Generic conventions of Film Noir

The generic conventions are split into five different sub-headings: Camera and composition, editing, sound, mise-en-scene, narrative and characters. We have watched three Film Noirs so far which include: Double Indemnity, The Killers and The Black Dahlia and so with these we have looked at their generic conventions.

Camera and composition

‘Composition’ describes the placement of relative objects and elements in a work of art. It is about the angles that the photograph has been taken in and how props have been set-up. A good composition is one that has enough detail and has a good balance. However, too elements can be distracting and lead the audience’s interpretation to confusion; meaning that the correct props for the storyline is vital.

For example, the photograph to the left is one that I had taken recently with my Sony Cyber shot. I had taken this photograph with her back towards the camera to show her flawless skin and the pearls around her neck. The pearls are part of the mise-en-scene though as they are props. I had taken this at such an angle to show her ‘pouted’ lips and that she was either in part-shock or slightly scared as this was taken outside in a graveyard. I could have made this slightly more Neo Noir by adding red lips (like Sin City) on her or a slight saturation of colour on her dress, which was navy.

Editing

Editing in media is all about how someone combines the clips together, how they are joined together, what software they use and special effects that may be added. I had played around with this slightly when I made my Media and Me vlog but I only used Moviemaker, I would like to try other software when we create our own project, perhaps iMovie.

Sound

Sound in media is all about what you can hear whether it is music, voices, voice overs and sound effects. Many film industries now use folioing  Anything can class as sound on a film, whether it is Film Noir or not.

Mise-en-scene

Mise-en-scene is the arrangement of scenery and props for photography or in the media industry, therefore the setting of the scene. ‘Mise-en-scene’ in French means ‘telling a story’. When applying the term to media and the film industry it refers to everything that appears beyond the camera including, make-up, costume, props and composition. In Film Noir the main things they tend to focus on is the costume and make-up of the femme fatale and cigarette smoke.

On the photograph to the left there is a photograph of a typical femme fatale, this was taken off Pinterest. The typical mise-en-scene for a femme fatale would be having smoke around her for the seductive atmosphere. She would be wearing heavy make-up and typically red lips, especially in Neo Noir film. The femme fatale is also often skinny and white, as she is to represent the women during the war being far too evil and getting their own way, as many of the men did not enjoy. The lady on the photograph to the left has longer hair than most femme fatale’s however the other costume and make-up makes up for the longer hair. When it comes to creating photographs and the beginning of our film I really want to play around with the costume and make-up of a femme fatale.

Narrative Structure

There is much narrative structure in Film Noirs and typically all fit in with each other. The most important storyline and structures would be that:

· They start with the end, often with the protagonist broken

· They usually include flashbacks or voice-overs

· The start often gives the entire plot away, making it less mysterious

· The characters however have their own mystery and stories

· It is usually from the protagonists perception

· They tend to have slow motion scenes

·The femme fatale usually ends up either being killed or in a lot of trouble

· The everyman ends up in trouble

· The femme fatale seduces the everyman making him do things he will later regret

Conventions of Film Noir from kellymorris92

I used the SlideShare above to see the typical conventions of Film Noir, I found this really useful however I do not agree with Character slide because I don't believe in every Film Noir there is detectives as the protagonists or corrupt police.

Reflective comment:
I need to add either my own Slideshares or Prezi's about each film we had watched and about their conventions. I also would like to find some video examples possibly on Youtube about the Titanic folying as could not do so on the school computers due to it being blocked. I would also like to blog about the different type of characters in Film Noir.