American Cinema  The test is postponed to tomorrow  Today – Film Noir Notes – begin movie #1  Wednesday – Unit 3&4 test – Continue Movie #1  Thursday – Finish movie #1 – Begin movie #2  Friday – Continue Movie #2  Monday – Finish Movie #2 – start Westerns  Tuesday – Film Noir due

Humanities  Today – The Seven Wonders of Ancient Greece  Wednesday – Renaissance notes  Thursday – Start Romeo and Juliet  Friday – Finish Romeo and Juliet  Monday – turn in Romeo and Juliet reviews – Renaissance visual art samples  Tuesday – Renaissance music samples  Wednesday – Practice samples – note cards for test (3x5)  Thursday – Renaissance unit test  Friday – No school (Fall Break)

Film Noir “ Black Film ” Or “ Dark Film ”

Background The film noir genre was born from crime films:  audiences grew bored with the criminal protagonist  wanted more of a hero during war times  Lasted from 1945-ish to 1950-ish (according to traditionalists)  Some film noir films have criminals and private eyes, but not all private eye or crime films are film noir.

Darkness of the Setting Cities:  Mean, nasty places where anything can happen at any moment  Violence and crime occur often, usually randomly  Sex: strip clubs, bars, sultry women abound  Cities are grimy, dirty places with lots of shadows.

Fog:  Fog obscures, makes things unclear and unknown  Fate, mystery, future Water:  What lies under the water?  Rarely can the audience see below the surface of water  Sometimes choppy and tumultuous Casablanca (1942) What Lies Beneath (2000) Darkness of the Setting

Lighting  Film noir uses high contrast lighting with lots of shadows.  Sometimes props are the only source of light  This is called low key lighting. –Little key lighting (principle source of light) –Mostly fill light (lights from side or back) –Comedies & musicals use high key lighting to create uniform light with little contrast

Notice the Brox Sisters in 1929 ’ s Singing in the Rain. What do you notice about the lighting? What do you see for lighting in this image of Bogart from Casablanca (1942)?

Darkness of Humanity: It ’ s a world of paranoia and entrapment  Male protagonist feels trapped and overwhelmed by a situation  Chance plays a larger role than fate  Heavy use of camera work to show craziness and entrapment: –Bars or lines in front or behind character –Tight framing –Odd angles –Slow tracking shots –Backward tracking shots

Femme Fatale  A “ dangerous woman ” who traps or pulls the male protagonist (usually a common, everyday Joe) into a world of crime and danger  She is sexy, dangerous, often filled with “ mad love, ” greed, or jealousy  Often, one or the other, maybe both, will die.  AKA – The Spider Woman –Ensnares the hero in a web of danger, lies and death

Postmodern Film Noir Even though film noir died out, it still exists: –Small details have been taken from the classics (symbols, lighting, characters) –Some feel film noir must be black and white, others feel that high contrast can be achieved through vivid colors

Our Movies  Casablanca – 1942 – Michael Curtiz  Chinatown – 1974 – Roman Polanski