Life in the Dark

Nelson

IB Film Studies

Film Noir: What is it?

• "A term coined by French critics to describe a type of film that is characterized by its ____________ tone and ___________________ mood." (The Film Encyclopedia, Third Edition, by Ephraim Katz).

• Literally means “black film”• Films of the 40’s and 50’s that portrayed the

world of _____________________________________.

Q: Is film noir a genre?

A: No, It’s a ________ of filmmaking commonly found in crime, mystery, or thriller genres

Rather than PLOT being supreme, it is TONE and MOOD cynicism (selfish motivation/assigning blame) ______________(looking to the past) darkness ____________________ (crooked cops, double-crossers) _____________ themes hopelessness

. . . which led to a harsh uncomplimentary look at American life

Influences

I. War and Postwar Disillusionment

II. Postwar Realism

III. German Expatriates

IV. The Hard-Boiled School of Writers

Influences – Part 1

I. War and Postwar DisillusionmentA. _________________________________

B. _________________________________

C. _________________________________

Influences– Part 2

II. Postwar RealismA. affected every country involved in WWII

B. ______________________

C. suited America’s mood and desire for more _______________

Influences– Part 3

III. The German ExpatriatesA. Left Germany to escape Nazi control

B. John Alton, Fritz Lang, Otto Preminger, Billy Wilder, Robert Siodmak

C. ______________________________

Influences– Part 4

IV. Hard-boiled TraditionA. _________________ “romanticism with

a protective shell”

B. Writers from _____________________

C. Protagonists lived out a narcissistic defeatist code

D. Ernest Hemmingway, Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, James M. Cain

The Hard-boiled Detective

• Calvin & Hobbes – “Tracer Bullet”

Clip: The Maltese Falcon

3 Phases

• Wartime (1941-1946) – _________________________________________________• Postwar realistic– crime in the streets,

_______________________________• Psychotic action & suicidal impulse (1949-

1953) root causes: ___________________________________________________• END– McCarthy, ___________, color

Visual Motifs– Part 1

I. LightingA. ______________________________B. ______________________________ (less

soft focus)C. ______________________________D. ______________________________E. ___________________ highest contrastF. ______________________________

fatalistic, hopeless mood

Low-key Lighting

• Out of the Past (1948) • The Big Combo (1955)

Unique angles of throw

Out of the Past (1948)

No Fill Light

• The Big Combo (1955)

Equal Lighting on Setting and Char.

Clip: Call Northside 777Out of the Past (1948)

“Night-for-night”

• Scarlet Street (1945) • Night and the City (1950)

Visual Motifs– Part 2

• Cinematography– ___________________ Each char. equally

hopeless– Wide angle lenses for ______________

Clip: Touch of Evil

Deep Focus

Undercurrent (1947) The Lady From Shanghai (1947)

Visual Motifs– Part 3

• Mise-en-scene– Designed to ___________– Compositional balance w/in frame is often off

• World is ________________• Figures placed irregularly in frame• ________________ framing devices (doors, windows, metal

bedframes, shadows)• Objects in foreground characters less important • Objects take on importance by creating ______________________________________________________• Oblique & vertical lines (buildings, city streets, venetian

blinds) > horizontal ____________________• Water Freud again?!

Internal Framing/Masking

• Touch of Evil (1958)

– Clausterphobia/ entrapment

• The Killing (1956)

Internal Framing/Masking (cont.)

Second Chance (1953)

Internal Framing/ Masking (frames)

Fallen Angel (1945)

stability vs. instability

Compositional Balance with Objects

Laura

Unfair emphasis on femme fatale in portrait

• Sleep, My Love (1948)

Compositional Balance with Mirrors

• Kiss Me Deadly (1955) • Lady from Shanghai

– Welles’ balance with fragmented “self” (id vs. ego) and femme fatale

Oblique Angles

• D.O.A. (1950)

– Never “on the level”

• Raw Deal (1947)

Visual Motifs– Part 4

III. Framing, Angles, & EditingA. Often withhold __________ spatially

disorienting

B. _____________ juxt. with extreme _________ fatalistic “rats in a maze” effect

C. Juxt. extreme distances and angles

D. __________________

E. Camera movement is minimal $$$ set-ups

Unconventional Camera Angles

Touch of Evil (1958) Lady From Shanghai (1948)

Dutch Angles

Pickup on South Street (1953)

Effects of Visual Motifs

• No character has ________________

• _______________ become relative (both in shadow)

• _______________ constantly shifting

War makes it all possible (sigh)

– Fast film– Lighter, hand-held cameras– Fast film– Magnetic stock for sound

Narrative Motifs

Love of romantic narration (_____________) “temp perdu” – _______________

Complex chronological order ______________________________ Out of the Past, Double Indemnity, Memento, Pulp

Fiction ______________ denies effect of progress Flawed leading man “Femme fatale”

______________________________________________________________________________________

Themes

• Upwardly mobile forces of the 30’s have ended; frontierism has turned to ________

____________________________

• Passion for the past and present, but also a ________________________

• No one can be trusted

• The world is unforgiving and hopeless

Here’s what you’re looking for:

• _____________• _____________• _____________• _____________• _____________• _____________• _____________

What do you notice in this clip?

CLIP: Double Indemnity

Important films to check out:

• The Maltese Falcon• T-Men• The Big Sleep• The Big Combo• Double Indemnity• Touch of Evil• The Postman Always Rings Twice• Out of the Past• In a Lonely Place • Sunset Boulevard

Other Important Figures

Directors:Billy Wilder, Howard

Hawks, Orson Welles, Otto Preminger, Nicholas Ray, Robert Siodmak

Writers:Raymond Chandler,

Earnest Hemmingway, Daschel Hammett, John M. Cain

Actors:Humphrey Bogart, Robert

Mitchum, Lauren Bacall, Veronica Lake

Cinematographers:John Alton

Hero, or Noirish Anti-hero? (Dun dun dun!!!)

Works Cited

• http://www.midnightpalace.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=133&Itemid=54