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Film Noir Film Analysis

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THE LOST FALCON IN FILM NOIR In written literature, writings that mention about crime is classified as “Noir Fiction”. From the second half of the 19th century, in cinematography, this genre is simulated as “Film Noir”. The audience will encounter with a crime throughout the film which is made by using this specific genre. Main characters in this genre are a criminal who is mostly a man, a female and a detective. Criminals are mostly coldblooded and ruthless. This behavior disorientation can be explained by their psychological problems, or childhood trauma. Because of these, they are mostly isolated themselves from the society. There is no one to trust for the criminals. They mostly meet an irresistible female and plan the criminal actions with this main female character. The female character in these movies generally is so well-groomed lady with their sexy dress, red lipstick and heels. She uses her sexual attraction to arouse the criminal’s interest. She directs his thoughts as she wants. Finally, she uses him to accomplish her aim or take her revenge. Last main character is detective. Generally, he is also coldblooded but he is the hero. Whereas, he tries to solve the crime puzzle and catch the criminal eventually. …show more content…

In fact, in 1940s, the main reason for using shadows was that directors must make usable some pieces that does not require a payment (“Kyo Sasaki”, 2016). Lighting and shadowing becomes the main factors in this manner. Most people scared what they cannot see in the shadow or darkness. Hence, directors use this human belief and they hide the criminal in the shadow, and eventually in these kind of films, director lead people to believe there are more details besides what we see in the screen. As a part of mis-en-scene, music can be used to emphasizes that upcoming criminal

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One might want to read this novel, to see what makes an average man want to kill and to also see their psychological being leading up to it. This creates a mystery in the eyes of the reader to see why they did such a horrendous crime. The author’s purpose for writing this novel was to give the reader a different perspective on criminals. Capote uses a sympathetic tone when he talks about the histories of the criminals. He creates an emotional connection between the reader and the criminals because Capote allows the reader to get to know the criminal’s pasts, telling of the hardships the criminals have faced throughout their lives.

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Released September 29, 1950, Sunset Boulevard is a film noir of a forgotten silent film star, Norma Desmond, that dreams of a comeback and an unsuccessful screenwriter, Joe Gillis, working together. Ultimately an uncomfortable relationship evolves between Norma and Joe that Joe does not want a part of. Sunset Boulevard starts off with an establishing shot from a high angle shot with a narrative leading to a crime scene shot in long shot (a dead body is found floating in a pool). The narrative throughout the film established a formalist film. Cinematography John F. Seitz used lighting and camera angles in such a way to create a loneliness and hopefulness atmosphere.

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Mise-en-scéne is crucial to classical Hollywood as it defined an era ‘that in its primary sense and effect, shows us something; it is a means of display. ' (Martin 2014, p.XV). Billy Wilder 's Sunset Boulevard (Wilder 1950) will be analysed and explored with its techniques and styles of mise-en-scéne and how this aspect of filmmaking establishes together as a cohesive whole with the narrative themes as classical Hollywood storytelling. Features of the film 's sense of space and time, setting, motifs, characters, and character goals will be explored and how they affect the characterisation, structure, and three-act organisation.

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Film noir is a cinematic style that began in the early 1940s that focused on the crime and corruption that occurs in everyday life. Film noir was influenced by two major film movements, German Expressionism and French poetic realism (Schrader 8). While German Expressionism influenced lighting techniques, realism affected narrative and cinematography. The Great Depression and World War II shaped film noir’s cynical tone that fate is uncontrollable. A classic example of film noir is the 1945 film Detour, directed by Edgar G. Ulmer.

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1299 Words | 6 Pages

Film noir movies often have stylistic characteristics such as exaggerated lighting and shadows. Scarlet Street contained many subjective camera shots while also using exaggerated shadows, for example during the first scene in the movie, there is an emphasis on the mans shadow as he walks into the room. Which brings me to a crucial point, Black and white filmmaking. Black and white style is considered to be an essential attribute for a film noir movie, black and white allows the director to emphasize on distorting images, for example use of the venetian blind shot. Another continuous pattern of film noir is to include main stock characters, this film contains: an anti-hero and a femme fatale, these stock characters are always seen in noir films.

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At some point of your life you meet very special people that carry very similar interests. This creates bonds that can be a very powerful and important part of your life. Some may say that bonds are created between a series of negative events that leads up to friendship. However, this is not true because in The Way, the main characters come together to walk the same path. Each character motivates each other to achieve the overall reason of why they wanted to walk The Camino De Santiago.

