Paint It Black
(Schrader's Visual Stylistics)
(Schrader's Visual Stylistics)
"Night"
"The majority of scenes are lit for night."
Verbal Narrative Stylistic per Schrader
"There is a love of romantic narration."
Film Movement That Most Influenced Film Noir
German Expressionism
Visual Style so Pervasive Schrader Skipped It
Black and White Film
Character Archetypes (Type and Example)
Possibiities include; Hard-boiled Detective, Femme Fatale, Corrupt Cop or Official, Innocent Bystander, Anti-Hero, Doomed Fall Guy, "Good Girl" or Wife, Psychopath/Thug, Homme Fatale
"Equal"
"The actors and setting are often given equal lighting emphasis."
BONUS for: faces are often blacked out by shadow
Stylistic Related to Time c per Schrader
"A complex chronological order is frequently used to reinforce the feelings of hopelessness and lost time."
Literary Tradition that Influenced Film Noir
Hard-Boiled Fiction
Film Noir Directors Were All...
Possibilities: White, Male (with very small exception of Ida Lupino), Straight
But Neo-Noir made room for everybody
Phyllis Dietrichson
Femme Fatale that Drove Double Indemnity
"Lines"
"As in German expressionism, oblique and vertical lines are preferred to horizontal."
Common Noir Themes
Possibilities: Fatalism, moral ambiguity, dread, betrayal, deception, corruption, obsession, alienation, obsession and desire,
Also acceptable: Black Widow, killers-on-the-run, dopplegangers, the innocent man
World Event that Gave Rise to Film Noir
WWII.
Bonus for: Post WWII disillusionment; Post War Realisim
Subject of Almost Every Noir
Crime. Noir is generally considered a sub-type of crime film
Nino Frank
French critic credited with coining the phrase, "Film Noir" post WWII
"Tension"
"Compositional tension is preferred to physical action."
BONUS for: "would rather move the scene cinematographically around the actor than have the actor control the scene by physical action"
One of the Original Films Dubbed, "Film Noir."
The Maltese Falcon; Double Indemnity; Laura; OR Murder, My Sweet
Photographer Who Influenced Film Noir
Crime Photographer Weegee aka Ascher Fellig
Common Visual Tropes
Possibilities include: Smoke, fog, ceiling fans, 40's wardrobe, especially fedoras, dark alleys
Writer Important to Film Noir
Possibilities Include: Raymond Chandler, James McCain, Leigh Brackett, Dorothy B. Hughes, Dashiell Hammett, Patricia Highsmith,Graham Green, William Falkner, Ida Lupino, Billy Wilder, Thea von Harbou
"Attachment"
"There seems to be an almost Freudian attachment to water."
If Film Noir Is Not a Genre, What Is It?
Has Been Called A: Style, Mood, Film Cycle
It is defined, "by the more subtle qualities of tone and mood." - Schrader
Light/Dark Painter's Technique
Chiaroscuro
BONUS for Tenebrism
Where Most Films Noir Are Set
Urban environment
Important Film Noir Director
Possibilities include: Fritz Lang, Billy Wilder, John Huston, Otto Preminger, Edward Dmytryk, Ida Lupino, Robert Siodmak, Jules Dassin, Edgar Ulmer, Howard Hawks