Film Noir

Film Noir

Noir and Expressionism
1. Many film professionals fled from Nazi Germany in the 1930's and took up residence in the United States. This brought talent from the German film industry to Hollywood. This had a profound impact on the evolution of techniques and conventions employed in Hollywood film making. Film noir grew out of this combination of influences and therefore has a number of characteristics in common with German Expressionism. For example -Film Noir presents the inner psychological and emotional dimension of its characters by creating mood and atmosphere through its use of visual style -Film noir, like German expressionist films, makes inventive use of lighting, canted angles and unusual shot compositions
Characteristics
1. Narrative
  1. Many films were crime novel adaptations. Hard-boiled crime stories of authors such as Raymond Chandler provided the narrative source for many classic film noirs.
  2. Many film noirs translate the confessional narrative of crime literature into a first person voice-over from the doomed protagonist. Noir films often begin at the end of the narrative and tells their story in flash-back. Example Billy Wilder's 1950 film Sunset Boulevard.
  3. The Noir world is corrupt, threatening and violent. French film critics saw the typical noir narratives as an existential nightmare from which the protagonist can never awaken. He is doomed figure journeying through an underworld of crime and deception until a final betrayal by the femme fatale he has fallen in love with. Expressionist lighting schemes and unconventional camera angles convey a sense of entrapment as the hero makes his way through an often labyrinthine plot.
2. Visual style and iconography
  1. It is the visual style of film noir, rather than the story or character type that is seen as its defining characteristic. The noir look was created by cinematographers, costume designers, art directors and production designers. Its enduring influence on all genres of Hollywood filmmaking can be seen today in films as diverse as "Blade runner" - Ridley Scott / Se7en - David Fincher.
  2. Noir is characterised by unbalanced and disturbing frame compositions, strong contacts of light and dark, the prevalence of shadows and areas of darkness within the frame, the visual tension created by curious camera angles. Moreover, in noir these strained compositions and angles are not merely embellishments or rhetorical flourishes, but form the very substance of the film.
  3. The key visual motifs of the femme fatale; the iconography of long hair, glamorous costumes, make-up, jewellery and cigarette smoking conjures up a powerful image of sexual assertiveness and romantic allure.
  4. Expressionism found a worthy subject in the archetypal American anti-hero. The visual style of film noir conveys the dominant mood (male psychological instability and moral uncertainty, paranoia, claustrophobia, a sense of doom and hopelessness) through expressive use of darkness: both real, in predominantly under-lit and night-time scenes, and psychologically through shadows and claustrophobic compositions which overwhelm the character in exterior as well as interior settings.

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	Created by Marcus Hayes about 9 years ago