Location, characters and props

Analysis of film noir 4

Analysis of film noir 3

Analysis double indemnity from Claire Walker

Audience questionnaire

PBS American Cinema Film Noir

History of film noir

Film noir is believed to of started from the early 1940's to the late 1950's. This era of film noi is associated with a low key, black and white visual style. A French critic, Nino Frank was the first person to use the term film noir in 1946. Some of the first film noir were The Maltese Falcon in 1941, Murder My Sweet in 1944, Double indemnity in 1944, The woman in the window in 1944 and Laura, also in 1944 

Film noir covers many different plots such as the lead role, which tends to be a detective, plain clothes police man, ageing boxer, happiness grafter, a law abiding citizen lured into criminal life, or a victim of incident. 

In the beginning stages of a film noir, most features were American productions, from the 1960's onwards. However, film noir has been produced throughout the world. These all contain aspects from the originals from the 1940's. 

Film noirs reflecting the war, run down and beat up times of this period. It showed tensions and insecurities through the use of Hollywood films such as comedies and musicals. Fear, mistrust, bleakness, loss of innocence, despair and paranoia are readily evident in noir. This is to represent the time period.  

Classic film noir developed when the during and after the world war II they took the advantage of the post war ambience of anxiety, pessimism and suspicion. It was the style of black and white American film that first evolved in the 1940's, became prominent in the post-era, and lasted in a classic Golden Age period until about 1960 (marked by the last film of the classic film noir era, Touch of Evil (1958)). 

It is not specifically a genre but more of a mood or style and point of view for a film. Film Noir usually refers to a distinct historical period of film history – the decade of film making after World War II.
 

 

Film noir analysis 2

The Spiral Staircase Analysis:

This first scene is from film noir The Spiral Staircase which was published in 1945. The woman is wearing a good quality looking coat and hat which indicates that she is from an upper class background. The scene only shows her in a forest, giving a sense of isolation from other characters as well as in location. She is holding a stick which implies that she senses danger. There is a minor high angle of the woman, which implies that she is a vulnerable character. The music is quiet in the background, with strings and organ which expresses sense of the unknown.

Here is a long shot of the woman in the forest. It looks very eerie with the shadows and darkness. The woman walks towards the camera which could suggest she is walking towards danger. You can hear the diegetic sound of her footsteps and the wind. This creates realism within the clip which makes it more likely for the audience to believe the rest of what they see in the film.

As the woman rushes home, in the wind and rain, she passes a tree which reveals a large figure standing behind it. This builds tension and panic for the audience as they know that the woman does not know the man is there. This is also very gripping as you want to know whether the man is going to be a ‘good guy’ or a ‘bad guy’. As the man is revealed, there is a large thud of thunder which emphasises the anxiety. The scene is extremely dark, with everything blending into one. This makes it hard to establish what is happening which builds suspense.

This shows an over the shoulder shot of the man watching the woman. She is struggling to find her keys to her house which makes the audience worry about her because we do not know what the man is planning. The way the camera is placed, the man is much larger than the woman, suggesting that in society, men have the higher status but also that he has the power over the woman, as she is just a small, vulnerable lady who is oblivious to somebody watching over her. The sound of the wind continues. However, it is accompanied by a sci-fi sounding noise which bring confusion. The light flickers, emphasising the bad weather with lightning.

Here is a bird’s eye view of the lady running across the muddy forest. This helps to further set the scene as it really shows how isolated the area this woman is in. The bad weather is used as pathetic fallacy, the wind, rain, thunder and lightning reflect how this woman will be feeling, being alone in the middle of nowhere. There is also dramatic irony, where the audience know that the man is following her but she does not.

The lady then returns to her house and soon after, the camera reveals some legs at the top of the stairs. This raises various questions for the audience like whether this is the same man, how he got there and what is he going to do. As the legs were revealed, there was a very loud crash of thunder. This shows there should be panic and an uneasy feeling from the unknown. The man is wearing all dark colours/black which connotes death. This could be foreshadowing death of characters that is to come in the film.

This is an extreme close up of a mans eye. We assume that is is the same man that has broken into the woman’s house. If so, it emphasises how he is watching her every move. The man looks very angry, perhaps at the woman or at himself because he has not yet got what he wants. The way the eye is in focus shows how he is looking through a small gap to see the woman. The cut from the previous screenshot is quite harsh compared to the close up. This makes the audience really focus on the image and try to work out what is happening.

The camera then zooms into the eye and shows the image of a woman. This is presumably the woman that the man has been watching throughout the previous parts of the film. I think this shows that he is still thinking about her or wherever he looks, she is there. The woman’s mouth is blurred out which suggests that she has no say in what is happening or a wider message that women in society are not listened to. The dramtic music becomes louder as the eye is zoomed into. This implies it could be a type of dream. We hear the sound of thunder againa and the girl fades away.

This shows that in film noirs, there can be uses of extreme close ups to represent how the characters see things, showing the audience what it looks like from their perspective. It shows how different characters are presented in different ways, giving the audience a different perspective.

