What makes it a distinctive genre?

Film Noir

A list of Film NoirsDouble Indemnity

The Big Combo

The Woman in the Window

Murder, My Sweet

The Maltese Falcon

Touch of Evil

Stranger on the Third Floor

In a lovely place

Sweet smell of success

The postman always rings twice

The big heat

The big sleep

What is film noir?

American, stylish, fast talking detective films of 1940-50s.

A very dark, black and white underworld atmosphere.

Very little colour to look at, dark and dull. Usually set at night-because it was cheaper

Film Noir

Pulp Fiction and film noir showed the American legal system was corrupt. America never likes to think of it self as bad.

Film noir-French, for ‘black film’

Film Noir Directors

Alexander MackendrickAlfred HitchcockBilly WilderBoris IngsterFritz LangJoseph H LewisStuart Heisler

Film Noir Conventions

Film noir is still used today, it is just out of fashion, they may use it for advertising.

In film noir, directors tried to do the conventions better than everyone else.

Film Noir Conventions

When a character is in trouble or

feels he may get caught, the director seems to always leave him looking trapped, they do this by putting his face in the shadow of shutter blinds. This makes the character look trapped and in jail.

Film Noir is also known for its Dutch angles, wide angle lenses, low angle shots.

Film Noir Conventions

The low-key lighting schemes of many classic film noirs are associated with stark light/dark contrasts and dramatic shadow patterning—a style known as chiaroscuro.

The shadows of Venetian blinds or banister rods, cast upon an actor, a wall, or an entire set, are an iconic visual in noir and had already become a cliché well before the neo-noir era.

Characters' faces may be partially or wholly obscured by darkness—a relative rarity in conventional Hollywood filmmaking.

What makes it distinctive to other genres?

-Black and White visuals are not used now-a-days.

-The language is different

-Shadows are not used as much now, and they are not used in the way that film noir directors used it in.

-Sound motif was used a lot-this is when the music links with a character. When certain music is played, you know that that character will enter or be shown in the shot.