Generic Conventions of a Film Noir

Generic Conventions of a Film Noir

Camera and Composition: Camera Angles are essential to a film noir and the way they are used can be hugely influential. Often with the femme fatal or the anti-hero, a low angle will be used to represent the characters power; with women it often represents their higher or equal power to the men in the scene. The camera angles are used to create a sense of distortion and unease by using 'dutch' camera angles, which view things through a slightly tilted camera angle, rather than using a horizontal or vertical camera angle. A lot of shots tend to be set up by looking into a dark room, with the only lighting coming through the venetian blinds, making the scene look very dark and mysterious.

Editing: Film Noirs typically don't involve very much editing, as the time period meant they were very limited to the amount of editing they could actually do. A film noir is often found to begin at the end, telling the story in flashbacks and letting the plot unfold slowly. A film noir will almost always be in black and white, but when in colour they will tend to have a dark or sepia filter added to add to the dark, uneasy and mysterious mood that comes with the film. Scenes often are cut using fades in and out.

Sound: When film noirs became popular, in the 1940's, the white people of America were becoming increasingly afraid of the Jazz music genre, as it was a style that was played by black people. This music was used as it was very downbeat and slow, and created a lot of tension and unease for the viewer as they already had fear associated with the entire genre of music. The protagonist often has a voiceover, talking over a clip as he recalls a flashback of the story. Scenes will often go silent to build up more tension for the viewer, with the heavy breathing of the characters often being the only thing audible. They then use sudden, loud noises to break the silence in the quiet, tense scenes.

Mise-en-scene: Film noirs typically use very normal, urban locations to make the films seem more realistic to the viewers, as the location makes it much more believable if the action takes place in a rainy or damp street, opposed to when it happens in the darker, more nasty end of town. The scenes use very little lighting, casting a lot of shadows and darkness to be in the scene. The shadows are used as a way to put more mystery into the scenes, and often venetian blinds are used as the only source of light coming through. Shadows can manipulate characters faces to make them appear distorted and dark. Cigarette smoke is used throughout films, often with the femme fatal, to add to the ominous and mysterious mood following the storyline.

Characters:

• Every Man (Often turns into anti-hero)
• Femme Fatal
• Girl Next Door
• The Villain
• The Henchmen

The Every Man is the typical protagonist for a film noir and often gets himself into trouble with the Femme Fatal, a woman who is supposed to be seductive and often is working with The Villain, usually because of their relationship they are in when the Every Man meets her. The Villain is usually the antagonist of a film noir and is the reason for the Every Man's demise, either turning into the anti-hero or ultimately ending up dead. The Henchmen work for the villain, and carry out his dirty work against the Every Man.

Narrative: Film Noirs have a story line that differs from normal films, as they begin at the end with the protagonist re-telling the story with voiceovers and flashbacks. The first person narration is quite symbolic for film noirs, as not many films were found to be using this kind of editing in that time period.