Free Essays on Noir to Get Inspired & Learn by Example

What is the first thing a person who is familiar with Noir thinks of? They think of Dark alleys, private eyes, a mysterious woman or femme fatale at the heart of the story and a dark mystery to be solved. But is there something more to the concept of Noir? Mark T. Conrad illustrates these using philosophical concepts of Nietzsche. In it, he uses terms such as ‘Flux Metaphysics’ and ‘Death of God’ as a juxtaposition of how Nietzsche saw the world as it was, a dreary place for humanity to dwell. In his article, he goes through the Continue reading...

The genre or film noir started in the 1940s and 1950s, and in its classic form is shown to have stark eExpressionistic black-and-white cinematography, labyrinthine crimes and mysteries and as well as an overall cynical look stance towards theat the world wherein they existin which they are surrounded. One of the most prominent noirs of the mid- -20th twentieth century is Double Indemnity, directed by Billy Wilder in 1944. The film, which follows features an insurance investigator who hatches a plotplans a scheme t to kill his lover’s husband for a giant payout on his insurance. While the Continue reading...

The genre or film noir started in the 1940s and 1950s, and in its classic form is shown to have stark Expressionistic black-and-white cinematography, labyrinthine crimes and mysteries and an overall cynical look at the world in which they are surrounded. One of the most prominent noirs of the mid-20th century is Double Indemnity, directed by Billy Wilder in 1944, which follows an insurance investigator who plans a scheme to kill his lover’s husband for a giant payout on his insurance. While these films took themselves deadly seriously, neo-noir plays with these same ideas in a modern setting, Continue reading...

1. What are the visual and narrative characteristics of Film Noir?
Visually, Film Noir made use of low key lights when focusing on the principal actors. Part of the actors’ face is in shadow. Majority of the film used low lightings. There were also unconventional and unbalanced low-angled shots. Most likely, the Film Noir did not have an extravagant budget for the movie. Hence, most scenes of the movie featured the 50s to avoid various camera setups. Furthermore, because of not having too many cameras around, only a small number of crew is required. Film Noir presented the dark Continue reading...

Part 1: Identify and Comment

Image 1(a)
The movie is entitled ‘Chungking Express’ that is directed by Wong Kar-wai. The characters in the image are Brigitte Lin and Takeshi Kaneshiro, who is a cop. Takeshi Kaneshiro is romantically involved with Brigitte Lin whose drug smuggler. Takeshi the cop is prompted into this action by a break-up of his relationship with a woman by the name, May. The film’s general concern is to depict our common tendency to hide our real identity of behavior or denial of who we are in the society. Brigitte Lin purposefully wears a wig and sunglasses to hide Continue reading...

“Odd Man Out” is a black and white British movie shot by Carol Reed in 1947. Based on the novel of the same name by F. L. Green, the film reflects upon human beings wishing peace and calm in the conditions of a political unrest in the country. Though “Odd Man Out” depicts the real historical period, the concept of the movie is fully psychological; its primary target is to find way into the souls of simple people with their weakness, fear and desire to stay away from trouble. The director’s aim is pronounced right at the beginning Continue reading...

Minority Report was directed by Steven Spielberg and was released in 2002. On first viewing the film, it’s plain to see what Spielberg was going for. He was trying to imagine the future of the world in the present. It’s apparent with his attention to set design and the look of his film of his sheer enjoyment of playing within an imaginary world full of toys. It’s been said that Spielberg use to make films using his toy trains to burst into flames on impact. But as the Joker said, ‘Where does he get those wonderful Continue reading...

Shakespeare once said, ‘To be or not to be.’ In Steven Spielberg’s Minority Report, the line between free will and determinism are blurred. The philosophical debate at the heart of this Sci-Fi Neo Noir piece is whether a person who ‘may’ commit a crime should be arrested and incarcerated. The core of every proper science fiction film is the debate. While the film has several action tropes in it, its commitment and use of the detective genre is indicative of making it the highlight of the genre. While the overall theme is free will versus determinism, what really Continue reading...

Citizen Kane is an outstanding, innovative film in the sense of its narrative technique, style and its characterization (Bergman and Antonioni). The film deals with the theme of inner self of the protagonist and by investigation into the inner self of the hero, the film shakes the foundation of the classical elements of the classic Hollywood cinema.
One of the features of the classic Hollywood cinema is to provide unified narrative so that the audience would easily understand the story. The introduction of “talkies” helps in the smooth transition as well as in the smooth narrative follow to move Continue reading...