Film Noir

Film Noir

1. Concept: The term film noir was first coined in 1946 by French film critics referring to a daring new stylish type of Hollywood Crime Thriller such as The Maltese Falcon by John Huston. James Naremore wrote that the Noir category contains," Certain visual and Narrative traits including low key photography, wet city streets and the fascination of the femme fatales,"

2. Film Noir And German Expressionism

   • With a number of film professionals fleeing from Austria and Germany during the war in the 1930's to the USA this carried across a large amount of filmic talent to the industry. film noir grew out of these influences and became similar to German Expressionism in a number of ways for example, Film Noir presenting the inner psychological and emotional dimensions of its character using a range of innovative visual styles, such as an expressive use of lighting, canted angles and unusual camera composition.

3. Narrative

   • Many film noirs are crime novel adaptations, hard boiled crime stories of authors like Dashiell Hammett. John Huston began this trend of producing a film from the novel The Maltese Falcon bye Hammett in 1941. It is typical of noir films to translate the confessional narrative of crime literature into a first person voice over from the doomed protagonist, often taking place in a cyclical structure beginning at the end of the narrative telling the story in the form of a flashback. Example, Sunset Boulevard , begins with the discovery of a dead body belonging to the lead character who narrates the story from beyond the grave. The Noir world is corrupt, dark threatening and violent, described by French critics as an existential nghtmare from which the protagonist can never awaken, a doomed figure journeying through the underworld of crime until a final betrayal from the femme fatale that he has fallen in love with.
     • lighting schemes and unconventional camera angles are also used to convey this sense of entrapment.

4. Visual Style and Iconography

   • The visual style of noir is seen as its defining characteristic, created by cinematographers, costume designers, art directors and production designers. It has had an enduring influence across Hollywood with films ranging as diverse as Seven (David Fincher) or Blade Runner (Ridley Scott) . James Naremore wrote that Noir is characterised by unbalanced and disturbing frame compositions, strong contrasts of light and dark, the prevalence of shadows and areas of darkness in the frame. Janey place identified the key visual motifs of the femme fatale as long hair, glamorous costumes, makeup, jewellery, and cigarette smoking to conjure up a powerful seductive image. She also wrote that in film noir expressionism found a worthy subject in the archetypal American Anti Hero, conveying the dominant mood of male psychological instabiluityand moral uncertainty, paranoia and claustrophobia. This presented through expressive use of darkness predominantly filming in night time scenes.
     • The dark shadowy world of silhouettes, shadows, mirrors and reflections gives both the characters in the film and the audience watching very little opportunity to orientate themselves. John Alton is considered by many the greatest noir cinematographer introducing techniques such as using a wide angle lens to grotesquely elongate the characters ,or positioning a key light directly below the face of the villain presenting them as more sadistic. These both can be seen in the famous sequence from the movie T Men where two men hold a conversation over the lampshade.