FILM NOIR

Pink Panthers

FILM NOIR

Film noir is a cycle of mainly American film in the

1940s to 50s, which explores the darker sides of

modernity, and is usually set within a criminal

themed film, or exploring the consequences of a

criminal act.

ORIGIN

Originates from FRENCH lexis, meaning ‘black

film’ / monochrome film. Inspired by the ‘Series

Noir’ (paperbacks) which had a narrative of harsh

American Crime but inspired and proved popular

with the French.

HISTORY

“Film noir is a historical, stylistic and thematic

trend that took place primarily, but not exclusively,

within the generic complex of the American crime

film of the forties and fifties.” Selby, S (1984), Dark

City The Film Noir. United States of America.

McFarland and Company, Inc. 1.

IDENTIFICATION

Film Noir can be identified through a number of elements; not only

themable (for example character roles and their fates decided in the

narrative,) but through the following:

1. The typical use of ‘flashbacks’ – included in the narrative and through

the use of voice overs

2. The frequent undermining or shuffling of the characters’ point of view

– technically done via the camera angles in the shot.

3. the Investigative Narrative Structure – for example a protagonist in

Film Noir would stereotypically be a detective/ Sargent /  war veteran; who

tend to be obsessive males, sinister and struggling to survive.

…

4. Low key lighting – to gain the thick contrasting shadows to costume

design (usually a femme fetal would be in pure white to contrast her

menacing characteristics).

5. The use of chiaroscuro effects – monochrome effect with thick shading,

similar to a strongly marked charcoal sketch but through the use of

cinematography

6.  The use of camera jarring and off balance shot composition (to give

the sense of deterioration)

7. Tight framing and close ups that create a claustrophobic sense of

containment within the scene

CHARACTER TYPES

The typical characters in noir films are the hard-

boiled detective, the dangerously attractive femme

fatale, and the well-dressed villain surrounded by

gun-toting thugs.

FEMALE

Typical costume design for women include, a low

neckline, the contrast of white garments symbolising

an angelic figure on the outside but evil on inside.

Red lipstick, gloves and high heels are donned to

symbolise danger.

Women during the war period had a new found

independence and ‘Job Earning Power’ in their

homeland; They would tend to suffer on screen at

the cost of the Protagonist’ life (1940).

MALE

Typically stay in shabby accommodations

Costume design: Fedoras, (similar bowlers hat); suit and tie;

polished brown shoes.

Damaged, vulnerable imperfect and not the stereotypical hero.

Manipulated by women’s sexuality. Any trouble her receives is

due to involvement with the ‘femme fatale’.

With the war over, men’s social status decreased so this was

reflected in film noir.

SOCIAL, POLITICAL, ECONOMICAL

Crime as social criticism 

There are many considered cycles, such as;

- Pre depression – the spontaneous witnesses 

- The sombre cross-section

(which are stated in pg 85-86, Perspectives on

FILM NOIR)

…

The pre-depression cycle is the introduction to the

‘gangsta cycle’ and the introduction to  financial and

industrial labour battles of the 1930s that were

poorly represented in Hollywood. The main theme of

the ‘depression’ was because of the war which

opened this new dark tone to society, being all

gloomy and dull. This caused a major depression

over the country, especially as the labour was badly

represented in Hollywood and this didn’t help.

…

The sombre cross-section represents the societies anguish as a

whole, which introduced middle class murder, sexual

pathology and psychopaths. This introduced conventions to the

film noir genre and new expectations to the type of audiences

with influences from society. The sombre cross-section is also an

introduction to characteristic tones of claustrophobic, deadpan

and paranoid sombre, with the idea of good vs evil using murder,

this idea of games between people leading to murder and

psychopaths in the genre. 

INFLUENCES

War and post war disillusionment

Due to the war, ‘the need to produce Allied propaganda abroad and promote

patriotism at home blunted the fledgling moves toward a dark cinema.’ Barton

Palmer, R (1996). Perspectives on Film Noir. New York: G.K. Hall and Co. 100.

Dark crime films were far from being popular as America focused on creating

films based on propaganda to influence the minds of the American population.

As the war ended films became more cynical and crime films boomed. Fifteen

years of pressure from American propaganda films, when given the freedom,

audiences and film makers took every opportunity they had to take a

pessimistic view on things.

…

Postwar realism

Not long after the war film producers used realistic

exteriors to film each scene to add authenticity. The

public felt that using studios they had previously

used would not create an honest view of America,

therefore using real locations would make the film

more genuine. The realistic appreciation succeeded

in creating a divide with high-class melodrama and

sat amongst people of the streets where it belonged.

…

The German Expatriates

During the 1920s and 30s, Hollywood was home to a large number of

Germans, therefore film companies had to cater for those too. Natives

who cared about the current community feared that the German

influence in Hollywood could become dangerous by being over

exaggerated. However, in the later forties when Hollywood decided to

be dark, there were no better people mastering the techniques of using

light and shade than the Germans. Unnatural lighting didn’t fit in with

the postwar realism theme but as film noir is unique the two elements

were compatible with each other.

…

The hard-boiled tradition

In the 1930s authors such as Ernest Hemingway and

Raymond Chandler created ‘tough’ a pessimistic way

of thinking that disconnected one person from the

world. In the 40s, film makers adopted the hard

boiled tradition which gave them the opportunity to

create the dark, crime theme by including plots and

characters who had that negative way of thinking.

STYLISTIC AND NARRATIVE FEATURES

Film noir is often distorted, skewed and

uncomfortable to watch, to put the viewer at unease.

It used a dark atmosphere, hard shadows and

peculiar camera angles.

Reflections, views and faces are often obscured

through objects. Gives the audience the sense of

uncertainty and unease

…

Film noir are known for its use of jumbled time sequences,

it’s sometimes delirious flashbacks within flashbacks, as

used in Sorry Wrong Number and The Killers.

In Paul Schrader’s 1972 “Notes on Film Noir”, he states

that the main components of noir style, are things like visual

chiaroscuro, where the effect of contrasting light and

shadow are created by light falling unevenly, voice-over

narrative and frequent flashback structures.

CLIP ONE

The Strange Love of Martha Ivers

Features that make the film within the genre of film noir:

- lighting: dullness, black and white

- camera angles: different camera angles to reflect different characteristics

and bring dramatic effect to certain situations, for e.g. the death of the Aunt

- music: different music to set different moods, for e.g. Miklos Rozsa music

'suite' is tones differently, it starts off quite dramatically and then goes very

romantic and toned down which then seems to go very up lifting and dramatic

again. Also music to fit the characters moods and the situation that's happening

in the film, like with realisation at the end of the film and with the Aunts death

CLIP 2

Detour