Film Noir Conventions

Conventions of film Noir

Film Noir is everything within the film such as the them, mood and mise-en-scene. Film Noir became popular in the 1940-1960's in its style of film due to the relevance and links it had with what society was going through at the time. In the 1940's the second world war against Hitler and the Nazi's was recently over and still a massive event in society due to its struggling to build back the cities and country.

MISE-EN-SCENE

Props&Costume

• A gun is probably the most common prop in films following the Film Noir style. As film Noir takes the dark, enigmatic route and ideas in film making, a gun would be the perfect prop to fit in. A gun is a strong simble of power, aggression and fear. It holds superiority and status to the owner. There is nothing seen 'good' about owning an armed weapon, and those who are in possession who are not in the armed forces are instantly seen to be 'dangerous' people as the have the potential to take and end a life. Its also what we stereotypically expect to see a gangster in possession of; another Film Noir convention.
• In Film Noir a typical character we expect to see is a detective, and one way to getting this message across the the audience is through costume. Smartly dress suit to hold status and class (however they never have the shiny shoes), completed with a trench coat and hat is usually worn by the male protagonist. The way people interact with one another is through facial expressions and body language; Through cutting this form of communication off it effecively seportes the character off from the rest of society and this give him the enigmatic, threatening allure.

Locations

• Business offices in urban settings, nothing natural in the location. It offers status and power depending on how 'grand' the business location is. It allows the director to play around with certain scenes and camera angles in debate on who has the control throughout a scene.

LIGHTING

• Artificial - a lot like the urban settings will take away everything natural in the scene which then given in the possibility that anything could happen within the scene.
• dark - doesn't give away the full picture on what is happening within the scene, giving the enigmatic affect by playing on a childhood fear; "scared of the dark". The fear originating from the fear of the unknown. Theoretically as this is a film, anything or one could be lurking in the corner waiting to strike.
• sharp- shadowing more predominant. The use of shadows is a big convention in Film Noir as it effectively sets the mood.

THEMSES&MOOD

• Enigma (mystery)
• Crime
• Gender
• Bleak
• Discovery and suspicion discovery
• Lust- woman
• Deceit and Betrayal
• Concealment

CAMERA WORK

• Close UPs give the ability to focus on one subject to the audience may that be an action or an emotional response.
• Extreme Angles have the ability to either reduce or increase a status or authority to a subject, my that be a character or a location. Through Low angle shots, the camera i looking up to the subject, increasing the power and control as the audience appears to be looking up to the subject. A high angle shot does the exact opposite; reduces the amount of authority and status a subject has within the scene as the audience appears to be looking on on the subject, giving the illusion that he's the weaker subject.
• Obscure Shots are usually used to give a sense of privacy and concealment to the characters, adding to the enigma theme. This then gives the audience the feel of being a 'fly on the wall', which then adds to the detective, crime genre Film Noir likes to involve.
• Extreme Long Shots set the scene and makes the audience look further into the shot; scrutinise what is happening within the scene.

CHARACTERS

• Moral Ambiguity in the male protagonist
• Gangsters
• Femma Fatale - the strong female character whom is ultimately going to be the male lead characters downfall.

film noir