Film Noir Commentary
During this unit, our focus was completely on the genre ‘Film Noir’, noir meaning black in French. Film Noir is a classic style of film from 1940s to 1950s made from two important assets, strong visual style like chiaroscuro lightning, type of extreme lighting used to create distinct areas of light and dark and Dutch angle, used to portray the psychological uneasiness or tension is what is being filmed. Visual style also involves use of looming shadows, venetian blinds fog/smoke etc, which gives the scene a dark mysterious feeling with the intention of the time as there was a post-war depression so the films were not content but they were based around the dim effects and crime in the world.
Second major asset is the dark characters and storylines related to the world of crime and fraud, often involving flashback along with storytelling. Noir films consist of two main figures, the ‘Protagonist’ and the ‘Femme fatale’. Protagonists is usually brought down by the femme fatale, however femme fatale is a character who is always in power and uses her attraction and superiority to control men (protagonist) and make them do unforgiving things which suits her personality of being; cold hearted. Technique used commonly in Noir films is that movies start in the future and the story is told as a flashback which is a very important method used because it permits the story to have a narrator, to give additional detail about the scenes, and how he can create an effect or initiative just by talking about it.
There are 2 main influences on Film Noir style, first are the artistic and second is WW2:
Artistic influences like the German Expressionism developed their own style by using symbolism and artistic mise en scéne to add mood and deeper meaning to a movie. Artistic influence is used in these films to make the lighting very bold and theoretical, as it gives an indication of a characters good and evil side. This artistic influence is also used to create the mood and sense of the scene for example a dark room to make the scene mysterious. Another side to artistic influence is based on the gangster films from the early 30’s and 40’s which is based on the crime and murder as presented in Noir films. Darkness, mystery, and suspense are also extracted from artistic influence shown through horror movies and hard boil novels.
World War Two (WWT) on the other hand is actually inspired the directors historically to make movies based on dark story lines, as it was the time when many people were stressed and unhappy about what was going on, which then gave the directors an idea to make movies which were depressing and dark on one hand, however crime and betrayal portrayed on the other hand.
The idea of femme fatale becoming in power was also extracted from the WWT as it was the time when women stayed home while men were out in the war so when the men came back from war the women had a lot more power and were more important than men because they were at home while all of their husbands went to war, so they had no authority in their family circle.
Double Indemnity
The classic example of Film Noir is Billy Wilder’s ‘Double Indemnity’ (1944) which completely shows the conventions of Noir films. MacMurray playing lead role as a protagonist named Walter Neff in the movie who is a sales person. He narrates the story by voice over on his flash back. Phyllis (femme fatale) persuaded her boyfriend, Neff, to kill her husband after having her spouse take out a big insurance policy—with a double-indemnity clause. However it all goes wrong and they end up shooting each other, leaving Neff trapped and dying. The story concludes by giving a bleak ending, which is usually done in Noir films.
'Deceiveing Dame' my Film Noir Poster
My first practical work in this unit was to make a Film Noir movie poster in Photoshop. I was required to use one original image along with to follow as many Film Noir conventions possible. To create my poster I started off with thinking a catching title and came up with ‘Deceiving Dame’ which is an alliteration, therefore using a technique like this is usually catching. Next I had to come up with the original image however it was made easy as I was given an opportunity to click pictures with my friends in the media suite with all the lightings and props provided.
My Film Noir poster has a dim background along with urban setting indicated by the buildings in the background which makes it a Noir poster. It also includes the protagonist and the femme fatale’s close up which was desaturated in Photoshop to give it a black and white effect. Personally I believe my Noir poster was quite successful as it gives a complete indication of a Noir genre film, by showing some Film Noir conventions. (Process of making my Film Noir poster is on the ‘Film Noir - Poster’ page).
Storyboard - Deceiving Dame
Another practical work that was set in this unit was to make a story board of my Film Noir. I was given the template to create my story board and was told, to achieve a high mark I had to have a minimum of 8 slides which had to be a scene from my Film Noir synopsis. I started my story board from the scene where my protagonist is on the way to rob the bank and how he gets in the bank whereas the femme fatale decides to complete her plan successfully by killing her husband during the time when protagonist is robbing the bank. To make my storyboard look like a scene from a Film Noir film I used shadows, urban environment, femme fatale, protagonist, chiaroscuro lighting and the Dutch angle which are all the conventions to make up a Noir genre. I personally think my storyboard was successful as it has, what a Noir genre should include along with some dialogues spoken by the characters in the language used in olden times ‘colloquial’.
Conclusion
In this unit of work I have completely developed my skills to learn about something which I haven’t even heard about. Film Noir is a type of genre, was completely unknown to me however now I know about it from its context to what makes a Film Noir. I’ve also learnt that film making can also depend on artistic and historical influences which can help the directors make up a totally new genre. Talking about skills I have also developed some new skills in Photoshop for example I have learnt to desaturate pictures along with contrasting colors. Making the poster has also improved my researching skills as now I can develop my ideas through researching and portraying them in my own ways.
Another new thing I have learnt from this unit is constructing a storyboard and from this piece of work I have developed my drawing skills as well as imagining of how a scene should be portrayed. Overall I think this unit has made me learn something really important in media studies in terms of developing skills in Photoshop, drawing and clicking pictures to meet the requirement to my Film Noir poster.
