Compare how ‘Heat’ uses the conventions of Film Noir to establish atmosphere with another Film Noir of your choice.
Film Noir first originated in 1946 by the French film critics, in particular, Nino Frank who noticed that American crime and detective films had many things in common such as the trend of how dark, downbeat and the themes of the films. Classic Film Noir’s developed during and after World War II taking advantage of the post war atmosphere and so the style of black and white American films originated. Film Noir’s were commonly marked visually by the conventions of dark lighting, disorientated visual schemes, portentous shadows, murderous plots and hard boiled detectives. However not all Film Noir’s were black and white, some Noir’s that followed the same conventions were the more modern films often in colour such as Director Roman Polanski’s ‘China Town’ starring Life Achievement Award winning Jack Nicholson, (1974) and ‘Heat’ cinematographed by Dante Spinotti, starring Oscar Award winners Al Pacino and Robert De Niro,(1995).
The first feature of being able to tell apart a Film Noir to any other genres is often the credits at the beginning of the film alongside the conventional music of soft jazz or mysterious melodies. In most Film Noir’s they use the same genre of music to set the atmosphere for the audience as they wait for the film to begin. The atmospheric music ranges from relaxed, peaceful, calm music to upbeat swinging jazz, or even a mysterious, unknown airy piece. Credits are often set against a black background with white or coloured text to stand out, as well as slowly running through them allowing the audience to read them. Both ‘Heat’ and ‘China Town’ followed this convention, setting the mood for the audience. Also throughout Film Noir’s the music continues to set the atmospheric mood for the audience so they can follow the action in the film and get the uses and gratifications out of it that the director intended to do. In the opening of ‘Chinatown’ the atmosphere is set by the music in the scene where J.J Gittes (Jack Nicholson’s character) is spying on a man while searching for something on deserted land. The music sets a mysterious mood and psyches the audience up as they feel the tension of what’s going to happen. Non-diagetic music being played onto a scene helps to create the majority of the atmosphere as it sets the mood for the audience and more than often hints at what is about to come up next.
One of the most, if not the most important convention of Film Noir is the lighting which helps to form the mood as well as the characters. The framing of the lighting and the cinematography plays a massive role in Film Noir and the genre is often known for its visual expressionistic lighting and mysterious dark shadows that make up the characters appearances. The Framing of the lighting is often used to disguise characters facial features to make them seem more mysterious, the only light in the scene tends to be from small windows or the flick of a flame which make up the atmospheric mood of mystery and darkness.
Film Noir’s more than often were predictable in terms of the location. Noir’s were often either shot inside with a single source of light coming from the windows in a dark, claustrophobic place or outside in the city at night where it was either dark and gloomy with deep shadows and puffs of smoke or wet and rainy in dark alley ways with the only source of light being brightly coloured neon signs. For most films the only locations they used were offices, apartments, warehouses or just simply the streets. However, for some Noir’s this convention was broken and scenes were shot in different places, for example in ‘Chinatown’ scenes were shot what looked like possibly on the outskirts of a city or on the coast. Also the very first scene of ‘Heat’ as the credits come to an end it was shot in a train station at night where the only source of light was the headlights of the train. Also in the mis en scene of many Noir’s is props like guns, smoking, drinking etc. These things represent a proper Film Noir as more than often the guns are used for killing as part of the story line. These types of props create a mood as the scenes tend to become tense when mysterious non-diagetic music is added in for effect. This often creates an anxious, edgy feeling for the audience as they know something is going to happen but they just don’t know what.
This leads us on to the typical plot of a Film Noir. Storylines were often indirect in terms of sometimes there would be a twist in the plot making it confusing to follow or sometimes there’s just a plain simple murder inquiry. Narratives were often used to set the context/ background information of the film or sometimes voice over’s were used against the visual scenes which helped to explain the plot as well as letting us in to the characters mind. There were often Femme Fetale’s twisted into the plot, whether it was that they played a beautiful, innocent women or a scheming, cold hearted bitch. More than often some kind of dream sequence or a series of flash backs would be used to allow the audience to see more into a character and their past.
Another feature in which Noir’s have recognition for is their stereotypical characters that are often found lurking around. Most Noir’s have the hard boiled detectives, typical anti-heroes, devoted cops, murderous villains, menacing crooks, beautiful innocent Femme Fetale’s or just the plain cold hearted killers. In both ‘Chinatown’ and ‘Heat’ there were a mixture of these characters including the anti- hero J.J. Gittes who enjoyed a good sexist joke or a alcoholic drink but at the same time committed to his job as being a detective, as well as the attractive yet devious, Femme Fetale who lied about her identity for her own benefit. Similarly in ‘Heat’ there were the typical sinister villains as well as the dedicated cops and detectives. Other conventional features in a Film Noir were the costumes of what the characters wear, for detectives its big trench coats and hats, as well as men in smart suits and often the Femme Fetale’s wore nearest to nothing to show off their eye catching figures.
In conclusion both ‘Chinatown’ and ‘Heat’ used most of the conventions within the opening of their film that are commonly found in Film Noir’s and both were able to create their own atmosphere for their audience. For ‘Chinatown’ it was all about the mystery and getting your head around the confused plot of who was the real wife etc, and for ‘Heat’ it was all about the tense atmosphere of villains, guns and bombs which straight away gave the audience an expectation of a crime film. By creating certain moods within the first opening, it sets the standards for the audience of what to expect from the rest of the film and allows them to try and predict what will happen. Most directors use lighting expressively to inject viewers with desired emotions as lighting is one of the most important features in a Film Noir. The other main convention that establishes an atmosphere is through the non-diagetic music played over the top of a scene. The music helps to set the right mood for the audience that was intended by the director, but doesn’t always have to set just one mood, the music can help set many different moods.
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