Neo noir Research by mlevesley8nrq on emaze

Neo noir research

Conventional and unconventional aspects of different neo noire

by matthew levesley

misfits

Generic conventions in this misfits episode includes:

A femme fatal called Lola. She is seductive, attractive, manipulative and pretends to be vulnerable (when she head-butts the wall). Lola also dies at the end of the episode which is conventional.

There are black and white scenes, many shadows are included and the clothing is very conventional as it is in the 1940s style.

Filming in a bar is very typical for a film noir, but they are not usually as busy.

close ups and over-the-shoulder shots feature in this episode mostly when Lola is smoking.

However, this contains unconventional aspects such as:

It is British rather than American. It is modern and the everyman is black, he is in his early twenties and doing community service.
The everyman calls it a 'Zombie Noir' as there is a sic-fi element as the everyman (Curtis) becomes a zombie.

Misfits Series 4 episode 4 documentary

red riding

Conventional aspects include:

A pathetic fallacy (raining to portray the mood). To represent the 'dark' genre, the weather is grey and cloudy, the narrative is conventional as the everyman is broken at the start; it then goes to the beginning of the story. Smoking is constantly included to add atmosphere and there is violence throughout. Clothing is very typical- the men all wear suits and there are mysterious parts as something has gone wrong.

The everyman also does a voiceover in some parts.

However, there are unconventional elements such as:

It is filmed in England with characters who have strong Yorkshire accents.

The everyman is in his 20s so he is younger than normal.

It is not in black and white, but it does have a sepia tone which makes it more 'dull'.

The music included is calming and created on an acoustic guitar. The location is not in an urban location; it is in rural Yorkshire

Red Riding Trailer

blade runner

Conventional aspects include:

Men in suits, the everyman is mid 30s/40s and is a white American.

Smoking is included, window blinds to add to the darkness. It is quite mysterious and makes the audience wonder what will happen. The location is an urban location.

There is a blue tone to represent the 'dull' mood and the weather represents the darkness of the film as it is dull and raining (pathetic fallacy).

However, unconventional aspects include:

It is set in the future (2019) therefore it is a sci-fi with flying cars and robots are involved.

In the intro, it sets up the villain more than the everyman and the music is from the 1980s as it is the time the film is made-it has an electric style to it. As it is set in the future, it is very multi-cultural which is not common in film noirs.

Blade Runner Trailer

bound

Bound is not a conventional film noir because:

The main character (the everyman) is actually a woman, this every(wo)man is conventional however.

The femme fatal is seductive to the main character who is a woman. Also, there is a happy ending to the film, this is not conventional for a 'dark' film.

Bound film trailer

The film Bound is a conventional film noir because:

It includes dramatic music, there is also a voice-over of the main character.

The narrative is also conventional as it starts at the end and then goes back to the beginning.

The character's smoke lingers in the air to add to the atmosphere.

The location is urban and there are bar scenes.

The femme fatal is seductive which is very typical. The 'everyman' has a job and went to prison which adds to the mystery. To make it more 'dark' only a small amount of plain colours are used.

Tom and Jerry, 2013

sin city

Sin City is a conventional film noir as it is mostly black and white, there is a lot of smoking and it is located in an urban location while it is raining (pathetic fallacy). The men wear suits and the women wear dresses. Over-the-shoulder shots are included when the characters are smoking. Voice overs and violence is a main aspect in this film and the everyman is flawed to make him realistic.

However, unconventional aspects include:

Editing with the colour red standing out which is symbolic and the eyes of some characters changed to green- there is more editing included than normal.

Music is unconventional as it is a mash-up of different genres.

Also the everyman is slightly older than normal.