Film Career Finder

Start Here:

1. 1. Which of these categories are you most interested in? *This question is required.
2. 2. What are you most interested in? Select as many as you like. *This question is required.
Actress sitting in chair with lights on set

Actress

Male and female Actors getting out of limo on the red carpet

Actor

Gaffer aiming light on set

Gaffer

Female executive producer making a deal on her cell phone as she walks through the city

Executive Producer (Film)

Male Cinematographer shooting on location

Cinematographer

Showrunner in meeting with his production team

Showrunner

Production Assistant looking at footage on camera

Production Assistant

Choreographer teaching a dance in studio

Choreographer (Film)

Best Boy Grip adjusting lighting on set

Best Boy

Key Grip working on lights on film set

Key Grip

Foley artist in his sound studio

Foley Artist

Black female Screenwriter writing at home

Screenwriter/TV Writer

Colorist showing her editing suite to a coworker

Colorist

Armorer showing actress how to shoot a gun

Armorer

Associate producer wearing headphones on set

Associate Producer

Actors on set that showcases a 19th century production design

Production Designer

Line Producer running through the budget with an older film development executive

Line Producer

Producer talking on her phone in her office

Producer (Film)

Director of Photography looking at camera on set

Director of Photography

Female Entertainment Lawyer holding manila folder and walking outside

Entertainment Lawyer

Even if you’re not familiar with the term, film noir is a type of movie that you can likely recognize when you see it.

Low light. Big shadows. Plenty of night scenes.

And then there are the stories and characters that tend to be part of film noir. Hardboiled private eyes. Women of “questionable” reputation. Larger than life crime figures. No one without a past they’d like to keep to themselves.

While the debate continues of whether film noir is a movie genre or just a style of making one, we’re going to explore the roots of this important part of cinema and its current status today.

History of Film Noir

The entirety of cinematic history is just about 120 years old. Within that time, the beginnings of film noir came on to the scene – or should we say big screen! – only about 20 to 30 years after movies were born.

However, most people associate the classic era of film noir with the 1940s and 1950s.1 Why was this particular time in history so popular for film noir movies? As we’re about to explain, much of it stems from both earlier artistic movements in film and prior world events.

What defines a film noir?

Anna Keizer (CareersInFilm)

Film noir can often be identified by both the thematic and visual elements that tend to be a part of it. Visually, film noir is typically shot with stark lighting that results in areas of intense darkness and shadows. Thematically, film noir often involves crime, mystery, cynicism, betrayal, and antihero characters.

Influences on Film Noir

The individuals making film noir did not realize at the time that they were part of a new cinematic trend.2 However, it becomes clear in retrospect that several circumstances both inside and outside the creative world heavily contributed to the formation of film noir.

How do you tell if a film is a noir?

Anna Keizer (CareersInFilm)

Film noir can be identified by both its unique visual and thematic elements. From a visual standpoint, film noir leans into extreme lighting with dark shadows and intense areas of direct brightness. Thematically, film noir typically explores subject matter involving double-dealing, betrayal, and characters not being whom they initially present themselves as.

German Expressionism

Visually, film noir takes a great deal from German Expressionism, which had its own heyday from the 1910s through the 1930s. At this time, Germany was going through immense political and social upheaval. This resulted in a cinematic movement favoring strong contrast in lighting and nightmarish storytelling with little levity or lightness from either a plot or visual standpoint.

Great Depression

Perhaps one of the most challenging times in all of American history was the era of the Great Depression. Kicked off by the catastrophic stock market crash of 1929, it persisted for an entire decade with millions of people suffering life-changing economic hardships. In one regard, cinema attempted to counteract this challenging time with stories of the extreme rich and privileged in film. However, this is also when the earliest film noir movies began to find their way into theaters.

World War II

The entry of the United States in World War II effectively ended the Great Depression in many regards. However, it did not necessarily end the anxiety, depression, and other psychological stressors that Americans were facing. Especially given the trauma suffered by the millions of soldiers who fought in World War II, as well as the losses and pain experienced by loved ones left behind, this pervasive malaise found its way into cinema through film noir.

What is the mood of film noir?

Anna Keizer (CareersInFilm)

The mood of film noir tends to be cynical, accusatory, untrusting, corrupt, paranoid, and ultimately nihilistic, characteristics that highlight the mindset of Filmmakers and the movie-going public immediately following World War II.

