The new assignment

Today we received our new assignment. It is quite an interesting one. We have to make a film noir based on a fairy tale, nursery rhyme or folk tale that we will subvert.

There are a few ingredients to a film noir and we received them on a table.

The central characters are: 

Private Investigator/Detective/Plainclothes Detective

A law abiding citizen lured or forced to commit a crime or a victim of circumstance down on luck.

A Femme Fatale

Other character in film noir are often: 

Corrupt officials, policemen or gangsters

Jealous Husbands/Wives, friends or family

A nosy character, journalist, police informant who may wind up missing or murdered.

All of these characters are the under belly and dark side of society or get involved with it in one way or another, lading to shady scenes and dealings and law breaking. 

The Visual conventions of a film noir are often

Low Key Lighting, High Contrast

Dramatic Shadows, Hard Shadows (from objects i.e. blinds, railings) 

Obscured Faces, characters or details.

 These visual features are a very crucial part of film noir they make for dramatic settings and visual scenes, they make for a very iconic look that ca be easily recognised as film noir. 

Tone or mood

Disillusionment, disenchantment, melancholy

Bleakness or pessimism

Desperation

Alienation

Ambiguity

Moral Corruption, Evil

Guilt

Relating to the idea of the underbelly and dark side of society the mood of these are often sketchy, suspenseful and pessimistic. 

Plot devices

Complex or deliberately confusing plots

Flashbacks or temporal changes to interrupt the flow

Narration or voice-over to develop the story

Crime or Murder. Theft, robbery, heist

Greed and Jealousy as criminal motivation

False accusations, betrayal, double crossing

Memory Loss by a central character

A number of suspicious characters who have motivation or motives concerned with the crime.

The plot devices also relate to the idea of the dark side of society. the main idea being crime and the catagories that fall under that are exceptionally prevalent in film noir films. The idea of theft, murder, identity theft and greed and jealousy as motivation totally relate to the genre of film noir.  

Cinematic conventions

ow Wide-angle shots

Canted/Skewed shots to create disorientation

Shots that create distortion. i.e. through glass objects, curved windows, vases etc.

Shots of reflections in glass, mirrors or shiny objects.

Additional conventions

Often set in an urban jungle or sprawling city.

Bars, Lounges and illegal gambling dens.

Climactic scene in a visually complex or industrial setting

Commonly set at night or in a rainy (depressing) city

You can tell the sort of film a film noir will be. It certainly isn't set in a beautiful sunny day in the countryside.