Notes from the Film Noir Course at the Arts Theatre Cambridge

Genre or Style?


Genre defined by conventions: narrative / plot structures / character archetypes / iconography /conservative and cynical mood.


Style defined by cinematic techniques: lighting [high contrast and sharp] / mise en scene / sound / background very important / camera put in unusual places / imbalances - these last came from Weimar cinema and out of the era of Expressionism.


Expressionism originated in Germany, linked death and sex.


Women as Femmes Fatales or as redeemers; promise of sex or security; take advantage of male weakness caused by war. Feminism was a by-product of defeat in war; men not happy. Women sexualised on screen and made sexual criminal. Binary oppositions - attraction and repulsion.


Male Gaze - audience put in position of male viewer, sexualising women on screen.


Historical Context: patriarchy upset post-war; popularity of pulp fiction; gender tensions; the monstrous outsider - immigration post-war into America.


The Hays Code - 1930s. No detail on the crime being committed [see Double Indemnity]; time limit on kissing; sex and violence alluded to but shown as wrong.


Blinds - visually like a trap.


Narrative Structure - flashbacks and / or voice-overs; non-linear ie not ABCDE but more often EABCD.


Voice-over creates a 'doppleganger' as if the character has been split in two - we see them making mistakes and hear them commenting on them..

Planning resources and templates

Find below some templates to help you consider your film in more detail.

Using a call sheet will show evidence of organisation of actors (a key part of the mark scheme) and help you plan your filming in more detail.

This is an example one. A blank one is below (and in the shared area at school too).

This sheet will help you plan your location - so you know where to go and any additional information. I recommend you do one for each possible location - and definitely for the actual locations you use. If you add pictures to the sheet to to demonstrate the location - even better!