Film Noir

Film Noir is a term used to describe the stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Film Noir is generally regarded as stretching from the early 1940s to the late 1950s. Film Noir of this era is associated with a low-key black-and-white visual style.

Film Noir is known for its use of:

• Dutch angles.
• wide angle lenses.
• low-key lighting.
• night-for-night shooting. (rather than normal day-for-night shooting using filters)
• location shooting.(rather than on a set, usually in an urban environment)

Common conventions of Film Noir include:

• Flashbacks.
• Use of shadows. ( like bars of shadow across the frame, e.g. venetian blinds)
• Femme fatals. ( usually killed off at the end of the film)
• First person narrations.
• Rare to have a happy or optimistic ending.
• Twisting storyline.
• Circling cigarette smoke.

Common themes:

• Revolve around heroes that are morally flawed and more questionable than normal heroes.
• Corruption
• Hero falls victim to temptation
• People being famed for crimes

Film Noir uses dark, twisting storylines, use of lighting and location shooting to make the film as realistic, dark and gripping as possible, the films tend to have a sad ending as the characters are usually killed off.

Examples of Film Noir:

• Sunset Blvd (1950)

• Cast a Dark Shadow (1955)
• Suspicion (1941)

• Gilda (1946)

For more examples of Film Noir visit: http://www.imdb.com/genre/film_noir