Lighting is a huge part of any film and can change the way a whole film is interpreted. Film Noir is ‘is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasise cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as stretching from the early 1940s to the late 1950s. Film noir of this era is associated with a low-key black-and-white visual style that has roots in German Expressionist cinematography.’
Some examples of famous film noir films are Double Indemnity (1944), Touch of Evil (1958) and The Maltese Falcon (1941)
In film noir lighting is very important and can be used to create different effects. In black and white films lighting was more important than ever because it was emphasised more with the lack of colour. It also meant it was easier to create shadows and new and interesting ways to use them. There are two main ways to describe shadows; cast shadows and attached shadows.
Cast shadows are when a person on screen is partially illuminated because an object is blocking the light source, for example another person, door or blinds.
Attached shadows are when an object or someone’s features are partially illuminated due to something natural being in the way, for example, a hat or hair creating shadows on a face.
Here is our experiment where we tried to create the Venetian blind effect.
Lighting is very important when it comes to creating atmosphere and aspects of a character so to make sure we use the best effects on our film we researched other films to learn about how even subtle lighting enhances the story line. We had already watched the film Lolita earlier on in our research in to sexual grooming and looking back at it we realised how lighting had played a big role in creating our opinions of the characters. For example in this shot here Humbert is in a shadow cast by an object off screen (maybe Lolita’s sitting in the light from the window). This suggests to the audience that Lolita is an innocent character, whereas Humbert is secretive, confined and mysterious.
Other films which we looked at which are film noir films were Double Indemnity and Asphalt Jungle.
Double Indemnity- in this screen shot you can see a man who is standing facing a window; the shadow lines across his body are most likely to be coming from blinds across the window. This draws the audience’s attention to him and by doing so suggests that he is the more important out of the two men.
Asphalt Jungle- in this screen shot the main light source is evident as the overhead light is on screen creating mood and suggesting that because the characters have only got this light source focused over what they are doing that what they are doing is secretive. This is also suggested by the fat that apart from this light source the rest of the screen is darker suggesting that they are up to no good. There is a man sitting at the table whose hat blocks the light on his face which could show that he is an important character in this scene or that he is hiding something from the others.
Lighting can also change our sense of shape and texture, with Josef Von Sternberg -thought to of been one of the cinema's masters of film lighting, said "The proper use of light can embellish and dramatise every object." An example of this theory is shown through the clip Lemon by Hollis Frampton, by moving the light in various ways and focusing on various angles of the lemon, you are able to create what appears to be an entirely new object for the audience.
After seeing this as a group we did two experiments changing shape and texture with light.
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