Examples of Neo-Noir

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

The film is narrated by a small-time criminal, Harry Lockhart (Robert Downey, Jr.). Fleeing a botched robbery, Harry evades the police by ducking into a movie audition for a hardboiled film and, ironically, impresses the producers with his emotional outpouring of regret about the robbery and the subsequent death of his accomplice. He is given the part of a P.I. For the part, he is given an assignment. To shadow a real P.I named “Gay” Perry Van Shrikle. While working with Perry, Harry stumbles into a conspiracy of kidnapping and murder involving a high profile heiress.

During the film, there is a lot of shadow, as well as the Femme Fatale-ish character of Harmony Lane (Michelle Monaghan) who Harry has known since childhood. The noir mood is often set with shadow and sound throughout the film.

Minority Report

The story is based in 2054 in Washington D.C, where an experimental police force called Precrime has completely neutralized murder in the city, by using the psychic powers of three “pre-cogs”, who are all named after mystery writers. The lead Pre-cog is called Agatha Christie. This film shows just how well neo-noir converts to a sci-fi genre. This is a highly shadowed film, that has most film noir conventions in to one extent or another, the only big one it is missing is the famed Femme Fatale character.

Watch and Report on a Classic Film Noir

I have chosen to watch “Double Indemnity” and analyze the scene where Walter Neff meets Barbara Stanwyck’s character. The scene starts with a shot in which Neff is trying to persuade the housekeeper to let him talk to Mr Dietrichson, in this shot there is a lot of harsh shadows, a noir convention, we get the feeling that these shadows being cast are from lamps instead of ceiling lights from the height of the shadows on the wall. Followed by a low angle shot showing Neff at the bottom of the shot and Mrs Dietrichson at the top, already from this we can get an idea of the character she is going to play. Traditionally a more dominant character will be higher in the shot than a more submissive character. The next shot is a higher angle shot, in which we see Neff looking up at Mrs Dietrichson, once again a show of the dominance of the Phyllis character. In the next shot we see Phyllis a in a little more detail as to her costume. The costume is nothing but a towel, maybe a show of the characters naivety, and yet she is still very high in the shot, and continues to be over the next few shots. Over the course of these shots, Walter Neff’s speech is very bouncy and up-beat, whereas Phyllis’s speech is very low and monotonous, this s unusual for a female character in most films. But we can begin to get a sense of the fact that this woman is going to be smarter than she lets on, and she what the film noir world as a Femme Fatale. We next see a tracking shot of Neff who continues to look up at the empty space where Phyllis once stood. We see where Neff is going, in this shot we can see, a lot of shadows, mostly from a set of venetian blinds. Wes see a shot of the room, some high ceilings, from this we can infer that the occupants of the house are reasonably well-off, this we can add to the list of things we can learn about the character of Phyllis. Once again this shot is in a high amount of shadow, mostly from venetian blinds. But then we come to a tracking shot of a pair of shoes coming down a set of stairs, with a little shadow coming from the stair rails. From this we can see a different side to the Phyllis character, the more feminine side of the character that we had not seen before. We are still on her but she is still being very feminine. Next is the shot where she is standing in front of the mirror, with Neff standing behind her. In this shot he is higher up in the shot. Showing that in this instance he is the dominant character. Then she walks away from him, and then he follows, maybe insinuating that the Neff character is thinking about pursuing Phyllis. Even when sat down, Phyllis is much lower in the shot, as she slouches in an armchair, whereas he is sitting on the arm of the chair across from it. This is all still in a lot of shadow, from each other’s bodies and still the venetian blinds. The rest of the scene is swimming in sexual innuendo, Neff trying to become the dominant character against a very reluctant looking Phyllis. This is another mind game, typical of a Femme Fatale.

What is a Neo-Noir?

Neo-noir is a style often seen in modern films, but with updated themes, content, style, visual elements or media that were absent in film noirs of the 1940s and 1950s. It wasn't until after 1970 that film critics began to consider "neo-noir" as a separate genre by its own definition. Unlike classic noirs, neo-noirs are aware of modern circumstances and technology. In the films of the early 1940s and '50s, audiences are led to understand and build a relationship with the protagonist or anti-hero. Neo-noir films of post-1970 often reverse this role. Unusual camera movements and story progress remind them that they are watching the film and not taking part in the story.

Two Examples of Film Noir

The first example I will talk about is “The Maltese Falcon” (1941) directed by John Huston, this film starred, huge film noir star, Humphrey Bogart, and Mary Astor. Sam Spade (Bogart) is a private investigator, meeting prospective client Miss Ruth Wonderly (Astor). Wonderly hires Spade to help find her missing sister. After receiving a substantial retainer, Spade’s assistant, Archer (Jerome Cowen), helps out and that night she is killed. The film is about Spade trying to find out why his assistant was killed. This is known as one of the classic film noirs, and one of the best films of all time. Unusual camera angles—sometimes low to the ground, revealing the ceilings of rooms are used to emphasize the nature of the characters and their actions.

