Film Noir Conventions, and how we're breaking them

Film noir conventions and how we're following and breaking them

First off, I will discuss the stereotypical iconography and location traits of classic noir films. Noir films are known for their urban gritty locations, often in abandoned locations or rain-drecnhed alleys with gloomy lighting sometimes populated with neon lights. We will be following this convention, as we will be filming when it's dark or at least foggy, and will be filming in an empty location on the Belfast docks. Some other key locations of noir films are diners, bars, poolhalls,  nightclubs, police stations and gambling dens. We will be incorporating a dimly lit poolhall into our film, as well as an old-style bar.

As for the mise-en-scene, noir films tend to incorporate traditional attire such as bowler hats, trench coats, braces, and props such as guns, cigars and whiskey. We will be trying to match this in our film, including all of the aformentioned attire and props. As for the shot types and angles and editing, noir films have some common traits. Noir films use low angled and canted angled shots, tracking shots to follow action and bridging shots to cut back in time when the protagonist is reflecting. As for editing, noir films use action matches, eyeline matches to show the viewer what the character is looking at and parallel editing to show different characters engaged in phonecalls. As noir films tend to be slow-paced, they rarely have any over the top editing or visual effects. Similarly in our film we aim to use low and canted angled shots, action matches and parallel editing, however we aim to break conventions by using unconventional shot types such as POV shots and over the shoulder shots. Noir films tend to use moody jazz music as their film score or incidental music, which we will try to use as incidental music in the closing bar scene and during the credits. We also aim to make use of both diegetic and non-diegetic sound.

As for film characters, the archetypal noir characters are the corrupt cop, the femme fatale, the stoic detective and the hardened mobster. The prominent themes in noir films tend to be love and betrayal, urban decay and degeneracy, flashbacks and voiceover narratives and convoluted stories. As our film is supposed to be brief and only a short opening to a film, we won't have the time to elaborate on any of these characters or themes in much detail.

As for neo-noir, the conventions tend to be the same but with a modern spin. The films feature violence with more modern forms of crime such as pimping and drug dealing, with more world-weary and cynical protagonists with false accusations and betrayal, focusing more on long tracking shots, obscured frames and deep focus.

We are breaking conventions of noir and neo-noir by the way we blend them together and juxtapose them in our film. We use traditional noir attire, dialogue and characters, while also using modern props and neo-noir scenarios, such as the drug deal. We blend noir and neo-noir together the best in our dug dealer character - despite saying dialogue that seems reminiscent of an old noir film, he will be dressed like an urban youth and speak with a broad accent and their mannerisms. This juxtaposition will act as a parody.