This document discusses how LA Noire portrayed two different versions of Los Angeles: a fictional noir version and a historical open-world version. The fictional version featured a scripted story, cinematic camera angles, and player had no control during cutscenes. The historical version lacked a main story and gave players open-world roaming and control over their character's movements and decisions. It also provides examples of semi-documentary film noirs from the 1940s-1950s that were shot on location and featured elements of newsreels or documentaries to realistically portray cities like Los Angeles, Chicago, New York City, and Washington D.C.

1. PLAYING LOS ANGELES
ITSELF:
Versions of the City in LA Noire
Jedd Hakimi
jedd.hakimi@gmail.com
University of Pittsburgh

2. L.A. NOIRE TIMELAPSE: WORLD IN MOTION
MADE BY EUROGAMER.NET

3. USC Libraries' "Dick"Whittington Photography Collection.

4. More from USC Library
Collection

5. GrandTheft Auto IV’s “Liberty City” (NYC)
Assassin’s Creed II’s Florence, Italy
Fallout 3’s Washington, D.C.

8. FICTIONAL VERSION OF LOS ANGELES
• Noir stylization
• Constrained movements
• Scripted storytelling
• Static choices/outcomes
• Game-controlled narration during cut-
scenes
• Cinematic camera angles
• Continuity editing for storytelling
• All action and dialogue

9. HISTORICAL VERSION OF LOS ANGELES
• Documentary “realism”
• Open-world roaming
• Lack of story
• Indefinite choices/outcomes
• Player-controlled narration during
gameplay
• Selecting avatar’s immediate
movements/decisions
• Choice of Avatar’s spatial
position in the game world
• Some control over camera
position

11. THE “SEMI-DOCUMENTARY”
FILM NOIR
EXAMPLES
• The House on 92nd Street (1945)
• Call Northside 777 (1947)
• T-Men (1947)
• HeWalked by Night (1948)
• The Naked City (1947)
• Night and the City (1950)
CHARACTERISTICS
• Shot almost entirely on location
• Mimic newsreel or documentary tone
• Use non-professional actors
• Often feature “voice-of-god” narrator
• Lack the traditional tropes of noir like
femme fatale and hard boiled
detective
• Conspicuously foreground real-world
location

12. HeWalked by Night — Los Angeles Call Northside 777 — Chicago
The Naked City — NewYork City The House on 92nd Street —
Washington DC & NewYork City