The Characteristics Of A Film Noir

The Main Character of a typical film noir usually ends up trapped in a difficult situation, most communly from a woman (The Femme Fatal of the story(Femme Fatal meaning a woman with no morals)). The main character is usually a male who has to do what he is told to do by the woman through blackmail and bribary, this makes the woman dominant in every situation so the main character has no choice but to follow instructions. In Fargo (1996 By; The Coen Brothers) the main character is in debt but we do not know from who or what, he knows that if he kidnappes a woman (who's from a wealthy family) he will recieve lots of money in return to pay off the debt.

Film noirs covered a wide range of genres, from gangster, detective and PI (private-eye) stories to films about social problems.

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 communly used to break up to picture so much so that you couldnt 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. The music was quite jazzy but tense which made the situation seem sneaky and undercover.

Flashbacks were communly used to tell a story or to refer to the past of the story to explain something or to make the audience ponder. Many Camera Teqniques were used including deep-focus allowing the foregroung 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.