09/10/13 RESEARCH: FILM NOIR

I used these books to do some research into film noir and what we were going to do for the film opening and from these books I noticed that the key things with film noir are

• low key black and white visual style
• roots in German expressionist cinematography
• derives from crime fiction of US Great Depression
• central figure often an private eye (THE BIG SLEEP 1946)
• or a plain clothed police man (THE BIG HEAT)
• an ageing boxer (THE SET-UP)
• a hapless grifter (NIGHT AND THE CITY)
• or simply a victim if circumstance (D.O.A)
• film noir nearly always have a strong female character who resist and disturb the male ordered world
• gives us pleasure by making us uncomfortable: anxiety vulnerability and fright are all part of the thrill
• characters faces often partially shadowed to create hidden threatening spaces
• often sleazy, milieu of claustrophobic alley ways or destered spaces alternating with gaudy night clubs and swank apartments
• high contrast lighting