Italian Neorealism

As the name implies, Italian Neorealism was a cinematic movement that concentrated on stripping away the glam and polish normally associated with cinema. This trend in Italian filmmaking also turned away from depicting stories of the rich and privileged to focus on the everyday man and woman with all the struggles that they endured. A movement that came directly from the tremendous loss suffered by this nation during World War II, it too contributed to what would become the heyday of film noir.

What is an example of film noir?

Anna Keizer (CareersInFilm)

The 1940s and 1950s were the classic era of film noir, resulting in the production of many movies of this kind. One of the more famous of them is Howard Hawks’ The Big Sleep (1946).

Hey, what do you think about trying our new Film Career HelperFilm Career Helper really quick? It’s totally free and could help get your career moving fast! Give it a try. It’s totally free and you have nothing to lose.

Visual Components of Film Noir

As mentioned, film noir has a very distinctive visual style that sets it apart from other types of movies.3 It’s this unique way of shooting film noir that also helps to inform the tone and storytelling of it.

What is the theory of film noir?

Anna Keizer (CareersInFilm)

The stories told through film noir typically showcase the perverse side of humanity with tales of crime, betrayal, and corruption. Given that film noir was most popular during the late 1940s and early 1950s, the immediate aftermath of World War II, it’s theorized that these types of stories highlighted the pessimistic view of humanity following the global conflict.

Low-key lighting

You may not notice it, but often movies are shot in what is called high-key lighting, which means little to no shadows in a shot to obscure what is going on in it. In contrast, film noir is nearly always shot in low-key lighting in part to enhance areas of darkness in each scene.

Intense shadows

On account of the low-key lighting, film noir tends to depict scenes with a great amount of shadows. While quite literally this tactic serves to obscure areas of the screen and have audiences guessing at what they’re viewing, the shadow effect – sometimes called chiaroscuro – also tonally affects the story being told. As a viewer, we can’t see the whole picture. In the same way, we don’t fully know the motives of the characters or if they can be trusted.

What are the visual elements of film noir?

Anna Keizer (CareersInFilm)

Because the heyday of film noir occurred in the 1940s and 1950s, the primary identifying element of them is the fact that they were shot in black and white with an emphasis on low-key lighting. This results in a pervading darkness in film noir movies with many scenes obscured in shadow. On account of the themes common to film noir, many movies also depict a great amount of night scenes. Off-angle and deep focus cinematography are likewise frequent visual aspects of film noir.

Night scenes

As we’re about to explore, film noir stories often revolve around questionable characters engaging in equally questionable – if not completely illegal – activities. For this reason, many scenes in film noir take place at night. While this fits right in with the film noir style of low-key lighting and shadows, it again points to a clear visual aesthetic that both stands on its own and adds nuance to the storytelling elements.

Thematic Elements of Film Noir

We’ll tell you right now… There are rarely happy endings in film noir. Not only do these movies look dark, but also the stories they tell are equally dark.

Crime

Crime is a common part of the stories told in film noir. It could be out-and-out crime leaders who are the antiheroes of a film noir, but often the illegal activities are more covert in nature. Conspiracies to kill, blackmail, or steal. And no matter the crime, a body count is typically the outcome. What makes film noir particularly fascinating is that even the “good guys” tend to engage in activities of a dubious moral nature. When it comes to being on the right side of the law, there are few who qualify in film noir.

Cynicism

Hand in hand with crime is the cynicism common to so many characters in film noir. Many of them have been so beaten down in life that they no longer can see any redemptive qualities to it, which tends to result in a dog-eat-dog mentality to justify their activities. Few see the good in not only others but also themselves.

Betrayal/revenge

On a related note, film noir storytelling often revolves around someone either betraying the trust of a lover or friend or seeking revenge for being on the other side of that betrayal. In general, trust is not a common quality among any of the characters in film noir. Even for characters portrayed as partners or lovers, there is a note of doubt – usually from each person in the relationship – regarding whether they can fully put their faith in the other.

Mystery

Some film noirs can be called whodunits. Someone is killed or a possession is stolen, and it’s up to the characters in the movie to determine who is behind the crime. Similarly, film noir characters tend to be draped in mystery. They have shadowy pasts. What they say may not be what they mean. Their motives for helping someone else may not be as altruistic as perceived. Rarely do we come away from watching a film noir feeling like we came to really know the characters in it.

