Film Noir
- Film Noir is a cinematic term used to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas.
- The 1940s and 1950s are generally regarded as the "classic period" of American film noir.
- Film Noir is associated with the usage of hugely low-key lighting and black-and-white visual style.
- As a whole, film noir has dark, sinister connotations
- Film Noir focuses on sex, crime and corruption. They can also be very mysterious and contain lots of jump scares
- Lighting is used to create this dark, evil dynamic. The shadowy noir style can be traced to the German Expressionist cinema.
- Lots of key lighting, not much filler lighting and lots of back lighting
- The key light is the brightest and most influential and the back lighting helps to counteract the effects of the key light making the subject appear more "rounded".
Film Noir YouTube clip analysis: PUSHOVER (1954)
In this film noir clip, low-key lighting has been created through the usage of only the key and back light. The key light is the brightest and most influential and the back light helps to counteract the effects of the key light making the subject appear more "rounded". Very little filler light is used so that dramatic shadows are created. Dark shadows are created on the bottom half of the woman's face. This suggests that there may be two sides to this character. As she says the iconic line: "money isn't dirty, just people" the camera focuses on her as well as the man in the background. This emphasises how significant this part of the clip is. The shadows from the lamp sets a sinister and eerie tone as it creates a huge dramatic shadow across the wall. This may imply that something bad will happen soon after. As the man is about to leave, the woman stops him to say "I don't wanna go Paul". As he stops, his shadow covers the woman's face. This indicates that the man may be the protector of this woman and that these two are indeed connected. He stops to keep her out of the darkness and also be there for her (followed by a hefty kiss).
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