be shown with a low angle shot to show how powerful he is. These are used a lot and the use of the different angles helps to make the audience feel more uneasy which reflects the tone of noir.
Tilted shots - Tilted shots are used for the same reasons as low and high angle shots in terms of making the audience feel uncomfortable and uneasy.
Other shots such as long shots and mid-shots are also used.
Lighting and Reflection
Reflections - Reflections are often used in noir top show the characters in interesting ways and to create a sense of drama and confusion at times. An example is a man stood in the street and a shot of a puddle in front of his allows us to see his face.
Shadows - Shadows are used throughout noir and is almost a staple of the genre. Interesting use of shadows in noir can be dramatic. Shadows can create mystery which is what the noir genre is based around. An example is showing the shadow of the murderer killing a victim with out showing the murderer himself and therefore not giving away his identity to the audience.
Low key lighting - Low key lighting and shadows both go hand in hand. Low key lighting is used to create mystery and fear. The majority of a noir film is set at night with only a few scenes being set during the day.
These are very important elements in a film noir and will appear in almost any classic film noir.
Mise en scene
Alcohol and Cigarettes - Noir films often have heavy smoking and drinking in them, this is often shown in a very casual way but some of the angles used make these very effective and dramatic.
Urban Locations - Urban locations are often in Noir films. An example of this is a wet street on a rainy night. These are very scary and dangerous locations at night and create tension.
Lighting is very important to the genre of noir and neo noir so here is a video which we found very helpful when considering the use of light in our own film.
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