Common Characters in Film Noir

Speaking of characters… While film noir contains a wide collection of films that showcase a diverse set of characters, there are common character tropes that often pop up.4

Private eyes

Because film noir tends to focus on stories involving a crime of some kind, it only makes sense that to uncover the mystery of that crime, a private eye or detective is needed. This character usually is a figure who has “seen it all.” Nothing fazes them. Regardless of the crime, they do not bring their emotions into it nor get too attached to the clients who have sought them out for their help. Unless, of course, there’s a femme fatale in the picture!

Femme fatales

The depiction of women in film noir is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, many film noir movies showcase incredibly strong, smart, and independent women. They don’t need men so much as they just want them for a specific purpose. To that end, though, the women in film noir tend to represent what we call a femme fatale. She seduces. She uses. And she cannot be trusted… However, that last bit is often found out only too late by the men who have been lured in by the femme fatale.

Crime figures

You wouldn’t need a private eye if there wasn’t something wrong, right? While not always the case that a private eye is investigating an outright crime, someone is usually engaging in underhanded activities in film noir. As we’ve discussed, in some movies, they are introduced pretty cut and dry as crime figures. Other times, they’re “regular people” who simply get caught up in illegal schemes of some sort. And it usually does not end well for them.

Best Examples of Film Noir

The classic era of film noir produced some of the most compelling movies of the 1940s and 1950s. Forget great film noir. These are just great movies!5

Anyone familiar with film noir will no doubt include Double Indemnity (1944) on their list of the best of the best.

In The Big Sleep (1946), we get a glimpse of that hardboiled private eye as played by Humphrey Bogart who doesn’t suffer fools or femme fatales.

Talk about introductions! Rita Hayworth’s titular Gilda (1946) comes on the scene in truly memorable fashion in this film noir classic.

With this scene from The Third Man (1949), audiences see the candor with which characters discuss their misdeeds or intention to behave badly in the future.

A later addition to the film noir oeuvre, Touch of Evil (1958) provides one of the most memorable opening scenes of any film in any genre or style.

Modern Film Noir Movies

Film noir’s initial heyday began to wane as cinema headed into the 1960s. However, as with many movements, what’s old becomes new again. With the mid-1970s came a return of noir, which often is referred to as neo-noir. Some of the more well-known examples have both added to the oeuvre and become classics in their own right.

Per usual in film noir, Chinatown (1974) showcases characters who aren’t particularly ashamed of their bad behavior.

With newer noir films like Night Moves (1975) come opportunities to show the pervasive darkness of tone even in scenes of stark daylight.

Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner (1982) offers up a unique fusion of film noir and sci-fi to spectacular results.

Not only a foray into film noir, but also their first film period, the Coen brothers provide a truly despairing modern take on it with Blood Simple (1984).

People are rarely what they seem to be in film noir as this scene clearly indicates in the acclaimed L.A. Confidential (1997).

In Closing

A type of film that came to be on account of multiple world events has become a form of cinematic expression all its own. With dozens of movies that beautifully reflect its unique visual and thematic elements, film noir is a standout moviemaking style.

Though it first was seen by moviegoers more than 80 years ago, its more recent resurgence and continued impact on storytelling demonstrates that film noir is an important part of the cinematic artform. Despite its name, film noir continues to shine brightly as a unique part of the moviemaking landscape.

  1. 1. "Film Noir Definition". Britannica. published: Feb 10, 2023. retrieved on: February 2023
  2. 2. "What is Film Noir?". Studiobinder. published: June 27, 2021. retrieved on: February 2023
  3. 3. "FILM NOIR". Filmsite. published: . retrieved on: February 2023
  4. 4. "Film Noir – Everything You Need To Know". NFI. published: . retrieved on: February 2023
  5. 5Amanda Schurr, Andy Crump, Mark Rozeman. "The 100 Best Film Noirs of All Time". Paste Magazine. published: November 5, 2021. retrieved on: February 2023
Site Search
We use cookies to understand how you use our site and to improve your experience. This includes personalizing content and advertising. By continuing to use our site, you accept our use of cookies, revised Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.