Dramatic lighting is vital in film noir. It usually features a single, harsh light, resulting in very solid black shadows. As the locations we are using are not actually appropriate for our setting, we have to light it very carefully and obscure as much of it as we can in shadows.
The first example is silhouette lighting, in which the harshest light source is on the opposite side of the subject to the camera, obscuring most of the features of the subject, but highlighting the shapes. It works especially well in film noir due to the lack of colour and high contrast, but is generally common across all crime fiction. This example is from "Catch Me If You Can". The lighting is reflective of the context of the scene, a dark conversation laden with threats.
This technique is sometimes called an eye-light. Flags are used to block the light in certain areas so that it only lights the brow and puts the highlights in the eyes. This is used to draw attention to a female character's face and eyes. It's an interesting technique.
This shot from "Hotel Noir" features a low hanging light, resulting in the radius of the light being very small and the light being very harsh. This also creates silhouettes of the protagonist and the railings.
In this shot, also from "Hotel Noir", the light is mostly from one side of the subject, obscuring half of his face. This is reflective of his intentions to steal money. The other side of his face being brightly lit could be associated with his hopes of starting a better life with it. It is an interesting case to light half the face instead of creating a silhouette of him. Its prevalence in film noir is most likely due to how good it looks in black and white and the idea of a good and bad side to everyone.
I wanted to explore the way that different film noirs have used typography, and use them as inspiration for our final editing task.
First of all I looked at original film noir's of 1930-59.
A classic film noir example is on Dangerous Ground:
The title itself is straight to the point about the plot. "On Dangerous Ground" is a film noir slang term which means to be in a position of danger or be involved with in a potentially harmful situation.
Sans Serif font is often used in action/ modern films as it doesn't have any relation to religion or supernatural elements.
The dark street as a background conforms to the common conventions of film noir, as ambient urban streets are a key feature of film noir in terms of location. Also, it further conforms as there are uses of shadows and harsh lighting which is also a key component in the success of the film.
1944
"Double Indemnity":
similar to on dangerous ground it also conforms to film noir conventions as it uses monochrome colours.
Sans serif is utilised to show that it's action and crime related rather than horror.
The shadows of the letters is cleverly used to set the title part from the brightly lit background.
Shadows are further used in the background, in the figure holding two walking sticks which compliment the title. This conveys a sense of mystery as we can't see the identity of the person, which film noir films usually aim to create.
The man holding the two walking sicks perfectly compliment the title because "indemnity" means security or protection against loss or other financial burdens, so "double" means twice the support which is what the figure has.
1946
"Crack up" begins more adventurous typography:
Still keeping to the all monochrome conventions, it's still all black and white however the title itself is the centre focus.
Sans serif font mimics the rock like appearance of the title, as it looks more raw and untouched.
The effect of the title is parallel to the name of the film, though it doesn't give anything else about the film away.
1953
"House of Wax"
I also chose to look at film noir last as this is more diverse than the other typographies that I have looked at.
When colour TV had been developed in 1951 the monochrome versions of film noir had a decline however the conventions and principles had remained. Although there has been an incorporation of colour, the remaining background image is saturated in colour and dark. What seems to be a block of buildings with one source of light in each room, creates shadows enhancing the mystery as much of the setting is concealed.
I had difficulty identifying the type of font for the letters of "House of Wax" and found that it was called slab-serif font. This creates the appearance of an American typewriter sort of typeface, an example of this is the font I am using now.
The melted orangey appearance on the title makes it look like wax melting off the letters, which is the main focus of the typography because it's the subject of the movie and therefore appropriate for it's film.
In order to begin organising costume for our production, I have decided to look at the typical costumes of film noir characters and what they suggest.
Females
A key element of the film noir genre is the femme fatale, dangerous and seductive women who often enjoy creating danger for the protagonist. They wear heavy amounts of red and black, red symbolising passion and danger with black symbolising mystery and the unknown.
The dresses are seductive and often form fitting which means the character is able to tempt the protagonist into dangerous situations. They are sometimes shown wearing accessories such as floppy hats and long gloves, items seen as very glamorous during the 50s when the genre was at its peak. They are also often seen wearing large, gaudy items of jewellery embellished with diamonds and other jewels.
The hair is almost always tightly curled, and either long and flowing or in an elegant up-do. It's also common for femme fatales to don a veil or other hair piece if not already wearing a hat.
Bold, sultry make up is used to highlight areas of the face. As it's in black and white, the darker the colours used the more contrast there will be and therefore the more attention that is brought to the desired areas such as the eyes and the lips.
Males
An effective film noir look for men is very simple to achieve as the main features are simply an old fashioned fedora with a thick band around it paired with a trench coat. These items are used almost universally in film noir for men as, when worn in the right way, can perfectly depict either a detective or a gang member - the two most common protagonists of the genre.
A smart shirt and tie will also be needed and will be easily accessible to us. Braces are also a common feature and could be shown if our character removes the coat at any point.
The shirt and tie are appropriate for the character's line of work, and the fedora along with an oversized coat create mystery and to some extent conceal the character's identity, making them the perfect costume.
