film The Naked City
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FilmNoir1.pptxFilm Noir
“Whom can we trust? No one.”
Translated as “Black” film
Popular from 1930s – 1950s
Setting: Usually the city at night
No place is safe, no place to rest or hide; no comfort or shelter; no friendship; no pleasure that isn’t short lived, and usually purchased with one’s money or life.
Archetypes
Lone protagonist – often a detective, disillusioned or psychologically wounded & Morally ambiguous
Femme Fatale – knows more than she tells – uses her sexuality
Doomed lovers on the run from the police
Omnipresent voiceover
http:// www.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/news-bfi/features/infographic-what-makes-film-noir
Corrupt police force
Threatening government
Thugs/muscle
Dark atmosphere – threats everywhere
Labyrinthine mystery
Cynical tone
Points out inherent corruption & complacency of post WWII life
Deeper Themes
Hopelessness
Paranoia
Despair & violence
Deceit
Betrayal
Darkness surrounds the characters (literally & symbolically) within the narrative, threatening to engulf them at any moment.
Techniques
High-contrast lighting (revealing certain characters in bright, almost washed-out light, while casting others into almost total shadow, for example);
low-angle camera setups (making the subject seem taller and more powerful);
deep focus (a new technology at the time, allowing the camera to maintain in focus objects and characters in both the background and foreground in the same shot)
John Blaser
