Film Noir as Genre (Lecture) - Revision history

ScreenAdmin: 7 revisions imported

2019-08-14T21:31:09Z

7 revisions imported

Jeremy Butler: added category

2008-03-27T14:49:25Z

added category

Screenpedia>Adrienne Cross at 21:40, 6 February 2008

2008-02-06T21:40:58Z

Jeremy Butler: /* Mise-en-scene */ added day-for-night example

2008-02-06T21:21:44Z

Mise-en-scene: added day-for-night example

Screenpedia>Adrienne Cross: /* Narrative */

2008-02-06T21:12:20Z

Narrative

Screenpedia>Adrienne Cross: /* Theme */

2008-02-06T21:08:06Z

Theme

Screenpedia>Adrienne Cross at 20:59, 6 February 2008

2008-02-06T20:59:32Z

Jeremy Butler: added lecture outline

2008-02-06T19:50:49Z

added lecture outline

New page

Defined principally by visual style, but also by theme and narrative.

==Visual Style==

Rooted in German expressionism

===Mise-en-scene===
Lighting
*Low-key lighting
*Night-for-night shooting

Setting
*Urban

===Cinematography===

Black-and-white film stock
*Economic decision
*Aesthetic decision

Unconventional camera angles
*Extreme low-angle
*Extreme high-angle
*Extreme deep focus
*Dutch angle

==Theme==

Fatalism

Moral ambiguity

Alienation

Misogyny

==Narrative==

===Conventional characters===

Men

*Normally, the protagonists
*Morally ambiguous
*Alienated, fatalistic, cynical
*Destroyed by:
**Inner desires
**Outside, social forces

Women

*Evil woman, femme fatale, femme noir
*Redemptive woman

===Structure===

Protagonist involved in something beyond his control
Inevitably leads to his demise

← Older revision		Revision as of 14:49, 27 March 2008
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	Inevitably leads to his demise		Inevitably leads to his demise
	(could often deal with violence and gangsters)		(could often deal with violence and gangsters)
		+
		+	[[Category:TCF440/540 Lecture]]

@@ Line 10: / Line 10: @@
 Lighting: The most critical aspect
 *Low-key lighting: Strong contrast between light and dark. (examples through screen link on syllabus.) A great deal of shadow and outlines
 *Night-for-night shooting: (the opposite of Day-for-night shooting) Until the 1940s, day-for-nights were used which was a technique of using a filter to make the day shots look somewhat like night.  In Film Noir, Night-for-night was used which is when the shooting would actually be done at night.
@@ Line 17: / Line 19: @@
 Setting
-*Urban: the setting of Film Noir is in the seamy, sleazy parts of Urban cities (America).  This shows the "Dark Side" of civilization.  (examples: boxing rings, beer joints, ally ways, sleazy hotels, nightclubs, waterfronts.)
+*Urban: the setting of Film Noir is in the seamy, sleazy parts of Urban cities (America).  This shows the "Dark Side" of civilization.  (examples below: boxing rings, beer joints, ally ways, sleazy hotels, nightclubs, waterfronts.)
 ===Cinematography===
@@ Line 24: / Line 29: @@
 *Economic decision: in the beginning because it cost less to film in black and white and these first Film Noir were not planned to be prominent movies.
 *Aesthetic decision: by shooting in Black and White, there was less variation in tones than there is in color; low-key, high-contrast lighting
 Unconventional camera angles (most of these would not have been used in the 20s and 30s)
 *Extreme low-angle: Camera near the ground looking up and usually has the ceiling in the fram(examples through link on syllabus)
 *Extreme high-angle: from above looking down(examples through link on syllabus)
 *Extreme deep focus: All things in the shot are in focus (examples through link on syllabus)
 *Dutch angle: when the camera is tilted or not level (examples through link on syllabus)
+[[Image:PickupOnSouthStreet-DutchAngle.jpg]]
 ==Theme==
@@ Line 59: / Line 68: @@
 *Evil woman, femme fatale, femme noir: lures the hero to his doom; strong, independent (this could have been seen as evil in the 1920s)
 *Redemptive woman: offers to redeem the hero; but almost always fails
+[[Image:OutOfThePast010 jpg-RedemptiveFemal.jpg]]
 ===Structure===

@@ Line 11: / Line 11: @@
 *Low-key lighting: Strong contrast between light and dark. (examples through screen link on syllabus.) A great deal of shadow and outlines
 *Night-for-night shooting: (the opposite of Day-for-night shooting) Until the 1940s, day-for-nights were used which was a technique of using a filter to make the day shots look somewhat like night.  In Film Noir, Night-for-night was used which is when the shooting would actually be done at night.
 Setting

← Older revision	Revision as of 21:31, 14 August 2019
(No difference)

@@ Line 45: / Line 45: @@
 Men
-*Normally, the protagonists
+*Normally, the protagonists; very few Film Noir uses women as the protagonists (normally the antagonist)
 *Morally ambiguous
 *Alienated, fatalistic, cynical
 *Destroyed by:
-**Inner desires
+**Inner desires: because of their inner desires, the man is the author of his own fate.
-**Outside, social forces
+**Outside, social forces: Things that the man could not control
 Women
-*Evil woman, femme fatale, femme noir
+*Evil woman, femme fatale, femme noir: lures the hero to his doom; strong, independent (this could have been seen as evil in the 1920s)
-*Redemptive woman
+*Redemptive woman: offers to redeem the hero; but almost always fails
 ===Structure===
@@ Line 61: / Line 61: @@
 Protagonist involved in something beyond his control
 Inevitably leads to his demise

@@ Line 29: / Line 29: @@
 ==Theme==
-Fatalism
+Fatalism: This means that the future is predetermined or the character is fated; characters are doomed from the very start;  They are trapped or doomed; Usually, an indiscretion from their past comes back to haunt them;  Example: ''Out of the Past'', Jeff's past as a 'mobster' comes back even though he has tried to get away and change.
-Moral ambiguity
+Moral ambiguity: Evil and Good are blurred; example Out of the Past Bailey does both bad and good even thought he is the protagonist.
-Alienation
+Alienation: The Hero (antihero) is alienated from society; they don't fit in; they are cynical and paranoid (normally for good reason); not the traditional type of hero.
-Misogyny
+Misogyny: distrust or hatred of women; In Film Noir, women are evil and deceive men; also, women could be seen as more powerful, capable, strong characters than women's characters in the 20s and 30s.
 ==Narrative==