1. Film Noir – Conventions
Visual Style
Low-key lighting for light dark contrasts and dramatic shadows
Characters faces may be wholly or partly obscured by darkness
Dutch angles, low-angled shots and wide-angle lenses
German expressionism influences are seen in film noir
Shots of people reflected in mirrors or through curved or frosted glass
used as devices to disorientate
Sidelight is often used to reflect character ambivalence and shots lit from
below used to express unnatural or ominous facial expressions
Structure and Narrative
Unusual convoluted storylines, often involving flashbacks and flash
forwards which can obscure the narrative sequence
Often the protagonist is the voiceover narration
The narrative drive is usually provided by the protagonists search for
criminal justice
Latter-day noir has been in the forefront of structural experimentation in
popular cinema, as exemplified by such films as Pulp Fiction and
Memento
Characters
Film noirs often revolve around heroes who are more flawed and morally
questionable than the norm
The characters heroes of noir are described by many critics as ‘alienated’
filled with ‘existential bitterness’
Certain archetypal characters include hardboiled detectives. Femme
fatales, corrupt policemen, jealous husbands and down-and-out writers
Many of these characters are keen smokers, as cigarette smoking seems
almost mandatory
Setting
Film noir is often set in urban areas, and a few cities – Los Angeles, San
Francisco, New York and Chicago are classic locations
The city is often presented as a ‘labyrinth’ or ‘maze’
Bars, lounges, nightclubs and gambling dens are frequently the scenes of
action
In noir it is allows night and it always rains
Themes
Crime, usually murder is a key theme
Greed and jealously is frequently the criminals motivation
A crime investigation by a private eye or police detective is the most
prevalent plot
Other plots include adulterous affairs, false suspicious, betrayals and
double crosses
The psychological exploration of the darker side of humankind

2. The social exploration of the darker side of society
Ideology
Film Noir is often described as essentially pessimistic
Often telling stories of people who are trapped in unwanted situations,
striving against random, uncaring fate, and are frequently doomed
Illustrating a world that is inherently corrupt
The classic American film noir has been associated with the sense of
heightened anxiety and alienation after WW2
The tone of film noir is often regarded as downbeat and overwhelmingly
black according to Robert Ottoson
Noirs often have a hopeless tone but often imbued with sexual innuendo