Film Noir

Main conventions of film noir include:
-Camera work
-Characters
-Themes/Mood
-Lighting.Sound
-Mise En Scene

Typical film noir camera work tends to include close ups/extreme close ups to show characters emotions, but also to encourage emotional response from the viewers.

For example, this close up shows the woman looking very scared, you can see it in her eyes, she almost looks as if she is in pain or pleading with the man. It shows his fingers on her face, forcing her to looking up at him. We can see that he looks quite angry in this shot and because he is looking directly in her eyes, we assume he is angry at her. The woman in this looks extremely helpless which encourages us to immediately worry about her and feel sorry for her.

Film noir often uses extreme angles to add interest to the film.

Birds eye view is used in film noir to composes space between the viewer and the character as if we are keeping our distance and should be suspicious of him. It has us looking down on him re-enforcing the idea that he is a bad character.
The camera angle is very obscured making it seem as though we are spying on the character from up above.
It is also an extreme long shot making him seem very vulnerable and we can see that he is alone which adds to the enigmatic feel.



Characters often seen in film noir:
-Hero
-Detectives
-Love interest/ damsel/ Femme Fetale/ Pretty woman
-Gangstas
-Suspects
-Business men
-Cops
-Shady people

All these characters make up a typical 'Film Noir' film because it caters to the genre. Film noir is very much 'Hollywood' so produces films based around gangstas, gothic romance and largely, social class. This is why there is such a stereotypical character choice showing the segregation within the 1940's.
Other themes of film noir include crime, enigma, betrayal and suspicious. Most film noir films have been based around discovery and deceit and often include some sort of plot twist.

Male heroes in film noir are typically strong, hansom, charismatic, wealthy and 'handy'. Often though 'heroes' of film noir are not really heroes and have little morality. Instead they are cynical, wise-cracking thugs who seem to only care about sex and money.
Film noir are famous for blurring the lines between good and bad.
Though the saying 'good always beats evil' fits perfectly with almost every film noir story that has a protagonist and antagonist, it can be extremely difficult to tell good and evil apart.
Most male heroes have a care-free personae about them, they are all very 'James Bond' like, in the sense they love themselves and so does everyone else. They appear in film noir largely to complete a group of characters and a story line and then really just say the odd one-liner, smoke a cigarette in the most sexual way ever, save the girl, get the girl, kill the bad guy and make the female audience swoon.

These three images have a few things in common: they are each smoking, their expression, and their costume (suits to show wealth). These characters each demonstrate the conventional characteristics of a typical film noir hero. Image one, shows the hero with the girl. The girl is looking up at him adoringly whilst he has his back to her almost shrugging her off as if he isn't interested, this portrays his confidence and suggests he is very self assured. The second image shows the hero stealing money from a safe. His facial expression suggests he is very relaxed, he does not look panicked or rushed, adding to the idea of male heroes being care-free. The first two images re-force the idea of them only caring about sex and money.
The last image demonstrates a typical personality trait of heroes in film noir- arrogance. This man looks as if he is very sarcastically clapping his hands at something making him look charismatic and 'cool'.

The term 'Film Noir' is french for 'Black Film' so of course films made in this genre are low-key black and white. The films have very high intense darkness used to create bold shadows. -Though the lighting itself uses very low intensity to create a natural feel of darkness- In film noir there is usually more shadow than light. The diffusion of the lighting varies depending on whether the camera is focusing on a particular character or object (a spot light is often used in this sense) or whether the director wants to capture a widely diffused set (often a flood light will be used).

 This spotlight in 'The Third Man' is extremely effective. It's obvious that this is an image that we should be paying attention to, maybe he is the protagonist? The image sticks in your mind.  His illuminated face suggests that he is a good character as the light is shinning upon his, this does however contrast nicely with his dark surrounding,  his dark shadow and his dark clothing. This is an example of using intense/extreme lighting to put emphasis on a character.



Flood lights are used in this to show the surroundings of this man. An extreme back light is used lighting up the building which suggests that it is a significant building. It also gives viewers a greater perspective of where the man is, and allows us to clearly see the open archway (which is highlighted with intense dark lighting) and question as to why he is there. The use of long shot makes the character seem vulnerable and isolated, but also makes him look mischievous and enigmatic.

Mise en scene adds to the style of the film noir genre. It often includes typical props such as cigarettes and guns, as cigarettes were seen as very glamorous around the 1940's and a gun is a sign of wealth and power.
Costumes that are well known in this genre include suits, trench coats, hats and the women were largely seen wearing glamorous dresses. Costume like this differentiates between gender, wealth and class and each represents something different. A women wearing a glamorous dress for example obviously signifies that she (or her husband) has money. A trench coat and a hat was often worn by detectives or cops, a hat being a symbol of authority and power whilst a long dark trench coat adds mystery to the character. Gangstas in film noir are often seen wearing a suit of some kind to suggest their high status, power and wealth. The different costumes for these characters add to the meaning of film noir because they investigate different personalities and add to how stereotypical it is.
Color and lighting, sets and location and body language are also all aspects of mise en scene in film noir.
Sets and location of the genre tend to be staircases, bridges, lamp posts, street corners etc. These are all very dark enigmatic locations representing the crime/spy like themes and moods of the film. They are all commonly used so are each recognised as sets of film noir, so often one can connotate a dark street corner with being a fearful location and this can automatically trigger an emotion with viewers or create climax.