Film Noir as Genre (Lecture)

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

Visual Style

Rooted in German expressionism Many Film Noir directors immigrated to the U.S. from Germany and France before WWII. -Stylization of Image expresses inner states of the Characters; Also, sylized settingis influenced by German expressionism. An example is to compare art from Edvard Munch The Scream and the film Dr. Caligari

Mise-en-scene

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.

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.)

Cinematography

Black-and-white film stock: Most Principle Film Noir is in Black and White

• 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)

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