Film Noir.

Film noir is a style or genre of cinematographic film marked by a mood of pessimism, fatalism, and menace. it is one of Hollywood’s only organic artistic movements. The term Film Noir is a French word which means black film. It is associated with a low-key black and white visual style. It is term used to describe stylish Hollywood crime and sexual movements. Beginning in the early 1940s, numerous screenplays inspired by hardboiled American crime fiction were brought to the screen. Film noir movies essentially consist of  a femme fatale and various well dressed gangsters causing crime and avoiding being caught. They were all made in black and white to allow focus on the the plot rather than the affect of the colours used.

This is a still showing the femme fatale and a gangster which you would typically see in any film noir movie. There are many types of lighting that have been used in this image such as top lighting, high-key lighting, under lighting and also low-key lighting.

The use of high-key lighting depicts the dimly lit scene and makes it look realistic. Top lighting is also used on the mans face to accentuate his features and make him look more glamorous. In the centre of the image there is a sort of bright light, it shines on the cigarette the man is holding which shows the iconography (Barthes). Low-key lighting is also used to produce contrast of light and dark which shows the chiaroscuro and is mainly shown on the bottom half of the image and on the woman. Under lighting comes from below and behind and shows a distorted effect on the woman which is very effective.

At the start of this movie trailer it starts of showing underlighting and this lighting is coming from below which is leading to a distorted effect. Low-key lighting is also created along this trailer as the lighting is created by using only the key and back lights. This effect produces strong contrasts of light and dark and creates dramtic shadows allowing the audience to feel some tension and suspense.