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Throughout the course of time women have evolved to better themselves instead of pleasing others. In the novel The Maltese Falcon By Dashiell Hammett has two characters that are important women. These 2 women are key characters to the story to aid in solving the murder mystery. Each woman has completely different personality that clearly displays the change from the stereotypical persona of a woman always being dependent on a man to evolving to this new self sustained woman.

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Citizen Kane (Welles, 1941) challenged traditional narrative and technical elements of classic Hollywood cinema through techniques in cinematography, mise-en-scene and lighting. The mise-en-scene build of Citizen Kane is the pivoting point of the narrative forthcoming and Welles uses every technical element encompassed in this build to span his narrative across 60 years of Charles Foster Kane, the main character 's life. The beginning of this build is founded on the black and white shooting choice which sets an ominous almost 'film noir ' lighting and feel of the opening scene of the castle in Xanadu. This where we see end of Kane 's life, but every aspect of the film 's narrative will revolve around these frames and including the questions of 'who has died '?, 'what was the significance of the snow globe? ', and 'Who is rosebud? '. The camera angle in the deathbed scene is deliberately shot from a low angle, which further implies the importance of the person lying in the bed as well as providing mystery as the viewer is not yet privy to whom has just

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Cinematography is critical to the success of any movie. Cinematography uses composition, lighting, depth of field, and camera angles to determine what the audience sees. Casablanca’s cinematography directs the audience’s attention, shapes the audiences feelings, and reveals the theme of the movie. Cinematography directs the audience’s attention and acts as the viewer’s eyes. The cinematography highlights Casablanca as a dangerous place filled with deception.

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Many argue when the Golden age of Film Noir ended. One on the most common arguments is that Orsons Wells A Touch of Evil was the last of the great Noirs. However, the real last true noir may actually be Alfred Hitchcock 's Vertigo which came out later the same year is the true last noir. The first evidence Vertigo gives us is the main character John "Scottie" Ferguson. Scottie is a ex-detective with a past that haunts him.

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Madison Avenue advertising executive Roger Thornhill’s (Cary Grant) life changes drastically after he is kidnapped and mistaken for a spy named George Kaplan. After a successful escape from attempted murder by Phillip Vandamm (James Mason), Roger Thornhill begins a journey to search for George Kaplan. On his itinerary, he meets the beautiful Eve Kendall (Eva Marie Saint). A romantic relationship is started between the two, leaving Thornhill to believe that Even Kendall would cooperate and help him to meet Kaplan.

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85 Words | 1 Pages

The type of language and diction used in crime films are tension, suspense, and menace. The perspective of crime is told in third-person omniscient where it reveals character’s thoughts, actions, and feelings. This narrative structure can be simple and colloquial to reflect the tense atmosphere of crime. Furthermore, the dialogue consists of slang and swearing, along with an aggressive or violent tone to express the intensity of the situation. Overall, these are the fundamental elements of language and diction used in the genre of

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1687 Words | 7 Pages

Those that believe Casablanca is not film noir usually perceive Film Noir as a genre. Noir is not a genre; Noir transcends genres and behaves more accurately as a style of cinema. As styles go, there can be variations of them as we see now with Post-Noir and Neo Noir, noir elements in a different time period of film technology which makes these films slightly different than the style of classic film noir. Themes of cynicism, impending doom, loss, jeopardy of life accompanied by visuals dominated by shadows, strong lines, and overall darkness to the image make up film noir’s style. Noir is not absolute, the beauty of this style is its vulnerability to variation, which is why Michael Curtiz’s Classic Casablanca is film noir.

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767 Words | 4 Pages

Damien Chazelle’s American musical film, La La Land (2016), with Director of Photography Linus Sandgren, won about six awards at the Oscars. One of the awards they received is in the Cinematography category. I personally agree with this voting because this beautifully-made film shows, not tells, the story. In the beginning of the film, the viewers see the story from Mia’s point of view, but the story later goes back and switches to Sebastian’s point of view.

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935 Words | 4 Pages

The most common archetype seen in noir is the femme fatale. The femme fatale becomes a distinct part of film at the end of World War II as well as a threat to transgress the patriarchy (Grossman, p.4). The origins of the femme fatale comes from "the historical need to reconstruct an economy based on a division of labor by which men control the means of production and women remain within the family, in other words, the need to reconstruct a failing patriarchal order" (Jancovich, 2011, p.100). Furthermore, Jancovich claims that the femme fatale was created as an effort to encourage women to revert back to their womanly duties and to quit their jobs that they took on while the men were overseas. He calls them a “demonization of the independent working-woman” ( 2011, p.105).

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