We will be studying a modern noir film - Seven (David Fincher, 1995), in its entirety, from which at the end of the trimester
1) you will all choose your own five minute sequence and provide an ORAL textual analysis lasting seven to ten minutes
2) you will write, design and film a typical film noir scene, using the conventions we have studied in class both in terms of style and mood (lighting, angles, sound, etc), and content (character, dialogue, plot)
Before we begin our study of Seven, you need to brush up on the history of film noir...
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| A still shot from The Killers (Siodmak, 1946) |
It's a french label for a largely American film phenomenon arising in 1940s. Postwar France got to watch a lot of american films, and noticed similarities between the tone and content of these films and their own roman noir (dark edgy literature). noir means "black". And these films being made were pretty dark, in more ways than one...
Why did America start to make these films?
As we have discovered in previous classes, film movements come into being depending on attitudes/influences in culture, and depending on the economic and social situation of the countries making them.
- There was a growing sense of unease in USA in the 1940s - World War II (1939-1945) had shown americans the horror of violence, the evil of man, and the corruption of power. USA had gone through an economic depression in the 1930s that had ravaged the country. But, USA emerged from the war a stronger, more powerful country. The economy was now booming. However, the rise of materialism and a consumer society worried many - were American citizens too obsessed with wealth and material goods ? Were citizens conforming to readily to this consumer society? Was USA losing its sense of right and wrong in the quest for more wealth? Was the strong sense of national unity stimulated by the common goal of victory in WWII becoming lost in peacetime as individual gain became more important? Was it right that the country should be able to benefit economically from the war? Was it right that USA's new found power was built on their military might and nuclear weaponry?
- In 1930s a literary tradition of crime novels, the "hard-boiled" or "pulp" fiction (where have we seen that term before???) was very popular. Novels that depicted a different kind of detective hero to the traditional detective - the detectives in pulp fiction were anti-heroes, morally ambiguous characters who find themselves apart from the society they live in, on the edge of the law, often committing crimes as well as solving them. The books were violent, the dialogue gritty and real, action was on the streets, America was portrayed as an industrial, urban wasteland full of morally corrupt people, slaves to their desires and passions. The noir films of the 1940s have similar characters, plots and settings.
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| still shot from The Cabinet of Dr Caligari (Weine, 1919) |
- Viveka can tell us all about German Expressionism in the 1920s. This film movement, with its distorted and exaggerated camera work and set designs influenced the style of film noir. This can be traced to many European immigrants settling in USA, including people in the film industry, during the prewar years, who would go on to take jobs in Hollywood as film technicians and directors.
So, we're looking at films that through content and style reflect a mood of uneasiness, alienation and loneliness.
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| A still shot from Reservoir Dogs (Tarantino, 1992), a neo noir thriller |
What now?
Watch the opening of Seven. Its a descendent of the movement of film noir, often called neo (as in "new") noir - modern films that have updated the original movement.
Today's question - what elements of the film seem to belong to film noir?
Discuss in pairs. Note down your responses ready to feedback.
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