WHAT IS NEO-NOIR OR CONTEMPORARY FILM NOIR

Neo-noir or contemporary film noir is a style of film created from the 1970s and onwards. It contains similar aspects to the genre of Classic Film Noir, but with updated themes, visual contents and style that were not present before.

Neo-noir still has essences of mystery and crime, with bleak storylines and tend to end out the same; in dread and disaster. Someone will always end up at a loss, whether it be of a life, a loved one, a huge sum of money and much more, leaving devistation.

As far as noir films go, there always has to be a femme fetale, so to mess with the mind of the protagonist. In films such as 'Brick' there are more than one female; keeping you guessing as to which one is doing the wrong. This leaves the viewer to almost join in the crime and mystery as they are sat there contemplating on who is messing who around.

Neo-noir has its differences to Classic Noir, being that most are shot in colour. However, this does not mean that the dull, dark element has been lifted; neo-noirs still use low key lighting and a wide use of shadows to keep the depressing mood in shot.

Stories used in neo-noirs tend to be around contemporary issues, and Mise-en-scene changed to a more updated version. It is very effective, and as it is contemporary and up to date more viewers are bound to watch it, apposed to films back in the 1940s.

TWO EXAMPLES OF CLASSIC NOIR FILMS

Double Indemnity, directed by Billy Wilder, is a 1944 American film noir.

Double Indemnity starts in a usual convention of noir films, it is non-linear and starts with a confession, leading onto how the confession came to be coming from the characters point of view. The story begins with an insurance salesman called Walter Neff who came to meet a lady who had yet to destroy him; Phyllis Dietrichson. She starts flirting with him, though it is later found that she has a husband. Being the usual femme fetale, Pyhllis asks Neff to help her kill her husband meaning she will be given a big pay off for the loss of her husband. To begin with, Neff turns her down and walks away; this would not make one of the greatest noir films and as predicted the femme fetales manipulation kicks in and Neff finds himself planning to make it seem as though Mr. Dietrichson fell off a moving train. The investigator who came along never suspected Neff to do such a thing, as he was a trusted member being a insurance man.
Later on in the film, Neff soon discovers that Pyhllis had also been seeing her step daughters boyfriend, being very unfaithful (though nothing more is expected from the femme fetale, considering she had previously murdered her husband!) and this then leads on to Phyllis shooting Neff once, but not killing him. However, she finds it hard to give him a final blow, and in this time of thought Neff grabs the gun and conquers the femme fetale. Although, in classic film noirs its not always such a happy ending; Neff is ridden with guilt and confessed to his sin on a dictaphone. The investigator happens to hear this, and watches Neff flee but as he follows him Neff collapses on the floor due to his bullet wound. The classic doomish ending to another great film noir.



The Maltese Falcon, directed by John Huston, is a 1941 film noir.

Set in San Francisco, Sam Spade and Miles Archer, two private investigators meet with a client; Miss Ruth Wonderly claiming to have a missing sister who is involved with a man called Floyd Thursby. Wonderly goes to meet him in the hope of finding her sister and Archer volunteers to help get her sister back.
Later that night, Spade is informed of the murder of his colleage, Archer. He meets up with Police Detective Tom Polhaus at the scene of the crime. Knowing that Archer had followed Wonderly, Spade calls the hotel that she had recently checked out of and recieves further terrible news as he finds out Thursby was also murdered in the same evening. Not only this, but he realised that his supervisor, Lieutenant Dundy, suggested that he had the motive and opportunity to commit both of these crimes!
Spade later goes on the meeting Wonderly (now going by the name of Brigid O'shaughnessy) and finds out that Thursby was her partner and 'probably killed Archer', but Wonderly claims to have no idea who killed Thursby. Spade agrees to investigate the murders.
Back at his office, Spade has an encounter with Joel Cairo, offering him a $5000 fee to find a 'black figure of a bird', pulling a gun on him in order to search for it. Managing to knock Cairo out, Spade goes through his belongings. When Cairo gets back to his feet, he hirs Spade. Late that evening Spade informs Wonderly of his meeting with Cairo, and when he turns up it is apparent that they both already know one another.
As they all get talking, Cairo becomes fustrated when Wonderly reveals that the 'fat man' is located in San Francisco. In the morning, Spade makes his was down to the hotel Cairo is staying at, where he sees a man who had been following him earlier; Wilmer. He gives Wilmer a message for his boss, Kasper Gutman, the 'fat man'. Spade meets Gutman and he begins talking about the Falcon, but turns evasive so Spade storms out giving Gutman a deadline to be more forthcoming.
Later on, Spade is at gunpoint by Wilmer in order to see Gutman. However, Spade overpowers him, though meets Gutman anyway. Gutman relates the history of the Maltese Falcon; offering Spade $25,000 for the bird and a quarter of amount from its sale. Little did Spade know that his drink had been spiked, as he fell to the floor. Wilmer, Gutman and Cario leave.
Once Spade wakes up, he roams around in the suite to find a newspaper with arrival times of the freighter La Paloma circled. He goes to the dock to find the ship on fire. A man holding onto a bundle wrapped in newspaper bursts into his office later on and staggers towards him before dying; the bundle containing the Maltese Falcon.
The phone starts ringing, Wonderly on the other end giving an address before a scream and the line dead. Spade follows this address; an empty lot. He then returns home and finds her hiding in a doorway. Taking her inside, he finds Gutman, Cairo and Wilmer waiting for him with their guns drawn. Gutman hands over $10,000 for the Falcon, but is informed by spade that part of his price is somone he can turn over to the police for the murders of Archer, Thursby and Carptain Jacobi. Wilmer is suggested as he certainly killed Thursby and Jacobi. Gutman and Cairo agree after intese discussion. Wilmer has the short end of the stick and Spade get the details to provide a convincing story to the police.
Spade calls his secretary to bring him the bundle. However, when inspected it is found to be a fake and he is told to continue their mission. After Cairo and Gutman leave, Spade calls the police and tells them where to pick up the pair. Spade angrily confront Wonderly, as he knew she killed Archer to implicate Thursby, her unwanted accomplice. She is unable to believe that he would turn her over to the police, but he did despite the feelings he had for her.

