Film Noir is a genre of stylish American detective films from the 1940s-1950s known for its dark, black and white visuals depicting an underworld atmosphere. Some key conventions include low-key lighting that uses shadows and chiaroscuro effects to make characters feel trapped, Dutch angles, and wide angle lenses. While the genre dealt with themes of corruption in America's legal system, its visual style and conventions, such as distinctive uses of shadows, are no longer common in modern films, distinguishing Film Noir as a distinctive genre of its era.

1. Film Noir
What makes it a distinctive genre?

2. A list of Film Noirs
Double Indemnity
The Big Combo
The Woman in the Window
Murder, My Sweet
The Maltese Falcon
Touch of Evil
Stranger on the Third Floor
In a lovely place
Sweet smell of success
The postman always rings twice
The big heat
The big sleep

3. What is film noir?
American, stylish, fast talking detective
films of 1940-50s.
A very dark, black and
white underworld
atmosphere.
Very little colour to look at, dark and dull.
Usually set at night-because it was cheaper

4. Film Noir
Pulp Fiction and film noir showed the
American legal system was corrupt.
America never likes to think of it self as
bad.
Film noir-French, for
‘black film’

5. Film Noir Directors
Alexander Mackendrick
Alfred Hitchcock
Billy Wilder
Boris Ingster
Fritz Lang
Joseph H Lewis
Stuart Heisler

6. Film Noir Conventions
In film noir, directors tried
to do the conventions
better than everyone else.
Film noir is still used
today, it is just out of
fashion, they may use it
for advertising.

7. Film Noir Conventions
When a character is in trouble or
feels he may get caught, the
director seems to always leave
him looking trapped, they do this
by putting his face in the shadow
of shutter blinds. This makes the
character look trapped and in jail.
Film Noir is also known for its
Dutch angles, wide angle lenses,
low angle shots.

8. Film Noir Conventions
The low-key lighting schemes of many classic film noirs are
associated with stark light/dark contrasts and dramatic shadow
patterning—a style known as chiaroscuro.
The shadows of Venetian blinds or banister rods, cast upon an
actor, a wall, or an entire set, are an iconic visual in noir and
had already become a cliché well before the neo-noir era.
Characters' faces may be partially or wholly obscured by
darkness—a relative rarity in conventional Hollywood
filmmaking.

9. What makes it distinctive to other
genres?
-Black and White visuals are not used now-a-days.
-The language is different
-Shadows are not used as much now, and they are not
used in the way that film noir directors used it in.
-Sound motif was used a lot-this is when the music links
with a character. When certain music is played, you know
that that character will enter or be shown in the shot.