Thursday 4 April 2013

CHARACTERISTICS OF FILM NOIR

NARRATIVE STRUCTURE & EDITING          
Retrieved from Sunset Boulevard ( Billy Wilder,1950)
A basic structure for Film noir editing is like a maze with the hero as the thread running through it. Film noir editing follows most of the traditional crime film’s characteristics but they are generally known as non-linear editing. It usually starts out on a quest, and then tells the story in flashback to solve a mystery or else to find work, after that settle down it and commit murder. For instance, in the Sunset Boulevard (Billy Wilder, 1950) film, starts up with a dead body of a young man, Joe Gillis floating in the swimming pool. When the policeman starts to investigate the murdered case, Joe’s voice narration is leading the situation by telling the story of his own murder for audiences.
Film noir’s dramatic feeling are occur due to the use of flashback. The film usually presents this as a very brief story telling then to the flashback just like the example above. Flashbacks and voice narration structures may be the means of suggesting that the progress through the maze is the working out of a fatal pattern. The reason of using flashback for most of the film noir is because the use of flashback can bring more depth, suspense and excitement for telling a story. And it is also like a bridge of time, place and action to reveal the truth about the character. Other than flashback, continuity editing is used to most of the footage and montage which falls on storytelling. The use of continuity editing is guiding the audiences to know the flow and sequences of the story. After reveal the truth of the murdered case, it backs to Joe’s dead body floating in the swimming pool where policeman were investigating.

COSTUME
Retrieved from Sunset Boulevard ( Billy Wilder,1950)

The costume for the character in Sunset Boulevard (Billy Wilder, 1950) is in the old-fashion of America attire, which appears in the 1940's and 1950's. There will be antique car owned by Norma, together with suits and hats that bring out the attire of people from that era. Usually women will have curly hair with long dresses which is exactly what the old-fashion image portrays. Women in film noir usually wear white, smart, and silk dress. For example, the dress wear by Norma in the film show that she is a rich person and yes, her attire and living place show that she was a big star before. With the glamorous dresses on, the level of class will usually presence and being express through the clothing. For instance, with the money that Norma had, she able to give a luxurious cigarette case as a gift to Joe who shows she is from an upper class community people.
For men, normally they are wearing smart, tidy suits with ties. The dress code for men is always being black, grey and brown in colour.  Clothing is really a personal issue in the film. There is a saying that character who wears their clothes on their bodies, they are literally attached into their wardrobe (Maria Pramaggiore, Tom Walls 2005). As seen in Sunset Boulevard (Bill Wilder 1950), Joe has a big transformation after he met Norma, who was a former Hollywood star. Norma bought a lot of expensive clothes for him as she wants him to be her partner. Joe's status had arisen by wearing what Norma bought for him. However, there is another meaning for Joe's new clothing in the film. It show that Joe is starting depending on Norma on the expenses. There is a part whereby the cloth seller persuades Joe to choose the more expensive or luxurious cloth since Norma is paying for it, it challenge Joe masculinity as he treated Joe like a gigolo. Joe gains a higher class of status by his clothing but he lost his freedom after gaining all his benefits (Maria Pramaggiore, Tom Walls 2005).
By watching film in film noir, the recognition of the character is done by looking at what the character wearing. For instance, the male character wears hat and suit and the female character lingering gaze and sensuality. In Sunset Boulevard (Billy Wilder, 1950), Norma is likely to live in her own world, the house which is full of photo of her, she only watch those old films which acted by herself. Besides, she is happily receiving the entire fake fans letter which is prepared by her guardian. She is a femme fatale who sustain her fantasy by draining the lives of those who surround her (Gerd Gemunden,2008). This will be more persuasive with the presence of the empty swimming pool with lots of rats crawling across, this emphasis the past and decaying era that Norma being going through. Norma is a typical woman who wants to control others to live in her own imaginary world.

LIGHTING

Retrieved from Sunset Boulevard ( Billy Wilder,1950)
Lighting is one of the important aspects of mise-en-scene in film noir. As we know film noir are much on dark nature therefore the lighting uses on low key lighting and shadow to create moody atmosphere and the sense of danger that will occur. In the Sunset Boulevard (Billy Wilder, 1950) film, it is full of shadows in a very figurative way. It shows the shadowy world deception, greed, lust and jealousy. These are all strong characteristics of noir narrative. For instance, Norma is just delusional while Joe is caught in a moral battle of genuine love of another screenwriter and the wealth and pity of Norma. The film does use shadows most commonly when referring to Norma's past, particularly the scene where they are watching her old movies and she stands in front of the projection light, arm held high with very strong light contrast on her face. 

CAMERA ANGLE
Retrieved from Sunset Boulevard ( Billy Wilder,1950)

Film noir is known for the use or establishing shot, low-angle and wide shot to create dramatic effect. Other common found in film noir include shots of people in mirrors, shots through a glass and multiple exposures. The establishing shot mostly used in film noir movies start off with symbolic features of trouble. The establishing shot in Sunset Boulevard (Billy Wilder, 1950) films portray to the audience what the male protagonists are going to go through. The film starts with a high angle shot of a black concrete street. Very rapidly the camera tilts up and reveals a medium angle long shot of Sunset Boulevard (Billy Wilder, 1950). Then, Joe Gillis is shown dead floating at the top of a pool. The camera performs a slow backwards tracking indicating something is coming. 
Apart of that, we can see a low-angle shot pictures of Joe. When he looks down at the burial, we see Norma in a high-angle shot from Joe's point-of-view. Later, low-angle shots of Norma at the top of the stairs contrast this position. In the first scene, Joe feels in a position of power having just found a solution to his money problems but by the end of the second act, Norma holds a life-threatening amount of power over Joe. This to show that Norma is not manipulating or evil but instead showing she is insane and insecure woman that has the power of dominating over man and the femme fatale. A femme fatales character is frequently shot from low angles top show there power and threatening nature.

CONCLUSION

            In a nutshell, based on our understanding, film noir is the great achievement of film studies as the power of film noir able to mobilize the imagination in a film and it is undeniable in enhancing the plot. Meanwhile, the shared aspects of film noir which the plot involving crime and violence and the fatalistic narrative that filled with bitter plot turns and bad endings, for instance in the film of Sunset Boulevard (Billy Wilder, 1950) where the main male character has bad ending in the structured story plot of the film, it shown the dark fatality which touches on one of the element in film noir. Apart of that, film noir is emphasizing on the deliberate style of performance together with the cinematography of it by using low key lightings and strong use of shadows which easily to develop the emotion of the character that metaphorically on the dark fatality of the characters in the film.

REFERENCES
Bordwell, David & Thompson, Kristin. (2010). Film Art An Introduction, 9th ed, USA: McGraw-Hill

Gemunden, G. (2008). A Foreign Affair: Billy Wilder's American Films (Vol. 5). Berghahn Books.

Schrader, P. (1996). Notes on film noir. Film Noir Reader. New York: Limelight Editions, 53-65.

Street, S. (2001). Costume and cinema: Dress codes in popular film (Vol. 9). Wallflower Press.

Telotte, J. P. (1989). Voices in the dark: The narrative patterns of film noir. University of Illinois Press.

Winston, J. (1998). Drama, narrative and moral education: Exploring traditional tales in the primary years. Routledge.