CHARACTERISTICS OF FILM NOIR

Film Noir has developed certain codes and conventions, defining it as a genre. The primary moods of classic Noir were melancholy, bleakness, evil, moral corruption, guilt, paranoia, desperation and so on.
Stories were often elliptical, twisting and non-linear. It begins with the ending scene and throughout the film it will gradually make the viewer realise why that film had ended in the way it did. The narratives were constantly complex and convoluted, using a series of flashbacks and voice-over narration. Amnesia suffered by the protagonist was a common plot device aswell as the downfall of an innocent everyman, becoming victim to temptation or was framed.
Cinematography played a big part in creating the greatest Noir films through use of deep-focus or depth of field camera work, lighting, disorientating visual schemes, skewed camera angles making the viewer feel rather uneasy as it is not a point of view they are used to. Settings often made use of venetian-blinded windows and rooms had dark, claustrophobic apperances. Exteriors often consisted of the urban night scenes with deep shadows, with rain and damp streets, dark alleyways and low key lighting.
In every Noir, there will be the well known characters; The private eye, detectives, gangsters, millionaires, henchman, corrupt police and beautiful women, one being the femme fetale. They are mysterious, unreliable, irresponsible yet gorgeous and manipulative. These females were dangerous, and usually anyone associated with them will end up murdered, hurt or will have lost something or someone. The femme fetale would lead the struggling, doomed hero into commiting some form of crime, and would corrupt them into falling in love. On some occasions the femme fetale would make the hero feel in control, as if he knew what he was doing; in the end only reaslising he was trapped in her power.  However, the hero would not be the only one in this downfall; the femme fetal may not come out alive either.

WHAT IS FILM NOIR?

First identified by French film enthusiasts, Film Noir earns its name by virtue of both its shadowy visual style and its pessimistic themes; basically meaning "black film"! Though it has a French name, the first of the noirs were created in America, in the early 1940s. However, during this time World War II was still effecting the media in the sense of which Hollywood was unable to send the films made over to Europe so there were little viewings. Not only did the war effect the viewers, it effected the production of the films; Eastern Europeans fled for their lives, many of them involved in the film industry would head towards Hollywood and these people were the ones to create some of the best Noir Film as the threat of the Nazi's during this shadowy time reflected the feelings of depression and pessimism which indirectly contributed to evolving Noir into what it is now. Not only did they bring the mood of darkness to these films, but as they were from Eastern Europe they also brought over different cinematic techniques which lead to German Expressionism; heavy stylised sets with use of a lot of light and shadows.

As many of the jobs were left empty during the war, it was down to the women to take over their place in the workplace; the start of the reason why female characters in Noir are often conveyed as powerful and dangerous. This is because when the men came back from the war, the women who had been working did not want to go back to their household chores; they had found a new lease on life and continued working. Being a huge social lift, the men started to feel slightly threatened by these new strong liberated women. Once the war ended in 1946, these films flooded France all at once, causing French critic Nino Frank to realise that all these films had something in common; similar dark undertones with identical conventions. Since then, these films have their own genre of Noir.

INTRODUCTORY TO MY BLOG

Hello, and welcome to my AS Media blog! My name is Rebecca Fisher and I am a student at Suffolk New College. I am using this blog to track my progress and to display all my research as well as all the practical exercises I have encountered. This is a brief outlining of what I intend to do and what I am hoping to have created by the end of the year;
In groups of four, we will undertake a practical video project. It is our aim to produce a 2-3 minute film opening to a contemporary Film Noir thriller that will act as our coursework, demonstrating that I am able to understand the key concepts of media and am sufficiently able to use a range of technical skills. This piece of work should update the Noir genre to todays date, but still convey the same values, traditions, narrative, mood and conventions of classic Film Noir to suit a new audience in contemporary setting.
Each of us in the group will take on the responsibility for a certain element of our production but will still explore all the different roles and will plan how to excecute them. The roles include writer, director, producer, cinematographer, sound, art direction and editor. In order to deliver these responsibilities, there will be a lot of researching and planning which will help to establish what I am trying to accomplish and how I will create my opening sequences.
This production will enable me to show that I have the appropriate skills needed to construct a completed film opening sequence. After having finished this, I shall then evaluate my practical work using all of my media theory, particularly concentrating on the ares of this film that I was responsible for.
In order to gain practise for this film opening sequence, I will take up a Preliminary Exercise consisting of a short film scene that will help me to better understand the use of the camera and the effects I could possibly obtain from it from experience.
Though there is a lot of work involved in this project, I am really looking foward to hands on activities and hopefully my interest in all aspects of the mass media will show through my finished produce and those who watch my opening film sequence will enjoy what they see and get a real feeling for contemporary Film Noir.