Task 1 - Film Noir- Codes and Conventions

The term 'Film Noir' was created by Nino Frank, who was an Italian-born French film critic in 1946, the term itself means 'Black Film'. 

Film Noirs all have codes and conventions that are seen in almost all films in this genre. The most common convention that film noirs use is the narrative of the spider and fly. The spider and fly narrative is when the woman of the film draws the typically male detective in so that when the detective finds out she is part of the crime it is hard for him to do what he has to do for his job. An example of this although the film is a neo-noir, the spider and fly narrative still applies, is the film Chinatown (1974) the story-line is as follows "When Los Angeles private eye J.J. "Jake" Gittes (Jack Nicholson) is hired by Evelyn Mulwray to investigate her husband's activities, he believes it's a routine infidelity case. Jake's investigation soon becomes anything but routine when he meets the real Mrs. Mulwray (Faye Dunaway) and realizes he was hired by an imposter. Mr. Mulwray's sudden death sets Gittes on a tangled trail of corruption, deceit and sinister family secrets as Evelyn's father (John Huston) becomes a suspect in the case." -Google(Roger Ebert) There is typically an unspoken romance between the detective and the woman. The effect that this has on the audience is that they struggle to admit that she is the criminal, because of the romance between the detective and the woman. On the other hand the audience can also be effected in the way that they dread when the two characters create this unspoken romance, because they know that the woman will cause trouble and that the detective will have to turn her in so that he does his job. 

Another element of the effective use of lighting that they use within film noirs, the use of lighting to create the shadowing effect that most film noirs take advantage of.The low-key lighting creates the effect of mystery and helps build tension within the film. The effect that this has on the audience is that it makes the audience become intrigued as they want to know what is 'lurking in the shadows' it makes the audience continue watching the film, this is how the level of success is rated on films. The use of the lighting is also used to disguised the studio in the background. This was done because the small studios which were used to film the film noirs in would be shown in the film itself and would take away the separate universe that is created. These films were classed into B-list films, which would be shown in cinemas due to block booking. Block booking is where the cinema would buy A-list movies in 'blocks' of movies, this means that the B-list films that would be contained in the blocks would get profit from their movies being shown. The lighting in film noirs is described as "A feeling through a visual of low key lighting and story conventions". This supports the idea of the low key lighting being important to the story of the movie, it helps the studio get the message of mystery across to the audience. 

The iconography that is used in film noirs help create the moods of guilt and melancholy within the film.Iconography such as guns,cigarettes,trilby and overcoats. The iconography helps the audience identify the genre of the film. These types of iconography helps the studio present the atmosphere and emotions come across to the audience more clearly and helps the studio create what appeals the fans of that genre.The small details of things such as the trilby and and overcoat makes the movie come to life, it helps the audience fulfill their aim of watching movies which is to escape reality.The effects that the small details also make is that it makes people want to continue watching the movie,this is because they see the quality of the movie and are interested to see what happens as the small details portray the thought that it is a thought out movie that could have a strong and interesting story-line that they may not want to miss out on finding out about.  

Another convention that the genre uses effectively is the use of sound. The non- diegetic sound is a big aspect of film noir as they are typically created with background music throughout the film itself and not just the title or credits of a film. The music is typically created with strings and trumpets and normally creates a calming influence on the audience until something happens within the film and the music will become tense to help create the emotions that the film is trying to create for the audience to experience. The effect that this has is that it makes the film effective and makes the audience experience multiple feelings and helps them see different point of views from within the film. It helps them become engulfed in the film and helps the film fulfill the aim of making the audience feel what the characters feels as most of the time the story is told through the detectives point of view and the audience only knows as much as the detective.