What are the Key Conventions of Film Noir?

This combined with the words and pictures from my moodboard are my impressions of Film Noir by looking at a number of openings of films and clips from the films of the genre. Such as:

-Double Idemnity (1944)
-Brick (a modern neo-noir film)
-Sin City
-Inner Sanctum (1948)
-Postman always rings twice (1947)


I did however have Ideas left on my Brainstorm from Film Noir that I didn't add to my moodboard:
I used Prezi to assemble Ideas as I didn't have Photoshop at the time.




Film Noir is a style of film making influenced by the great depression and the massive amounts of European film makers who moved to America during the Second World War to escape Hitler. This helps define why the movies are slightly dark and perhaps more simply not a typical 'happy' style of film.


Minimal lighting was essential to create a dramatic look and a high contrast imagewhich was common in Film Noirs. This along with the eerieness of each scene as they used pathetic fallacy (where the weather reflects the setting/story) such as fog or mist, interesting camera angles: trying out differnt lenses, high and low angle shots, moving from object to object to create tension in the audience. The lighting is also used to portray characters differently. Eg. If they are the heroes or if they are villains.

Another aspect of lighting was to place the light behind the subject to silhouette. This fits in with Barthe's Enigma theory as the audience questions who the person is. Acentuating the eyes with light was used to convey emotion and mental state of the character. Shadows are said to be the film makers best friend when creating a 'Film Noir'.