Film Noir

As a group we have decided to base our film black and white (film noir).

Film Noir of this era is associated with a low key. Black and white visual style. A cinematic term used to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas.

The 'dark' downbeat and back the looks and themes were of many American crime and detective films released in France to theaters following the war.

Examples of Film Noir:

• The Maltese Falcon (1941)
• Murder, My Sweet (1944)
• Double Indemnity (1944)

Film Noir s not a genre, but rather a mood, style, point of view or tone of a film. It's helpful to realize that 'Film Noir' usually refers to a distinct historical period of film history. 

Film Noir films (mostly shot in gloom grays, blacks and whites)

Thematically showed the dark and unhuman side of human and nature. It emphasizes the brutal, unhealthy, seamy, shadowy, dark and sadistic sides of the human experience.

Primary characteristics and conventions of film noir:

Classic Film Noir were: Alienation, Disillusionment, Pessimism, ambiguity, evil, desperation and paranoia. Story lines were often elliptical, non-linear and twisting. Narratives were frequently complex, maze-like and convoluted and typically told with foreboding background music and flashbacks.

Females in Film Noir, 2 types:

(1)- Dutiful, reliable, trustworthy and loving women

(2)- (Female Fatales)- Mysterious, Duplicitous, Gorgeous, Unloving, tough-sweet, unreliable and desperate women.

The male protagonists in film noir wished to elude his mysterious past, and had to choose what path to choose and what to take.

The first detective film to us shadowy, nihilistic noir style was The Maltese Falcon. the film used low key lighting and inventive and arresting angles. unusual camera angles- sometimes low to the ground, revealing ceilings of the room- are utilized to emphasize the nature of the characters and their actions.