Conventions of Film Noir

• Filmed in gloomy greys, blacks and whites.
• The primary moods of film noir were very bleak and often featured moral corruption.
• Story lines were usual twisted, not in chronological order, seen as 'maze-like', e.g flashbacks 
• The films often used low key lighting schemes.
• Credits featured at beginning of the film with class 'The End' as it finished.
• Icons were used to represent characters and emotions within the film, the most famous being the gun.
• Characters famously included the 'Femmes Fatale'; mysterious, gorgeous and manipulative woman

      Film Noir seems difficult to define - whilst researching into it I found that one source said that it was not a 'clear-cut genre'. The era of films that portrayed dark and dreary cynicism through the characters, plots etc. are said to have been influenced from a German expressionism art movement, which displayed themes that address the darker side of the human mind. As well as this there is said to be another influence from Italy called 'neo-realism' which gained popularity during the second world war. During this time films often documented stories of the working class and the difficult moral condition of the times.

      Film noir often featured a difficult moral or economic condition such as those featured in an Italian neo-realist film and also featured the German expressionist ideal of a heightened mood of pessimism and helplessness. It was the French however who pointed out this emerging pattern in American cinema after they had received all of the films made by America during the war. They called the movement ''film noir'' and introduced it back to the Americans.