The second example is “Double Indemnity” (1944) directed by Billy Wilder, and starring Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck. Walter Neff (Fred MacMurray) is a successful insurance salesman. Neff first meets the sultry Phyllis Dietrichson (Barbara Stanwyck) during a routine house call to renew an automobile insurance policy for her husband. A flirtation develops, at least until Phyllis asks how she could take out a policy on her husband's life without his knowing it. Neff realizes she is contemplating murder, and he wants no part of it. Neff is pursued by Dietrichson who ups her flirtation, and get Neff to agree that the two of them will kill her husband. It is about the downfall of the plan, and the betrayal of the “femme fatale”.

Characteristics of Film Noir

The key characteristics of film noir are nicely summed up by its visual style, which is incredibly individual of its own genre. The visual style consists of incredibly low-key lighting that often creates long dark shadows. Film Noirs are associated with stark light/dark contrasts and dramatic shadow patterning—a style known as chiaroscuro (a term adopted from Renaissance painting). The shadows from venetian blinds and stairway banisters are often draped over the actor the wall or the entire set to create a dramatic contrast, which is absolutely iconic for film noir. Film noirs tend to have unusually intricate story lines, frequently involving flashbacks and other editing techniques that disrupt and sometimes obscure the narrative sequence. Voiceover narration, sometimes used as a structuring device, came to be seen as a noir hallmark; while classic noir is generally associated with first-person narration. Some neo-noirs utilise this as well, such as “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang” 2005. Crime, usually murder, is an element of almost all film noirs; in addition to standard-issue greed, jealousy is frequently the criminal motivation. A crime investigation often by a private eye or a police detective (sometimes acting alone), or a concerned amateur, is the most common storyline, but many others have also broken through in the past. In other common plots the protagonists are implicated in bank heists or cons, or in murderous conspiracies often involving adulterous affairs. Film noir is often described as essentially pessimistic.[164] The noir stories that are regarded as most characteristic tell of people trapped in unwanted situations (which, in general, they did not cause but are responsible for exacerbating), striving against random, uncaring fate, and frequently doomed. The values are that they attempt to portray the underbelly of society which is often left out of the spotlight. They show a largely pessimistic life for the ordinary higher working class person.

History of FIlm Noir

Film Noir has been highly influenced by German expressionism, a movement that included film, theatre, sculpture, painting and architecture, which had its heyday between 1910 and 1930, this was transferred to the American stage during the late 30’s and early 40’s, as many advocates of the expressionist movement in Germany, began to be persecuted for numerous different reasons, by the newly elected Nazi party. Directors such as Fritz Lang, Robert Siodmak and Michael Curtiz, brought in a new era of film style that had never been seen before in Hollywood. This new movement brought in harsh lighting styles and overwhelming amounts of shadow, to portray the underworld of the American cities that had been largely ignored in films before this time. These three directors and many others used these parameters in their home countries, to create some of the most classic film noirs of all time including Fritz Lang’s “M”, which was released in 1931, two years before he emigrated from the increasingly authoritarian and nationalistic Germany. “M” was one of the first crime-based narratives in the “post-sound” era of the late 20’s and early 30’s. In which the protagonist is a criminal, which was almost un-heard of before the film was released and was known as one the first anti-heroes to be portrayed in a film. But by this time Michael Curtiz had been in Hollywood for nearly 5 years making around 6 films in a year, including 20,000 Years in Sing Sing (1932) and Private Detective 62 (1933) which are among the early Hollywood sound films arguably classifiable as noir. These films were developed into a full genre during the pre-war years, expanding numbers of directors joined the genre. Among those movies not themselves considered film noirs, perhaps none had a greater effect on the development of the genre than America's own Citizen Kane (1941), the landmark motion picture directed by Orson Welles. Its visual intricacy and complex, voiceover-driven narrative structure are echoed in dozens of classic film noirs.

Film Noir Brief

My name is Aiden Rudd, I am an AS Media student at Suffolk New College. My group and I have been commissioned to create an opening sequence for a contemporary film noir thriller, or neo-noir film. We must use the means at our disposal to bring the genre forward to a more modern stand point, while still utilising the values, traditions, narrative, mood and conventions of classic film noir. We must aim the opening to a new audience, using a contemporary style and updated settings. We will need to consider the sort of institution we will be aiming the film at, and also consider the cinematic and distribution patterns to be used post cinematic release. We will also need to consider where the film would stand on a television schedule stand-point and which TV stations would be most likely to be interested in purchasing the rights to the film.