Overall, the male costume is far easier to achieve and for our production we will need to put a lot more effort into the femme fatale costume as it's more intricate and contains more key features.
I found an AS film noir to use for inspiration, "The Fatale Kiss", it is about a runner within a gang and his affair with a gang member's daughter. It's not very high quality, but it provides some good examples of what can be achieved with almost no budget or experience. It is also not a film opening, it appears to be a short, 8 minute film.
The scene opens with close up shots of the girl with some slow piano music. Tracking shots of her feet and face are used, emphasising her supposed grace and beauty respectively. The lighting is almost entirely from one direction, creating very solid, strong shadows. The camera is placed on the opposite side to the strongest light source, which creates an interesting silhouette effect. This is something we could consider doing, as interesting shadows are a staple of the film noir genre.
In this shot, the girl jumping up cuts to the boy landing on his feet. This is an interesting take on parallel editing that is fairly simple to recreate, aside from timing issues. The music also changes on this cut.
The next cut is in time with the loudest drum beats of the music. This is very effecting in maintaining tension as it fits the tone of the music. In this shot, it starts with an empty frame, which the actor's hands then enter. This hints towards him just arriving, and is effective at maintaining visual interest.
In this shot, a smart phone is shown. This, along with some of the costumes, makes it very obvious that this film opening is set in modern day. I don't think this works well with the monochrome filter. It creates this strange dissonance, but I don't think that could have been easily avoided.
This is another interesting use of lighting. The silhouette effect here is very striking and I think something like this could work very well in our piece.
There are some other critique points I would mention. Firstly, due to the length of the piece, several music tracks were used. If it were edited well enough, that would not have been so jarringly obvious. The transitions between the audio tracks could definitely use some work, perhaps having longer fade outs would help. Secondly, the tracking shots were, for the most part, very shaky, with a few exceptions. This was more noticeable due to the abundance of them in this particular clip.
The strengths were definitely the lighting and variety of shots. The lighting was very harsh and effective in the indoor scenes. There were several interesting camera angles which I noted above.
For inspiration I decided to look at some student made film noir short films which we could look at for ideas to include in our own film noir opening scene. This is the short film noir I decided to look at:
Mise-en-scene
The first shot is of the protagonist in his office. The only items shown in the room are a desk, telephone and a glass. This would be very easy to recreate and does not involve anything too complicated. The protagonist is wearing a suit and a hat which looks like a fedora which is a common convention in film noir's.
I liked the use of an old fashioned phone which looked effective and is suitable for the era when most film noir's were made. I think this would be a good prop to use in our opening scene.
Other props used in this short film noir are cigarettes and a gun which also conforms to the common conventions of film noir.
The femme fatale is seen wearing a dress and jewelry which is often seen in film noir's.
Sound
The clip starts with some upbeat classical music including lots of strings which continues to play quietly through the whole clip. The classical music becomes louder towards the end when the protagonist is shot to show the change of mood. We then hear the voiceover of the protagonist which was very effective as the actor had a suitable voice. Next the sound of the old fashioned phone rings and we hear the conversation between the femme fatal and the protagonist. Both actors have good acting skills and they both add accents to fit in with conventions of film noir's which I found very effective. Other sound effects include a gun shot and a voice sounding through a tannoy.
Camera angles
The majority of camera angles were medium shots these we're used especially during the conversation when there was shot reverse shot.
One of my favourite camera angles was the extreme close up of her mouth when she was talking on the phone. I also liked the use of shadows in this shot.
Lighting
Lots of shadows are created in this short film noir. It also conforms to film noir's being in black and white. The most common use of shadows are the venetian blinds, silhouettes and half of the face being concealed in shadows.
Location
The locations used were two rooms and a stairway. This would be very easy to use in our film opening as long as the correct mise-en-scene is used and the props are suitable. Lots of the shots were also filmed in front of a wall which is not complex.
Evaluation
Pros:
Good use of lighting and shadows making it conform to the film noir genre.
Good acting, this meant that the voice overs sounded good and not too amateurish
The mise-en-scene such as costumes and props were well used and all conformed to conventions. The props also meant that even though the locations were simple they still looked good.
I particularly liked the close up shot of her mouth when she was on the phone and how the shadows concealed one side of her face.
Cons:
To improve I would use less conversation as this was quite long and boring at times.
Female
The femme fatale in film noir's is often seen wearing a tight red dress to show her slender figure and to seduce the male protagonist. The red dress is often paired with heels and red lipstick this colour symbolises danger which is a forecast of what is to come in the film. However, in old fashioned film noirs a black and white filter is often used so the colours cannot be identified. As shown in the image below sometimes the femme fatale also wears long gloves and may also wear tights.
Makeup is also an important part of the overall look. This is often thick red lipstick, eyeliner and mascara therefore is easy to create. Sometimes the femme fatale is also seen with long wavy hair. The aim is to make her look desirable. Due to the black and white filter the colours need to be bold therefore lipstick and dark eye makeup will be suitable.
Male
The majority of males in the film noirs wear suits. This is common for the era of when most film noirs were made or are set in the 1940's-1950's as this was the fashion. The suit is also often paired with a fedora and maybe a gun. Detectives are usually seen in a trench coat and may also wear a fedora.
