Introduction to Film Noir

         The 1940s and 1950s are generally regarded as the "classic period" of American film noir, The low key lighting schemes of many classic film noirs are associated with stark light/dark contrasts and dramatic shadow patterning—a style known as chiaroscuro (a term adopted from Renaissance painting). The shadows of Venetian blinds or banister rods, cast upon an actor, a wall, or an entire set, are an iconic visual in noir and had already become a cliché well before the neo-noir era.

Phyllis Dietrichson, plays the femme fatale character in 1944 film ‘Double Indemnity’

The term film noir is French, and means "Black Film". There are many typical conventions of a film noir and some have already been mentioned. Ventitian blinds are used in typically every film noir. Also the protaganist and femme fatale are seen to smoke a lot of cigarettes, a typical feature of most characters. Mise-en-scene is also very important in a film noir, in films such as 'Double Indemnity' and 'The Big Sleep' the protaganist is seen to be smartly dressed, usually wearing a suit, braces and a trilby. Meanwhile the femme fatale would usually wear seductive, clothing usually in a white or red colour. Red suggesting evil, and white being a complete contrast of their actual personality.

Film Noir camera angles are usually distorted, skewed and makes the viewer feel uncomfortable to watch. They also use reflections, faces obscured through objects.

Sound is a very part of a Film noir and the music you hear is often quite downbeat music, such as jazz. Also the use of a voiceover of the protaganist is used, especially in Double Indemnity, when Walter is telling the whole story on the phone to Keyes. Heavy breathing is often a sound used in Film noirs, this makes the scene very tense and adds suspence. This is then often followed by a sudden noise, which is intended to make the audience tense.

When it comes to filming our own short film, we will have to take into account all of the common conventions of a Film noir, but also choose our location very carefully as they are often shot in an urban setting.