The document discusses various elements of mise-en-scene in film noir, including location, lighting, costumes/props, character positioning, camera work, editing, sound, and character representation. For location, it notes that many noirs are set in dark, urban areas to create realism and unease. Low key lighting is used to generate shadows and mystery. Props like cigarettes, alcohol, and guns are prominently featured. Characters are often positioned closely together where only parts of them are visible. Unusual camera angles and close-ups also aim to make viewers uncomfortable. Editing may be nonlinear and use juxtaposition. Soundtracks feature jazz music and silence is used to build tension. The femme

1. MISE EN SCENE – LOCATION
A lot of film noir’s are set in busy urban
areas, this is to bring a sense of reality
from the film to the audience as a lot of
the audience will be familiar with an
urban location, therefore when negative
situations happen in a noir film in an
urban area, it can put the audience at
unease as they will associate the films’
location to the urban location they are
familiar with. Settings for a film noir
include dark and badly lit streets in a city,
or a police station, or a bar or lounge that
has a reputation for being dodgy,
amongst other various locations. A lot of
the time the locations are dark and wet,
using pathetic fallacy to signify the
miserable and negative mood of a noir
film.

2. MISE EN SCENE – LIGHTING
In film noir a lot of low key lighting is used
which therefore creates effective shadows
creating a sense of mystery for the
audience. The lack of lighting as it is low
key lighting being used, signifies and sets a
dark mood for the film. High contrast is
used meaning that dark areas in a scene are
very dark and light areas in a scene is very
light, there isn’t many in between area’s
(grey areas) which is effective when
creating shadows and strange contrasts
over characters faces. The high contrast
could make the audience feel at unease as
the audience will be used to viewing
everyday life in natural lighting, it would be
inhuman to see something the way film
noirs portray light in everyday life. Another
unique lighting technique that film noir’s
use are the showing light from venetian
blinds creating a shadowing and striped
effect.

3. MISE EN SCENE – COSTUME/PROPS
Props such as cigars and cigarettes are
consistently used in film noir’s, they can be used
to set the period of time in which film noir’s were
created, as in that particular time period,
everyone thought it was healthy to smoke. The
smoke coming from the cigars and cigarettes are
often seen in the scene and looks very
mysterious, this could be a signifier of the
mysterious narrative that film noir’s hold.
Another prop that is used in a lot of film noirs is
alcohol which goes hand in hand with some of
film noir’s settings such as bars and lounges, but
also alcohol is classed as a socialiser, therefore
by having a character by another character a
drink, it is a great way to introduce either a new
character, or a conversation that will help to start
unfold the plot of the film. Other props include
weapons, the most popular to film noir being
guns. Neon lights are another prop, this is to help
set the setting of a tacky and run down city, as
well as point out all the dangerous hotspots in
the city, as I have noticed most bars and lounges
will have a neon light outside near the entrance
of it.

4. MISE EN SCENE – EXPRESSIONS AND BODY LANGUAGE (CAMERA WORK)
Important expressions and body language
that are important to the film are shown
through extreme close-ups and close-ups
so the audience can therefore see the
characters reactions and feelings through
out the noir films. Due to the dark lighting,
extreme close-ups and close-ups are
needed to show characters feelings and
reactions with some definition.

5. MISE EN SCENE – CHARACTER POSITIONING
A lot of the time, when there is more than one
character on scene they will be positioned
closely together and will be filmed in a camera
shot that only allows the audience to see parts of
the characters, this can be uncomfortable for the
audience to view as in everyday life they are able
to view something or someone in full instead of
being forced to view parts or sections of
something.

6. CAMERA SHOTS, ANGLES AND MOVEMENT
A lot of unusual camera work is used in film noir,
this is to make the audience feel at unease. In
noir films, high and low angles are used as well
as Dutch tilts, making the viewing experience
uncomfortable for the audience as they are used
to viewing every day life in an eye level angle. As
mentioned before a lot of extreme close ups and
close ups are used within film noir’s, not only are
these specific shots used to show detailed
expressions and reactions they are also used to
make the audience feel at unease as the audience
will be used to viewing everyday life in a midshot, anything closer than this can make
everyday life feel enclosed. The use of reflections
with views and faces shown through objects and
their reflections are also another camera
technique used within film noir. The camera
techniques put into place to make the audience
feel uncomfortable, signifies that the actual
narrative is dark and has been written to make
the audience feel uncomfortable.

7. USE OF EDITING
The editing techniques used in a film noir are
very interesting. Film noir a lot of the time uses a
non-linear start to the end and therefore tells the
story in flashbacks to parts of the plot unfold
gradually. There can sometimes be some
montage editing as well as juxtapositioning
(putting two unlikely emotions or circumstances
together.) Quick razor cuts between reaction
shots can be used in film noir, when tension i
being built in revealing the twists in the plot.

8. USE OF SOUND
Downbeat jazz music can be heard in the
background of a film noir frequently, this is due
to the time period that film noir’s were created in
and jazz music being popular, slow and low toned
jazz music, also fits in with the Mise-en scene of
a film noir as it would be the sort of locations that
film noir’s are set in that live jazz music would be
played, for example in the bars and lounges. The
use of quiet and silence, can be used to build
tension as it is uncomfortable for audiences to
hear silence, as they are used to having some
sort of background noise in everyday life.
Another way of building tension in a film noir
would be to have sudden noises, by doing this a
noir is frightening the audience, who will then be
tense and a lot for a sudden noise to occur again.
Background sound effects from the setting of
scene are almost always used as it brings an
extra touch to the Mise-en scene and makes the
film seem more realistic, for example if there was
a scene being shot in a city, there will be
background sounds that you would hear in a city,
such as cars or people walking and talking on the
streets. In confessional film noir’s there is almost
always a voiceover of the protagonist telling his
point of view throughout the film.

9. CHARACTER REPRESENTATION – FEMME FATAL
The femme fatal is always the main female
lead in a film noir. I would argue that the
femme fatal is a countertype to the
stereotype of a woman in film. The
stereotype of women in film has normally
been that women are housewives and can’t
defend themselves and are weak and need a
man to rely on. A femme fatal is the
complete opposite, she is a beautiful and
glamorous woman that uses her good looks
to control men into doing her dirty work,
then killing the men off. She is a strong,
powerful and manipulative woman that can
defend herself. A femme fatal would
normally wear natural but glamorous make
up, such as lots of mascara to frame her
eyes and red lipstick (red is a signifier of
passion and love, as well as anger and
danger) making the femme fatal look
seductively dangerous. The femme fatal will
normally be seen wearing sleek tight fitting
dresses, conforming to the male gaze theory
by Mulvey, with elbow length gloves and fur
coats, also a signifier of wealth.

10. CHARACTER REPRESENTATION – PROTAGONIST
The main protagonist is normally either
a current detective or a detective that
had gone out of work. The male
protagonist is a single and lonely man,
therefore his weaknesses are normally
alcohol and beautiful women. I would
argue that the protagonist in a film noir
is also a countertype of how men had
been stereotyped in the time period
that film noirs were created in. The
stereotype of a man would of been
masculine and strong and a person
that wasn’t reliant on women but
someone that was there for women to
be reliant him. However the protagonist
becomes weak when meeting the
femme fatal and becomes controlled
and reliant on being with her. A
protagonist is mostly seen wearing
outfits such as fedora hats, trench
coats and suits conforming to the
detective stereotype.