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.