Wednesday 24 November 2010

Film Noir

For my third genre I am going to look at Film Noir.


Film Noir tends to centre on visual and cinematic elements, things like low key lighting, chiaroscuro effects- (Chiaroscuro in art is characterised by strong contrasts between light and dark), deep focus photography, extreme camera angles and expressionist distortion.

For the scene in Rumpelstiltskin that I am going to adapt, I would probably have the room turned into an office.

The set, I think, would be quite minimalist, but would rely on lighting and shadows to set the mood. Perhaps Rumpelstiltskin is a gangster of some kind.
I can imagine all the male characters wearing one of those gangster 'fedora' hats.


Screenshot of film 'The Big Combo' (1955) 

The image depicts a mysterious mood with the help of the fog drifting through scene.


The scene I will be adapting is an indoor scene.

Here is a quick sketch of initial ideas for the scene I am going to adapt. I have included what I think are the key elements that depict Film Noir.

If I am to continue with Film Noir as my chosen genre, I would make sure to have venetian blinds on the set as they would cast interesting shadows. The stripes could create visual tension and the feeling of instability or imprisonment (suggesting cage or prison bars).



Screen shot: Film: 'Kiss of Death' (1947) Showing use of Venetian blinds in shot.
http://cinepad.com/filmnoir/windwvm.jpg






Posted by at

2 comments:

  1. tutorchris26 November 2010 at 03:28

    Hi Katie
    Some good ideas here throughout the blog. Your drawing skills are strong - it would be good to apply them now really thoroughly and consistently to one of your genres and develop it to its fullest. I don't get a sense of which one you're going to go with - have you made that decision yet? Each of them has potential.
    The discussion you are having about film noir is interesting - the suggestion of imprisonment created by venetian blind shadows cold indeed be exploited to suggest the 'imprisoning' dilemma that the Queen faces. I think that the fairytale/fantasy element of the story somehow needs to be retained so that if you did choose film noir, for example, it would not just be a straight film noir set - there'd be an element of the otherworldly in there too, as Rumpelstiltskin is indeed an otherworldly kind of figure. What's useful about the Gothic and sci-fi genres is that this otherworldly element is there already/automatically - but it may be more of a challenge to 'inject' it into noir. Either way, the choice needs to be made very soon if it has not been made already. Keep posting your developments up; I'm looking forward to seeing them.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Katie12 January 2011 at 14:30

    Hi Chris, I like your point about the film noir, however, i'd already chosen to do gothic horror, i've been so late with uploading work on the blog.

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)