Codes and Conventions of Film Noir

Codes and conventions of film noir

Film Noir is a very specific genre which nearly all of the films follow the same pattern. One of the main conventions of film noir is moods.

Examples of common moods often used in film noir are…

Melancholy- Is a mood of a feeling of pensive sadness, typically with no obvious cause.

Alienation- the state of experience of being isolated and detached from something.

Bleakness- lacking in warmth and comfort.

Disillusionment- a feeling of disappointment resulting from the discovery that something is not as good as one believed it to be.

Moral Corruption-  the act of corrupting a state or being.

Pessimism-  is a state of mind in which one anticipates undesirable outcomes or believes that the evil or hardships in life outweigh the good or luxuries.

Guilt- the fact of having committed a specified or implied offence or crime

Paranoia- a mental condition characterized by delusions of persecution, unwarranted jealousy, or exaggerated self-importance, typically worked into an organized system.

All of these moods are often portrayed in film noir and are common in famous film noir films.

Male Characters

Anti-hero- a person who often lacks the characteristics of a hero, the character is often confused the antihero is often a helpless character.

Hard Boiled Detective- A detective who often had a strange name for example Sam Spade, or Johnny Jones they were often middle age men who dressed in trench coats and wore trilby’s. On often occasions they would be seen smoking or drinking bourbon or some other type of stiff drink. They were always very cool and calm even when in danger or where in a rush they didn’t show much expression or feelings on subjects like murder. They tend to be very flirtatious beings and where quite the ladies’ man. But would tend to get the job done. There speech would be very direct and often in one tone.

Villan- Would often be a gangster or someone from a sort of retro mob like that. They would have a distinguishable feature about them like a scar on there face or a moustache. Also they would have names like Robbie Rotten or something like that. They would be very shady and they would always be seen with either a silouite of them of a shadow covering most of them sleves to add to the shady sly characteristic of the villan. Sometimes the villain would be closer than you think and could be the detectives allies.

Female Characters.

Femme Fatal- The Femme Fatal is usually shown as a sexy young woman wearing a tight dress high heels and red lipstick that lures men in to her secret plots and creates tension or problem’s between the men in the film, getting her in danger. She sometimes could be the villain’s accomplice to win over the detective and to point him in the wrong direction to finding the case.  Or maybe even she is the villain, they would also do jobs like roll the detectives ciggerates and also seduce him into thinking he is in with a chance and then she can win him over. They are crafty and sly and use there looks against it.

Sound

Voice over- There can often be a voice over by the detectives who describes his feelings as everything is happening. He would introduce himself and the other characters’ and tell us a bit about them. The voice over would add effect and helps us understand the movie as we go along and he can also make it deceiving for us. As he would mention his feelings about the femme fatal and then it would turn out she was not as good as he portrayed.

Foreboding dramatic music- This adds huge effect to the film, for instance when somebody is murdered the sound would escalate and become dramatic which makes every emotion and action more effective and makes everything stand out an come alive.

Lighting

Lighting is a huge part in the film noir and is one of the important features which make the genre so famous and recognisable. Obviously all of the films where in black and white but, bold shadows and lighting effects where used. The lighting effects where simple but effective, it was as simple as this they would put objects at an angle in front of the light to make the shadow of the person fit the mood and atmosphere. For example when the villain would be seen they would make the shadows so you could only see a limited part of his face and the rest would be hidden by shadows which all add to the effect. Shadows where a huge part of the whole film noir movement.

Iconography

Many famous props and objects would be a constant in the film noir genre. Examples are guns which would be often used as a murder weapon. Or alcohol or cigarettes would often be drunk by the detective, villain and other characters and you would very rarely see a man in film noir without out a beverage or a fag. Blinds where often used to add to the shadow effects as they would only allow certain amounts of lights in. Trilby’s and trench coats where also worn a lot and you wouldn’t see a film noir detective without one.