This is our take on Film Noir and our attempt to talk about the characteristics of film noir that we have squeezed into our 3 minute video.
From our previous essay in the last post we managed to talk about the thematically and visually dark elements on the screen that relates to the nature of film noir.
SYNOPSIS
We feature our anti-hero, Luis, a student by day and a school tabloid writer by night. He is in trouble and on the run. But in this video we retrace his footsteps to the night where it all happened. He receives a call from his mysterious agent in the middle of his night-writing hours to investigate and report about the syndicate for stolen exam papers run by James. As he declines it, he gets a visit from a friend, Belle. She requires his help which he initially rejects, but he is enticed into helping her as he tries to manipulate her in getting the required information with his investigation.
SEMANTICS
First, let's talk about language. Film language. The first thing that we notice about the video is that throughout the 2 minutes and 55 seconds, are the lightings.
Lighting
The lighting for film noir are chiaroscuro, to make this effect we used only two lights to illuminate our anti-hero and femme fatale. The low-key and high contrast lighting allows us to cast strong shadows and convey different messages in characters. The dark environment symbolises the corruption in the film world of noir.
When the video starts off, the femme fatale is shown, walking in a dark and dirty alley towards a tall city building.
Setting
The settings of most noir films are in the city where crimes are rampant. The hardboiled investigator will have to battle through suspicion and malice that comes along with the ironic rain-washed roads and tight alleyways. The tight alleyways are often used to show feelings of claustrophobia, depicting the paranoia of getting caught. Once again, characters in noir films often act either at the edge of the law, or literally are out-laws.
Luis's 'office' is located by the window, we shot our anti-hero at an extremely low angle, the window pane created a lines. Which brings us to the next point.
German Expressionistic
In noir films, influences of German Expressionism were seen through the use of chiaroscuro lighting and elaborate sets that features oblique lines. Our anti-hero sits at a desk and his background features the window panes which are oblique, his features are distorted from the low angles.
In German Expressionism, chiaroscuro lighting are used and shadows were often casted to show characters hiding in them or obstructed by them. Shadows that were casted by them were also a way of depicting intentions of malice. This can be seen when Belle the femme fatale enters the scene. She opens the door as her shadows are elongated. A presence of malice is there, almost foreshadowing trouble for the anti-hero.
The shadow that was casted by the anti-hero at the final scene can is also clear to signify that there were other intentions of him in helping the femme fatale.
While the femme fatale was seducing the anti-hero, the shadow of the anti-hero is casted on her, as part of her hides in the shadows, a symbolism of possible suspicion on her actions and intentions could be felt.
As we have explored the semantics of our video, let's now dive into the syntactic elements that we can observe.
SYNTACTICS
Our anti-hero, Luis is working in a school tabloid for a university in Long River City, he receives a call requesting him to investigate a character, James who runs the syndicate of stolen exam papers.
The anti-hero, blurred moral
Film noir features a hard-boiled anti-hero whose morals are blurred. The sense of justice is twisted. In our video, our protagonist isn't exactly a goody-two-shoes. He writes for the school and at the same time is paid to expose an exam paper thieving syndicate. This makes him an investigator of some sort. However, he himself has been a patron before to the syndicate before. Not exactly the hero that we thought he was.
Aside from that, everything that he does are based on rewards. "What's in it for me?" is his favourite line. Harsh realities. He also tries to manipulate the femme fatale in her situation. His helping condition was due to her 'promise' and seduction, as well as the bait of the important documents that the previous client's target had. He is tries to achieve his goal through the takings of opportunities.
The femme fatale, sexual dominance
The femme fatale is the result of the historical role shift as women then in the post world war 2 were shoved back into the domestic line from the industrial sphere. The femme fatale's role in film noir is to jeopardise the anti-hero, jerking (no pun intended) the anti-hero along the way that she wants him to move through the darkness. Bringing him in deeper and deeper into trouble. Usually in film noir, the inciting incident is the introduction of the case by the femme fatale.
In this video, the femme fatale requests help from the anti-hero to search for her memory card. The anti-hero refuses as he questions his reward and motivation to help her.
Femme fatales utilise their sexuality to manipulate the anti-hero into compliance. Belle, the femme fatale, promises to owe the anti-hero a favour. The anti-hero snatches the bait immediately.
We hope you enjoyed the video!
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