Film Noir 

Stranger on the third floor, 1940
photo belongs to http://www.filmnoirstudies.com/np02wwii.html 

               Black and white.
               Shadows and smokes.
               Force evil detour.

          The birth of Film Noir came after the wars, veterans come back. This explains its dark and mysterious emotions and the shout of reality Violence, sex and money are its more visible common elements. Clearly it works on the darker side of human nature. It was said on the documentary that these movies have tragic touch where everyone dies in the end. Protagonist will later on realize in the middle and ask why me? Why is this happening to me? Sad answer is that it all happens is for no apparent reason. In a personal note, I felt the hopelessness in the vibes of Film Noir. After war showed that the death of a love one and their present suffering left them with no choice and just to deal with it. A lot of people suffered depression but sadly psychiatry is still being discovered at the time as refer to the documentary (The Hollywood Style: Film Noir). 


"Light technique mostly used universally." - John Bailey, Cinematographer

          Light and shadows are said and obviously is used in a creative way in Film Noir movies. If there are good cause of the after war, it is that portable cameras and lights are available. Shadows do a big trick. It is used to add the drama, prepare the audience to what would the next scene will be. The black and white, used of shadows signifies night. As said and creatively portrayed in the documentary, John Bailey describes a shot where a man is sitting in a room not seeing a woman open the door on his back and pose. It is a good thing that our generation are still familiar with this kind of view and now personally I finally knew what it is called - Film Noir.

goggle picture of an example of a film noir scene featuring femme fatale

        Smart, powerful women characters victims the men through seduction to get what she wants. A woman is shot in low angle and man in high angle to establish their position. Bed room eyes. Stealing of man. Man fantasy. All equates to Femme fatale - french word for dangerous woman. The used of sexuality in a male dominant society brought a different taste in the watching audience. These women portrays a character that finds her body a strength against the weakness of the men's lust. 

         I desire to put my personal opinion about this. As we go through the deeper study about films my mind is filled with knowledge and more understanding. Now I appreciate films in a more creative way. However, it saddens me that the fight of women for equality later on result of body stereotype, men pleasing and a pressure or rather by culture women have believe, to show off skin is more enticing and shows power. The so-called power or equality we get means sacrificing one of the most precious thing ever given exclusively to us women. Fractured world, yes. I used to believe this lies and little, from time to time is still challenged to stay on the mark of margin. I long for movies who have the balance of reality and good moral lesson just like trainspotting (my previous post).

       Going back, another good thing came out are the colors in movie making. John Bailey quoted, "Color brings real representation of the world, violence and sexuality became more graphic." In short, real colors brings out a better vision of the real world. But still the dark essence and presense of Film Noir was still there. 

Sapphire, 1959
photo from Biloing Sand - http://www.postmodernjoan.com/wp02/?p=7737

                                                                                                   
     
"No lights, no escape."

goggled picture of an example of a detective movie

       Detective films. It is also one of the most notable genre of Film noir movies. Establishing shot of a dark road slowly rising to show a man with a hat and a trench coat, smoking, looking down while walking are one of its stereotype shooting materials. Shadows and lights brings the element of mystery as the detective continuous to discover what the truth is. Additional information in the documentary. In 1950's nuclear bomb is new and scary plus the presence of communism in countries that tries to took control of the world. I think this also contribute to the producing of these films. One good note is that Film Noir directors choose to really shoot in cities rather than in studios. As of Scorsese, "..it is more dramatic." The power of an urban city danger at nght, all the shadow and fogs explains this choice. Another thing is that most of it are B movies which are cheap yet artistic, the budget is also another contributing factor. The main challenge for the directors is how to maximize the elements of the cities for the movies.  

      The discovery of television and a nuclear family sitting all together to watch a show that fits them all became the death of Film Noir.

from : American Family: TV History