Light and Noir

1
Light and Noir
2
T-Men

• 1947, Dir. Anthony Mann, Cinemat. John Alton.
• Schrader mentions T-Men and Alton prominently in
  his essay on noir.
• Low-budget, but extremely noir in style.
• Note separation of style from explicit "message"
  of the film its theme of fighting crime,
  triumphing over evil.
• Style tells us something very different from this
  "message" or "moral."

3
Noir Style

• Centrality of Style to Film Noir.
• Can't talk about Noir without talking about style
  or "look."
• But also, can't separate "noir style" from "noir
  attitude" or "worldview," which sees
  world/society as gritty, violent, corrupt, ugly,
  or even evil.
• As we see in T-Men, style does not just "fit"
  those "darker" attitudes, it actively conveys
  them.

4
Noir and "Realism"

• This "darker" view is often described as a more
  truthful or authentic representation (the "ugly
  truth").
• Thus, on the one hand, film noir has often been
  described as presenting a more "realistic" view
  of world.
• Can see aspects of "realism" in many noir films
  on-location shooting violent and/or sexual "true
  crime" depictions documentary-style narration.
• Low-key lighting often seen as "realistic"
  compared to high-key, diffused lighting of studio
  films.
• Even black-and-white photography of classic noir
  can, and has, been seen as more "realistic"
  (darker) than the bright hues of color and
  Technicolor photography.

5
Realism or Aesthetics?

• But, on the other hand, noir style and lighting
  is also highly stylized, highly aestheticized.
• Borrows from German expressionism, and other
  artistic "modern" movements, many of which were
  explicitly "non-representational," abstract, etc.
  
• As Naremore points out, film noir and modernist
  art share an aesthetic tendency they foreground
  or highlight their own "style."

6
Painting with Light

• Ex John Alton
• Even as Alton argues for more realistic
  cinematography in post-War films, the title of
  his book Painting with Light implies the
  "aesthetic" tendency of noir cinematography and
  lighting.

7
John Alton, A.S.C.

• Born in Hungary.
• Famous noirs T-Men Raw Deal He Walked by
  Night The Big Combo.
• Also worked on many less noir films.
• But often brought noir elements to them, as in
  the ballet sequence in An American in Paris
  (left).

8
Realism or Aesthetics?

• Alton's lighting/ cinematography for T-Men
  produces a visual style that often seems governed
  more by aesthetic concerns than by realism.

9
Visual Impact

• Contrast between dark and light, underneath
  lighting, separate foreground and background
  lighting, odd angles and compositions, wide-angle
  lens, the use of fog/steam, glistening sweat,
  etc.
• Visually powerful, but also conveys a "vision" of
  the world.

10
Normal World/Underworld

• Look at difference between early scenes, before
  the agents enter the "underworld," and rest of
  film.
• Much brighter, "normal" world. Stresses "real
  case."
• But which world is more "real"?
• "The underworld" (world of noir) may seem more
  "realistic," more authentic, less fake than
  "normal" world.
• But, at the same time, noir world is a kind of
  dream or nightmare world, where everything is
  exaggerated, extreme, intense dangerous,
  violent, sexual, criminal.
• This vision of world is as much aesthetic as
  realistic, which is why it requires an equally
  intense, exaggerated visual look or style.

11
Defining Noir Style--or Not

• But, as Naremore points out very difficult to
  make generalizations about noir style, except
  that it involves some degree of low-key lighting.
  
• For ex, Place Peterson's assertion that films
  noirs don't move the camera much. Welles?!
• Or that noir films often juxtapose CU's and long
  shots use high and low angles, canted framing.
• Some noirs (The Big Sleep) don't use extreme
  angles, or even much deep focus.
• Quite a few noirs don't use voiceover narration,
  or on-location shooting some don't even use
  night-for-night shooting.

12
Defining Noir Style--or Not

• Yet, despite this, we can usually identify a noir
  film. How?
• Naremore argues that noir is not a matter of
  specific techniques
• It involves a broader, overall visual look or
  aesthetic visual iconography that includes set
  design, fashion, locations (usually urban), as
  well as lighting.
• Not to say that camera techniques don't
  contribute to the look of noir films, but
  impossible to identify any particular technique
  with noir.
• What makes noir hard to define, but malleable
  enough to evolve and be used in different ways,
  is that it involves an overall look or style or
  vision of world, rather than any specific
  technique.

13
Quiz 3

• In discussing Paul Schrader's essay on noir,
  Naremore also discusses the noir themes in this
  famous Scorsese film, for which Schrader wrote
  the screenplay.
• Naremore questions Place Peterson's assertion
  about camera movement in films noirs. What was
  Place Peterson's assertion?
• Naremore notes that when John Alton writes about
  lighting, he talks about a "lonely streetlamp" in
  an unusual way. What's unusual about how Alton
  writes about the streetlamp?
• What is "visual iconography"?

14
Double Indemnity (1944)

• Dir. Billy Wilder
• From James M. Cain novel
• One of the most acclaimed noir films
• Barbara Stanwyck as one of the defining "femme
  fatales" Phyllis Dietrichson.
• But note also how male leads have curious
  relationship that raises questions about male
  gender and sexual roles.