Film noir is a genre of film based in large part on the hard-boiled detective novels that grew out of naturalism, a movement in literature based on realism.
September 14, 2006 (Press Release) --
Film noir is a genre of film based in large part on the hard-boiled detective novels that grew out of naturalism, a movement in literature based on realism. Film noir is French for "black film", and pronounced accordingly ("film noh-wahr"): the plural is films noirs.
Film noir tends to feature characters trapped in a situation and making choices out of desperation. Frequent themes are murder, betrayal, and infidelity. Films noirs tend to include dramatic shadows and stark contrast (a technique called low-key lighting).
The term film noir was coined by the French film critic Nino Frank and is derived from a series of hard-boiled fiction books entitled Série Noire. Films noirs were mainly shot in black-and-white in the United States between the early 1940s and the late 1950s. Many were low-budget supporting features without major stars, where 'moonlighting' writers, directors and technicians, some of them blacklisted, found themselves relatively free from big-picture restraints. Main features required a wholesome, positive message. Weak and morally ambiguous lead-characters were ruled out by the star-system, and secondary characters were seldom allowed any depth or autonomy. Flattering soft lighting, deluxe interiors and elaborately-built exterior sets were the rule. But Noir turned all this on its head, creating bleak but intelligent dramas tinged with nihilism and cynicism in real-life urban settings, and using unsettling techniques like the confessional voice-over or hero's-eye-view camerawork. Gradually the noir style re-influenced the mainstream it had subverted. Orson Welles' Touch of Evil is often referred to as the last "classical" film noir.
Almost all film noir plots involve the hard-boiled, disillusioned male (usually in the form of a private eye) and the dangerous femme fatale. Usually because of sexual attraction or greed, the male commits vicious acts, and in the end both he and the femme fatale are punished or even killed for their actions.
Source: http://www.yahoo.com
Film noir tends to feature characters trapped in a situation and making choices out of desperation. Frequent themes are murder, betrayal, and infidelity. Films noirs tend to include dramatic shadows and stark contrast (a technique called low-key lighting).
The term film noir was coined by the French film critic Nino Frank and is derived from a series of hard-boiled fiction books entitled Série Noire. Films noirs were mainly shot in black-and-white in the United States between the early 1940s and the late 1950s. Many were low-budget supporting features without major stars, where 'moonlighting' writers, directors and technicians, some of them blacklisted, found themselves relatively free from big-picture restraints. Main features required a wholesome, positive message. Weak and morally ambiguous lead-characters were ruled out by the star-system, and secondary characters were seldom allowed any depth or autonomy. Flattering soft lighting, deluxe interiors and elaborately-built exterior sets were the rule. But Noir turned all this on its head, creating bleak but intelligent dramas tinged with nihilism and cynicism in real-life urban settings, and using unsettling techniques like the confessional voice-over or hero's-eye-view camerawork. Gradually the noir style re-influenced the mainstream it had subverted. Orson Welles' Touch of Evil is often referred to as the last "classical" film noir.
Almost all film noir plots involve the hard-boiled, disillusioned male (usually in the form of a private eye) and the dangerous femme fatale. Usually because of sexual attraction or greed, the male commits vicious acts, and in the end both he and the femme fatale are punished or even killed for their actions.
Source: http://www.yahoo.com
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