Film noir first developed in the 1950s as a genre of stylish crime dramas shot in black and white with low-key lighting and cinematography featuring low angles and obscured faces. Over time, subgenres like horror noir and superhero noir emerged. Film noir typically uses urban settings, narratives involving murder and punishment, and characters like detectives and femme fatales. Editing employs techniques like flashbacks and manipulating day into night, while soundtracks use jazz music, heavy breathing, and silence for effect. The document provides examples of how a sample trailer incorporates conventions of film noir cinematography, lighting, narrative, and editing.

1. FILM
NOIRHistory, Codes & Conventions

2. History
Film noir first developed in the
1950s as classic noir. This was a
particular era in Hollywood where
stylish crime dramas were created.
However, as time has gone on, sub
genres have been created. From
the 1960s onwards - genres like
horror noir (Films like ‘The
Nightmare on Elm Street’) and
superhero noir (Films like ‘Kick
Ass’) were developed.

3. Cinematography and
Lighting
• Typical cinematography features in film noir pictures are
low and high angles, extreme close ups, reflections, tilts
and when faces are obscured through objects. The
cinematography is also often distorted which means that
the camera isn't really focused and the image isn't 100%
clear.
• Film noir pictures are often shot in black and white. This
helps to emphasise the shadows which creates a sense of
anonymity. The shadows also help to create darkness
which connotes that there is a fear of the unknown. The
lighting is always quite low-key in film noir pictures - the
darkest blacks are always used.

4. Mis En Scene, Narratives &
Typical Characters
• Film noir pictures usually take place in everyday urban
scenes. This helps to make the film feel even more real and
‘grittier’. This is helped by typical settings being empty
streets and police stations which are all familiar to audiences.
• Film noir films usually have narratives that follow a ‘whodunnit’
plot and feature key themes of murder, sin, punishment and a
downward spiral.
• Typical characters that are often included in film noir pictures
are femme fatales, detectives, police and the protagonist.
Femme fatales are dangerous but ‘beautiful’ women - this is a
big theme in film noir films.

5. Editing and Sound
• The editing in film noir usually tells the story in
flashbacks and day is usually shot for night so
editing and filters are used to make it appear as
nighttime. The films also use a lot of jump cuts.
• The music used is usually downbeat Jazz style
music and heavy breathing is also usually a big
convention of film noir pictures. Film noir films
also generally use a lot of silence for effect and
include sudden noises and voice overs.

6. Examples In Our Trailer
• Cinematography - In one of our scenes, the view of an injured
person is obscured by a patterned window.
• Lighting - Our film is very dark and we have put it in black and
white - using the darkest blacks and really clear whites.
• Mis En Scene - Our trailer takes place in real environments such as
houses and schools so our trailer follows this convention.
• Narrative - The narrative for our trailer is a whodunnit and a key
theme is murder.
• Editing - We have a flashback at the start of our trailer and we have
started to shoot in light and then turn it into dark (nighttime effect) in
the editing procedure.