Mood and Aesthetics

Mood and Aesthetics: 

I will talk about the main features of Film Noir. There are many factors that make up a Film Noir these are location, character, theme, story line and lighting which when applied appropriately they will create an entertaining and eye catching piece of work. Firstly lets explore the typical locations used in Film Noir; these are alleyways, crowded streets, lonely roads and road corners of very urban areas usually being explored during the night another popular location in Film Noir are apartment blocks. The types of characters that you will expect to see in this genre is the lead hero who has some sort of connection with the law and is the one in charge of solving the crime, quite often we find underrated detectives in charge of the whole operation, having to hide and make sure no one finds out about what they are doing. On the other hand because we have a good lead character he needs a rival, the complete opposite of what are main character is and the man who is behind the crime that our lead is trying to solve, we usually call the villain a crime figure as they are in charge of the crime. Now that we have the good and bad male characters we need the roles played by women, therefore I will explore the Femme Fatales these are women who just as soon kill you as love you, this is because of their personality, the way they dress and their role. They are very beautiful women which are seductive and promiscuous, these women will always try and create danger for the lead character who usually ends up falling for her. But just as the lead hero and the crime figure there is a good woman for when we have the Femme Fatales, this type of character will try and keep the lead character safe and will care for him more than anyone else this could be a wife, friend or friend of the main character. Film Noir has a few themes to it some of the most common themes that can be found in Film Noir are; cynical, treachery, mystery, romance and crime. These themes create a good Film Noir. Furthermore another thing that is very popular among Film Noir is smoking and drinking alcohol this is because Film Noir came right after war and back then cigarettes were very popular and because they have been seen in so many movies they have become a necessity at one point. The story line that is most common in film noir is the classic there was a crime that affected someone innocent (the good woman) so a detective who no ones pays attention to and who is very underestimated helps the woman as a private detective making sure no one knows or hears (lead hero) the man behind the crime is somehow linked to the lead character (crime figure) this man is assisted by a woman of cold heart who tries to get in the way of the main character (Femme Fatale). The lighting and cinematography will be different depending on the scenario but most often artificial lighting will be used as Film Noir films are most often filmed outside in the night compared to other mainstream genres, a use of low angles and pans can be used to emphasise something or give something more importance. Moreover the lighting used will most likely be low-key as Film Noir is a very dull and mysterious genre.

Classic film noir:

 

 Modern day film noir: 

  

The film Brick is a very good example of a modern day film noir as it has all the features it needs to be one. To start of with some of the abstract angles used in this film which stand out to the audience and give it a strong film noir feel. Also we can see at 00:42 that all characters and surroundings are in focus which is a huge factor of film noir.