This is a simple costume to recreate and does not involve any complex details.
After establishing a plot line with my group, we sat and went over every shot we wanted to use and noted them. I used this rough guideline to draw the storyboard. I drew it digitally using a graphics tablet, using blue as I find it easier to draw in than black. I also added in highlights to make note of specific lighting we may require, as appropriate lighting is essential to the film noir genre.
I think this is a good first draft of our storyboard that conveys our plot adequately. It may however, be worth breaking some parts down into more than one panel to get the point across, such as the shot of the detective walking over to the desk which could be split into a drawing of him near the camera and a second drawing of him near the desk.
For this practical task, I decided to create an evidence board commonly seen in detective shows and real life investigations to use in the background of our film opening. Here are some examples of images that inspired me to create this:
Making the board
As we are currently undecided on an actress to star as the femme fatale in our film, I asked my mum to take pictures of me to use as placeholders. When we decide on an actress we will then be able to recreate similar photos to use instead. One of my favourite shots which I'd like to be able to recreate was taken in the wing mirror of a car with a fake cigarette and I think this was effective as it suggests someone stalking the character.
For these pictures I used the same photo-ageing effect I've used in my previous pictures, but also applied an extra contrast layer as I was unhappy with the low levels of contrast in my last pictures.
As I also have a polaroid camera, I thought these would also be effective to use. So far in our rough plot there is a scene where the detective is mailed polaroids of the woman being tied up so I tried to take some shots of this, however due to the lighting I don't think they were very effective.
I pinned the pictures onto a large cork board that I bought as well as an old OS map and used string to link the pictures onto the map as seen in the pictures at the top of the post. However, as we haven't yet worked out minor plot details I was unable to include as much detail and information as in these pictures, and therefore my board is very rushed and has little detail on it. I'm not particularly happy with the current outcome, however I have many ideas on other things I can include when we have further developed the character and the plot. I intend to do a lot more work on it and also research further into things such as what official detective case files look like. Here is the finished product:
I have chosen to deconstruct a student made film noir opening called 'Retribution', which I thought was particularly good and of a good standard.
Camera Angles
The starting camera angle is a pan from a neutral level on the floor, across the broken photo frames and glass. This focuses into the lamp and shards of glass which establishes that a violent scene or crime scene has just happened.
We then pan movement is used as transition into the main scene where the crime had been committed. The camera is low down and is still panning from the floor, it allows us to see the woman in the corner as a person of dominance as she is literally in a high position and acts as a looming presence over the dead body when in frame,even though we can not see her face.
The fact that we can see the dead person from the floor enhances the violence of the murder as we can see him on a more personal level.
One part that I particularly like was the close-ups shots that they used, which contrasts her sexual allure and vulnerability.
Her calm demure whilst she's smoking, and red lips are often common conventions of the classic femme fatale, instantly we perceive her as a strong and confident character.
Yet, once the opening progresses we see the hint of the bruised eye conveys the theme of revenge as it's likely that it wasn't self inflicted, giving us insight into why she may be so relaxed whilst there's a bloody body in the room.
I noticed that throughout the scene the women is never filmed from a high angle, above her head, continuing to convey her as a figure potency. Even with the SWAT team surrounding her she seems to be illuminated by the dress in the light from the low-angle-long-shot portraying her defiance right to the end.
The clever use of over-the-shoulder-shot of the shadowed members of the SWAT team not only develops the genre, as shadows are used frequently in film noir, but also creates mystery and dismisses the need for realistic costumes as you only need the outline of the figures to look good.
Sound
Thunder and lightening sound effects conform to the conventions of film noir, and this plays throughout, the pathetic fallacy of the rain outside reflects the ominous setting of the room and death and despair that surrounds the situation.
A music soundtrack by Nancy Sinatra 1966 parallels what has happened previously in the scene, and give's depth to the type of murder that had occurred (A shooting). However this subverts the common conventions of a film noir as it isn't a downbeat jazz piece which is often used, implying that this is a more modern day take on film noir (making it neo-noir)
Mise-en-scene
Mise-en-scene enables us underscores the abusive relationship, which lead to the murder of the husband in the opening scene. Photographs of the "happy couple" surrounded by shards of smashed glass suggests a broken relationship and a struggle. The effective use of leaving the photographs coloured contrasts the happy, joyful-looking couple from the darkness that surrounds the pictures. By doing this, it successfully generates a sense of deceit since the pictures are portraying a normal couple, however monochrome room highlights the sinister events that are happening in real life.
An ash tray conforms to the conventions of film noir as it's a prop that is often used. Also, the wedding ring on her left hand further confirms the relationship between the woman and the man, especially because the ring is shown directly opposite his picture, which is also in colour to make it more prominent in the frame.
Editing
The distortion of the image when thunder and lighting strikes, thus emphasises danger that is foreshadowed, because it creates a feeling of foreboding due to the visual spectacle of blurriness symbolises confusion or a shaken effect, representing how the protagonist may have felt.
Fast-paced match on action is used of the woman turning around, when the SWAT team bursts through the door, creating a sense of immediacy which is effective in developing the climax of the scene.
