390 likes | 798 Views
Film Noir. By: Bryan & Alex. Background Info. FIlm Noir literally means "black film or cinema" It was first called that by a french film critic Nino Frank in 1946, who noticed how 'dark' and downbeat and black the American crime and detective movies looked.
E N D
Film Noir By: Bryan & Alex
Background Info • FIlm Noir literally means "black film or cinema" • It was first called that by a french film critic Nino Frank in 1946, who noticed how 'dark' and downbeat and black the American crime and detective movies looked. • All the darkness reflected the time period which was post World War II and early Cold War. The tensions were high and there was a lot of mistrust, loss of innocence, fear, and paranoia all over the air. • Classic Film Noir movies were made during and after World War II, taking advantage of anxiety, pessimism, and suspicion.
Characters • The Protagonists in film noir • Conflicted hard-boiled * detectives or private eyes • cops • gangsters • government agents • lone wolves • socio-paths • killers • crooks • war veterans • politicians • petty criminals • murderers • Plain "Joes"
Protagonist • The Protagonist is usually morally ambiguous, low-lifes from the dark and gloomy underworld of violent crime and corruption. Characteristics : • Cynical • Tarnished • Obsessive(sexual or otherwise) • Brooding • Menacing • Sinister • Sardonic • Disillusioned • Frightened • Insecure loner (usually male) • Struggling to survive • Ultimately losing
StoryLines • The story lines were often non-linear and twisting. The stories were very complex and maze-like and convoluted. • The story is usually told with a foreboding background music. • Often told in flashback or a series of flashbacks. • Amnesia suffered by the protagonist is a plot device often used. • Also the lost of innocence by falling under temptation or being framed.
Style of Film Noir • It is usually shot in gloomy grays, blacks, and whites, this was done to show the inhumane side of human nature with cynicism and doomed love. • They emphasizes the brutal, unhealthy, seamy, shadowy, dark, sadistic sides of the human experience. • Camera tactics: • expressionistic lighting • deep focus or depth of field camera work • disorienting visual schemes • jarring editing • skewed camera angles(usually vertical or diagonal rather than horizontal
Setting • Interior settings: • with a single source of lighting, venetian-blinded windows, dark rooms, claustrophobic, gloomy appearances • Exterior settings: • urban night scenes with deep shadows, wet asphalt, dark alleyways, rain-slicked streets, flashing neon lights, and low lighting. • Story Locations: • murky and dark streets,dimly lit and low rent apartments and hotel rooms of big cities, or abandoned warehouses
Cross over Noirs • The term film noir also been more widely applied to other categories of films. Some of the most interesting film noir derivatives were the film noir westerns of the 1950s: • Pursued(1947) • The Gunfighter(1950) • High noon(1952) • The Halliday Brand (1957)
Derivatives of Film Noir SubGenre-categories: • Thrillers- Pickup on South Street • Animation- Who Framed Roger Rabbit • Horror FIlms- Angel Heart • Westerns- Man of the West • Gangster-Crime Films- Road to Perdition • Science-Fiction- Kiss Me Deadly • Superhero Action Films- Tim Burton's Batman
Rebecca 1940 Directed by: Alfred HItchcock Stars: Laurence Olivier, Joan Fontaine and George Sanders Plot: When a naive young woman marries a rich widower and settles in his gigantic mansion, she finds the memory of the first wife maintaining a grip on her husband and the servants.
The Night of the Hunter 1955 Directed by: Charles Laughton Stars: Robert Mitchum, Shelley Winters, and Lilian Gish Plot: A religious fanatic marries a gullible widow whose young children are reluctant to tell him where their real daddy hid 10,000 he'd stolen in a robbery.
Chinatown 197. Directed by: Roman Polanski Stars: Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway and John Huston Plot: An Los Angeles private detective investigates an adultery case stumbles on to a scheme of murder that has something to do with water in the 1940s.
Blade Runner 1982 Directed by: Ridley Scott Stars: Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, and Sean Young Plot: Deckard, a Blade Runner, has to track down and terminate four replicants (clones) who hijacked a ship in space and have returned to earth seeking their maker. Takes place in futuristic Los Angeles, circa 2019.
Pulp Fiction 1994 Directed by: Quentin Tarantino Stars: John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Uma Thurnman Plot: The lives of two mob hit men, boxer, a gangster's wife, and a pair of diner bandits intertwine in four tales of violence and redemption.