Deconstruction of Lighting in Film Noir

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.