Examples of film noir

Women looks very powerful in chair, strong face expression

 

Red lips stand out, I'll consider using red lipstick in my film noir, once again powerful femme fatale

Shots of eyes, In these images the eyes show sorrow and weakness, I plan on taking shots of my models eyes, my model will show anger and evilness through her eyes

Research

Plan

Plan for my Film Noir Poster

 

Plan for my Film Noir Poster

For my film noir poster, I plan on re-creating the image above. As in the image, I plan on using a female model, Im going to go for the 50's dress sense (long coat, trench coat etc) shoes wont matter as they wont show ( like in the image above)  I wont be

Plan for my Film Noir Narrative

I plan on creating a trailer styled Film Noir. My narrative will consist of images of Femme fatales, I'll

Research-Sin City

SIN CITY

STYLE

• Dark music
• Comic Style
• Red writing in the intro
• Close ups
• Head shots
• Depth of field shots (main subject focused with background out of focus)
• Black and White
• Heavy Rain
• Heavy music when action was happening
• Sepia tones
• Key elements/danger shown in colour e.g. Blood was shown in red, Fire shown in colour whiles everything else was black and white
• Skin colour is shown at times
• Red sky shown at points
• Police Mobs 
• Swords, Grenades, Guns, Crowbars
• 
  

LIGHTING

• Dark
• Bright in background at points when femme fatale was present
• Colour was used more in this film than in Double Indemnity, Double indemnity was simple black and white

SUBJECT MATTER

• Femme fatale is blonde in a bright red dress and lipstick
• Little girl needs protecting
• Bad guy beats up police, escapes, jumps off building
• Medication shown in colour
• Silhouettes (like in Double indeminty)
• Old cars
• Fierce dogs
• Blood
• All bad guys owned guns
• Shadows are shown
• Red car, police siron flashed red
• Prostitutes where like femme fatales
• Smoking

 
One of the prostitute femme fatales, it is even said on the photo that she is 'Beautiful and merciless'
 
 

Definition

                                 Film

       noir

A French phrase literally meaning "black film" that developed in the early 40s; refers to a genre of mostly black-and-white films that blossomed in the post-war era in American cinema, with bleak subject matter and a somber, downbeat tone; the plot (often a quest), low-key lighting often in night scenes, camera angles, the setting (the gloomy underworld of crime and corruption), iconography (guns, urban settings), characters (disillusioned, jaded), One or more femme fatales ( a mysterious and seductive woman whose charms ensnare her lovers in bonds of irresistible desire, often leading them into compromising, dangerous, and deadly situations.) and other elements combined to present a dark atmosphere of pessimism, tension, cynicism, or oppression.

Research-Double Indemnity

DOUBLE INDEMNITY

STYLE

• The overall style of the film clip we watched was Black and white.
• It had a very classic feel to it
• The characters had posh english accents
• As expected, the men shown were wearing top hats, ties and long coats, this is a very common trait in femme fatal
• Venetian blinds, a very common trait in film noir

LIGHTING

• Shadows
• Dark/low lighting 90% of the time
• Gloomy
• Areas were highlighted when something interesting was about to happen
• Silhouettes were shown, in the very first clip, a mans silhouette was shown

Subject Matter

• Smoking males
• Long coats -usually trench are worn by males in this film
• Man shown alone frequently, usually outside
• In the film, the main man starts off with a confession, this is followed by a flashback
• The man goes to a house, looking for the man of the house, he is greeted by the maid who then asks the wife of the man of the house a question, she is beautiful,  young and comes of as  flirtatious, these signs tell us she could potentially be the femme fatale
• The man is shown eyeing up the potential femme fatale, she does the same
• The man went to talk about car insurance but the potential femme fatale asks about life insurance for her husband-first sign of evil!
• Voice overs
• P.O.V. shots

•  

Femme Fatale, this is the first time the femme fatale appears in the film. What made me think she was the femme fatale? She was the first beautiful woman shown in the movie, the mood changed when she appeared. She was highlighted at this point and was the centre of the shot, bringing more attention to her.

Shows femme being seductive, she glares into the males eyes and is above him, they are both highlighted

Site for more research:
http://www.filmnoirstudies.com/glossary/index.asp