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.