Double Indemnity

Double Indemnity is the third film we watched. It is a film noir from 1944 and 107 minutes long, the film is said to be a crime, thriller film noir. The film is about an insurance company and one of there employers tries selling some insurance to a couple when the wife (Phyllis) persuades him to sell life insurance for her husband without him knowing then they plan to kill him to get the money. They kill him and then the insurance man (Walter Neff) immitates him and pretends that he fell off a train. The wife then turns on the insurance man and goes against him getting with another man. The film ends with Walter admitting to his c firime to his boss and ends up dying.
The film has typically film noir conventions including Black and White, Ciggarette smoking, venntian blinds, death and a voice over. The cigarrette smoking is inside and seen as normal and quite a classy thing to do, showing wealth. The ventian blinds create a sense of mystery in the room and look like they are closing someone in like prison bars with the shadows being cast on the characters faces.
The poster shows the two main characters of Walter and Phyllis held together but the twist with Walter with a gun behind her back. Phyllis is wearing a yellow dress surprisingly as she would traditionally wear red as the femme fatale. The other character is the boss of the insurance company, Barton Keyes, who finds about the whole story. He is placed in a way of loooking on at the two characters and looking down on them. The title is plastered across the poster in a very bold way and the capitals excentuate its boldness. The actors names are also in a very bold font across the top of the poster showing they are important. The poster stands out and gives an idea of the storyline.

LA Confidential

The second film we watched in our lesson was LA Confidential. La Confidential is again a neo noir, it was made in 1997 and is 138 minutes long.
The main focus on the film poster is clearly the femme fatale. she is wearing a low cut dress with her clevage in the centre in a seductive pose. She is wearing a white dress which maybe isnt a typical convention as she would normally wear red, but she has got red lipstick on with flowing blonde curls shaping her face. Her hair around her face creates shadows which defines her features, she is also in a powerful pose. The way her hair covers half her face is mysterious and shows a false innocence. In the background is 3 men but the woman is in the forefront dominating the frame. Next to the woman is the title in a red colour and slanted font, it is not so dominating which leaves more focus on the characters. The First man on the image is also wearing a white suit and the others black suits, the white links the characters together against the contrast of the black. The red creates a sense of blood, danger, anger, also linking  to the police and murder. The characters are shaped in a triangle showing the love triangle between the characters. The poster has dark and sinister lighting showing the story of the film. 

The story revolves around the police and how corrupt they are. The lady in the poster above is the femme fatale, in the film she is called Lynn, she is a prositute who is part of a mans business who makes women look like old hollywood actresses through surgery and makeup to make a living. Ed Exley is one of the main characters, he is a young policeman who followed in his fathers footsteps. He plays by the rules and is bullied because of that. He wears glasses which he is always being told to get rid of, and a suit looking very smart. Jack Vincense is another policeman he focuses on the drugs side and works with the journalist, Sid Hudgens. Jack also dresses smart but helps the journalist with stories and catching people out. The other main male character is Bud White, he is very clearly shown in the film as protective over women, he uses his violence on males when he sees them causing pain to women. This reveals later in the film that the reason for this is that his father used to beat his mother when he was younger which brings out a troubled side to the usual rough and tough policeman. All three of these men are in some way linked in the story to the femme fatale, Lynn Bracken. 
The story revolves around these characters along with many deaths and corruption. Leading to a classic noir convention of a dramatic end with a lot of deaths and the truth but no one being caught for it.

Brick

The first film noir we watched in our lesson was the film Brick. Brick was made in 2005 and is 110 minutes long. This film is actually more of a neo noir as it is in colour and set in more of a modern period. It is set in a high school and the surronding areas in america based around a group of teenagers. The basis of the story fits around a ringing phone from a phonebox which is how the film begins. There is a few major characters including Brendan, Emily, Laura, The Brain and Raven. Brendan is seen as a very lonely character with his main friend being The Brain although he doesn't really stick by him. The film shows some classic conventions including in some scenes the single source lighting, dim and dark or candlelit. The way the music changes with characters and moods of the film and in one scene one of the main girls is wearing red like the femme fatale would. There is also a symbol that occurs many times in the film which is like the shape of a rounded capital A, this is where some of the main characters die and using the symbol adds a curiosity and mystery to the film.

The film contains fight scenes and drug/death related topics. It has troubling scenes of the main character Brendan trying to work out the death of his ex girlfriend. The story can get fairly complicated and if watched twice would be easier to understand. Although it is interesting to watch and intrigues the viewer to want to find out what happens next. The characters are quite captivating and make the story more interesting.  

Film Noir

Film noir is a cinematic term which describes a stylish hollywood film. It is said to have derived from early 1940's and late 1950's. Film Noir is more of a time period than genre but is asociated with black and white, low key lighting and dark and depressing story lines. The films all traditionally have similar characters with the femme fatale, hero, male that gets manipulated by the femme fatale.

Film Noir would traditionally feature some typical conventions. The story line would traditionally contain murder scenes and crime elements with the usual characters as mentioned above (Femme Fatale, Hero, Villian). One main character would be the cynical, disillusioned male who would get caught up with and involved with the seductive femme fatale who normally manipulates him. The women are portrayed as very independant. Film noirs are normally set in an urban setting, New york quite often and feature police stations, bars, restaurants and dark, dim places.

Of course film noir is in black and white with dark and striking shadows cast across and occasionally covering parts or all of characters faces. The shadows are often created by venitian blinds creating a sense of closure and cage like feeling, venitian blinds feature in many film noir films.

Film noir normally has an unresolved story line. The murderer or person who commited the crime will not get found out which leaves the viewer wondering what will happen in the future like a cliffhanger and makes them want to see more. Voiceovers and flashbacks are typically used in film noirs. The voiceovers usually are of the main character telling the story or occasionally their thoughts outloud. Flashbacks may continue on throughout the film or start with a flashforward and continue the film looking back on how the crime/main storyline happened.
Neo Noir
Neo Noir has the same basis as Film Noir. They use the same kind of plots and take elements of it but it is much more updated and is often in colour. These are more modern forms of film noir as the technology is greater than the makers of film noir had in the 40's and 50's. LA Confidential and Brick are examples of Neo Noir.