Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Holywood. Hollywoods classic film noir period is generally regerded as extended from the early 1940's to the late 1950's. Film Noir in this era is associated with low-key lighting, black and white visual style. The term Film Noir is French for black film.
Neo-nior is a style often seen in modern motion pictures and other forms that prominently untilize elements of Film Noir, but with updated themes, content, style and visiual elements.
Common Film Noir narratives:
- Crooks
- Amnesia
- Black widow
- Psychological
- Heists
- Double crosses
- Gangsters
- Sin and punishment
- Downwards spiral
- One wrong decsion
- Murder
- Drugs
- Sexual Obsessions
Common Film Noir characters:
- Detectives
- Gangsters
- Millionaires
- The 'Fall Guy'
- Henchmen/thugs
- Beautiful Women
- Police
- Corrupt politician/ goverment figures
- Crooked police
Key visual Film Noir characteristics:
- Non-naturalistic lighting
- Harsh constrast of light and shadows
- Actors faces shot completely in shadow
- Use of extreme camera angles for distorting effects and use of wide-angles lens to obtain depth of field and distortion.
- Scenes usually shot in darkness, darkened rooms or at night
Genre Film Noir elements:
- Investigative, narrative structure
- Voice overs and/or flashbacks
- Point of view shots
- Lack of family
- Strong sexual femal role
- Struggle between men and women
Inconographic Film Noir elements:
- Trilby hat
- Macs
- Chgarette/smoke
- Pistols
- Offices
- Doors with glass
- Coffee
- Shadows
- Suits on men
- Suits/evening gowns on women
- big shoulders (both sex)
- Venetian blinds
- Desks
- Single light shots.
Popular Film Noir films
- Sister Boulevard (1950)
- Double Indemnity (1944)
- M (1931)
- The Third Man (1949)
- The Maltese Falcon (1941)
- Touch of Evil (1958)
- Les Diaboliques (1955)
- Styarnger on a train (1951)
- Notorious (1946)
- Rififi (1955)
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