Charachteristics of film noir

The Main Character of a typical film noir usually ends up trapped in a difficult situation, most commonly with a woman (The Femme Fatal of the story (Femme Fatal meaning a woman with no morals)). The main character is usually a typical male who has a normal life and is chucked into a dilemma where he has to do what he is told to do by the woman through blackmail and bribery. This makes the woman dominant in every situation so the main character has no choice but to follow instructions. Film noirs covered a wide range of genres, from gangster to detective films, and from stories to films. Storylines were often elliptical, non-linear and twisting. Narratives were frequently complex, maze-like and convoluted, and typically told with foreboding background music, Everyman in film noir fell victim to temptation or was framed by the femme fatal.


Film Noirs were typically made in black and white this wasn't because it was cheap and cost-effective, although it was an advantage; it was to give off a dark and sinister background to the film. The mood is set by the colours used, the setting, the dialogue, the lighting which was adjusted by certain objects which made shadows to create silhouettes, Venetian blinds were commonly used to break up to picture so much so that you couldn’t quite distinguish the person, as if they were being sly or cunning. Smokey rooms from a cigarette gave the impression of a weary and gloomy mood to the situation giving the film that bit more tension. The music was quite jazzy but mysterious which made the situation seem sneaky and undercover and this also made the films that bit more tensed than others. Ideology was used a lot in film noir, and it sent the audience questions and messages, and even sometimes lessons and values of characters

Flashbacks were commonly used to tell a story or to refer to the past of the story to explain something or to make the audience think and wonder about what’s going on, who’s she? What are they doing? Etc. Many Camera Techniques were used including deep-focus allowing the foreground and the background to be in focus at the same time; low-angled shots looked up on someone to maker them dominant and seem more powerful than something or someone else. And looking down on some one gave the impression of a weak and mindless person.