film noir pink panthers. film noir film noir is a cycle of mainly american film in the 1940s to...
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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