                                                        

Film noir analysis 1

Peter Gunn - Breakout analysis:

This is the film noir Breakout, directed by Peter Gunn from 1958. It starts with a long shot of two males walking through a room which looks like a prison. The whole film is in black and white, hence film ‘noir’. There is music playing which helps to set the scene and emphasise the fact it is set in a prison. You can also hear the diegetic sound of footsteps. The shadows on the walls emphasise how there is going to be trouble in the following scenes.

There is a close up of one each of the men followed by a shot reverse shot to the other man in the cell. The screenshot shown here shows a high angle of the second man, revealing the opposite to the shot of the other man, with a low angle. This represents the status differences between the two. However, the music creates tension which emphasises how these status roles may change throughout the film.

Here is a close up of a box which presents a gun. The background is out of focus so that the audience’s attention is on the box with the gun. The camera follows from the man’s hand, taking the gun and reveals his face. This gives the sense that the character is being tracked or watched. The music continues from the previous clips which gives the film noir continuity, showing this action is leading onto something

The music then changes into a minor key which creates a dramatic, tense feeling for the audience. There is a slight high angle here which shows the man with the gun has the power in this clip. Further demonstrating this is that the other man’s face is covered, with his back to the camera. The use of cross cutting onto this scene tells the audience the man is up to something which is revealed later on.

Here is a clip of the man breaking out opening up the cell, just after he has hurt two of the officers. The way the man’s face is cut out of the picture resembles how this action is not going to end well for him. The focus is on the keys in the lock, so that the audience can watch him succeed in his action of breaking out of prison. We can hear the diegetic sound of the keys in the lock which matches what we see, giving consistency. He is placed in the middle of the screen which suggests he has the most power, possibly because he has a gun.

This is similar to the first scene of the film, just at a different angle and position. This is suggesting that there has been change since the film started. The slight low angle and off centre shot of the officer makes him look very small, showing that he does not have control of the situation. The shadows give the film an unnerving feeling, but the way they are placed over the officer could also foreshadow death.

This close up shows the panic on the officer’s face as he realises the man has escaped. The clip is quite burry which shows his confusion and the clip soon cuts away from his face, making the audience have a ‘double-take’, connoting that is what the officer did when he realised the prisoner was not there. There is a low angle on the character, showing he could be feeling aggressive and angry at the man. The music becomes louder at this point, with an alarm sounding in the background. Both emphasising the panic and confusion.

This transitions to a high angle of a very dark, shadowy staircase and we see a man walk out of a door below, this makes him look very little and vulnerable. The music is very gentle here, proposing this is a calmer environment than the previous scene. The camera follows the man and he looks directly into the camera, giving the feeling of being watched but he knows that he is under surveillance, making the audience question why. The music becomes quite jolly, as the camera keeps on this man. This gives a contrast/juxtaposition between this character and the man who is trying to escape as well as between the scenes.

This scene is the first time we hear any form of dialogue, proposing that these characters know each other and like each other. The quality of the sound is not very good, which shows how technology has developed from the time the film was produced. As the man walks in the door, there is a shot reverse shot which shows a man in a wheelchair with a mask on his face, we cannot see the man speaking which creates confusion
among the audience. The man is positioned in the middle of the screen which reveals his whole body as well as emphasises that he is in a wheelchair. It makes the audience want to continue to watch the film so that they can find out what is wrong with the man, as they feel sympathy for him as it looks like he has been in some kind of accident or has a medical condition. After this scene, there is a fade out which shows it is the end of this scene.

Conventions of Film Noir

Scene recreation

As a group, we decided to recreate this scene from Mean Girls. From 0:58 to 1:44.

We originally planned on filming it at one of our houses to make it more like the original but it was much more convenient to film at school. This is our recreation:

I think that our scene recreation is effective because it has the right timings for the different scenes. The only issues were that the sound and camera was not as good quality and we did not have the same surroundings which made it seem less like the original. The impact the editing had on the clip was that it made the scenes flow easily into each other and made it easier to make it more similar to the original. 

Foley sound

Foley Sound 

Foley sound is the reproduction of everyday sound effects in films, TV programmes and videos which are recorded separately and added to the film during editing/ post production. The sounds are used to emphasise and enhance the quality of the different sounds for the audience. One example of the use of Foley sound is the use of a hot water bottle rubbing against a shiny surface to create the sound of screeching tyres or the use of coconuts for the sound of a horses hooves. The sound effects are made using unusual objects that you would not associate with the object of the actual sound. Foley can also be used to cover up unwanted sounds captured on the set of a movie during filming, for example wind. 

 

This video shows an example of how a Foley sound studio looks and how the artists create the sounds. As they watch the clip, this allows them to see what sound effects they need to make, making the Foley sound the same timing. This shows how much time it takes to get the sounding correct and the sound is not done in the one recording that we watch. 

 

I then created my own Foley sound clip. We were given different sounds to record for example screeching tyres, fire, breaking glass, keys, footsteps etc. We recorded different sounds as a group, I then recorded clips of my friend and added the sounds (Foley sound).