B- Film Noir and Analysis of Double Indemnity,1944.

What is Film Noir?

Film Noir is a cinematic term used to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas. There are four key areas present in a film noir which make them identifiable...


1. Themes- Usually emphasising moral ambiguity, sexual motivation and is described as being essentially pessimistic.

2. Visual techniques- For example, low key lighting, Venetian blind effect, facial obstruction by darkness, dutch angles (where the camera is placed at an angle to the side), low angle shots, wide angle lenses as well as mirror shots or shots through glass.


3. Narrative- Story lines of film noirs usually contain flashbacks, flash forwards as well as voice over narration which is mostly characterised by the protagonist. The main focus is usually crime, heists or cons, double crosses and false accusations and suspicions.


4. Characters- Film noirs usually feature morally flawed, misunderstood characters. There are also stock characters such as detectives, police, jealous husbands and femme fatales.


What is a femme fatale?

A femme fatale is usually filmed for her sexuality and introductory shots usually show her catching the hero's gaze. She is often presented as empowered but usually dies at the end. Iconography used to represent femme fatales are usually, cigarettes, jewellery and guns to show 'Unnatural phallic power' (Here is a picture of a 'typical' femme fatal)

The 'Male Gaze'- 1973

Laura Mulvey's theory-

• She looked at the classic period of Hollywood film especially at femme fatales.
• She noticed that the audience cannot help but be forced to looked at women in an objectified way.
• This is enforced through the costume, usually a dress and the camera angles, usually from low angles which automatically make the audience see her in a subjective way.
• The 'male gaze' when the woman's presence creates a reaction within the audience is another way which reinforces the way in which women are objectified.

An example of a film Noir
Double Indemnity, (Billy Wilder,1944)
The film double indemnity is shown as a film noir through the characteristics portrayed in...

Themes-

• The main theme of the film opening is crime drama, this is shown through the narrative being based around a murder.
• Sexual motivation is also portrayed in the opening, the femme fatales opening shot being a low angle shot shows this and is used to sexualise her.
• Another theme in this film is that of moral ambiguity in that the femme fatale is married yet seeing another man which would be frowned upon in this time period.
• (Here is a still image of the femme fatales opening shot, it is low angle and the lighting is positioned on her in order to sexualise her)

Visual Techniques-

• Techniques such as night for night shooting to show the city and street lights. (Here is an example of night for night shooting)

• Facial obstruction by darkness for example in the lift, this creates a sense of mystery teamed with the low key lighting to enhance this sense of mystery.
  
• Shadowing is another technique used, whilst in the lift also. As well as dramatic shadows to reinforce tension and bring the action to life.
• The figure of the man is also shown through the frosted glass of the office which is another characteristic of film noir.
  
• Venetian blind shots are another typical convention of film noirs that is shown in this film ( Here is an example of the effect)

• There are also lots of static shots which reflects on the time period this film was shot in. This gives a sense of seriousness as the camera is held so still.

Narrative

• This film follows conventions of a film Noir, the use of flash backs to show the story are an example of something which is stereotypical to film Noirs, this keeps the audience interested and makes the film seem more interesting and real.
• There is also the use of a voice over from the protagonist to convey the conventions of a film noir, this makes the audience feel more involved in the narrative and gives a clear description of the story.
• The narrative of this film is focused on crime and cons as they are trying to con the femme fatales husband. This narrative also follows the conventions of a film noir.

Characters

• The characters in this film are conventional to film noir's, in the opening there is a stock character which is the femme fatale, we can see she is a femme fatal by the use of low angle shots as well as her costume and non verbal language.
• There is also a main character who also follows the conventions of a film noir, he is a typical man of the time as well as being a sales/ collector man which follows the conventions of a typical character for film noirs.
• His use of non verbal language also represents this, he is confident especially around the femme fatale showing the gender roles as well as following typical conventions of the main character of a film noir.

After watching this opening i don't feel that we can incorporate much into our film opening although i do like the Venetian blind effect and feel that this could work well within our so is something i am going to look in to further.