German Expressionism in Film Noir.

German expressionism in Film Noir.

Film Noir first came to American screens during the early 1940’s after the war. It was something that was very new to people so they didn’t really know what to expect. However, it made a big impact in Hollywood which therefore saw an increase in the genre. Film Noir is the French term for 'black ' or 'dark cinema'. It was characteristically shot in black and white and had stories which nearly always featured anti-heroes and femme fatales. Film Noir mostly featured crime and mystery which showed the hidden flaws within certain characters. Film Noirs aesthetics were very much influenced by German Expressionism. German expression referred to a number of creative movements which featured lots of different art like painting and cinema which all mainly happened in 1910's -20's and eventually hitting a peak in Berlin in the 1920's. Because of the separation between Germany and the rest of Europe during the first world war, the movement only really included Germany. This then lead to the banning of foreign films in 1916.

The people who were behind these successful films were mainly German Jews who had fled the war in Europe and made it safely over to America. The experiences that they had been through were often traumatic and found a metaphorical outlet through film and art. European directors were in their attempt to try and escape the rise of fascism and brought their dark styles that they had developed in certain conditions in work and lifestyle which created a sense of uncertainty within us. German expressionism didn’t just start in the 1940’s. It goes back to the 1920’s. The expressionism movement is known for its birth a “renaissance in the graphic arts”.


In the thriller that I will be making there are some useful conventions used in certain film noirs that I can use. Dark alleyways, low key lighting and a mysterious plot could all easily be put into our thrillers. I think as a group we will mainly focus on making sure that conventions like low key lighting feature in our camera shots. In lots of film noirs, close up and extreme close ups are commonly used on a character to show his emotion in greater detail. I think this is something that I will definitely want to feature in our thrillers because I want the audience to understand what is going on in the story completely. Even though film noir is meant to bring a sense of the unknown and uncertainty to viewers, I would like the audience of my film have some sort of an idea of what is going on. I don't want to make it too hard to figure out otherwise our audience will spend most of the film trying to figure things out instead of listening to more important things that will follow.

Film Opening Sequences

Film opening sequences

 

There are many reasons to why a film has an opening sequence. Firstly, it sets the scene and briefly lets them know what is going on. They don't want to reveal too much so they just get to the point with something big that will shock the audience like an explosion, or in a psychological way where it will be in the back of the audience's mind throughout the movie but not confuse them in any way. 

 

One way of opening a film, is having a close up shot of the main character or a character who plays a key role in the film. This is leaving the audience with a sense of the unknown to where the character will be next. This close up shot reveals all of the emotion that the character is feeling which adds shock to the audience. Also, producers like to use POV shots and handheld camera shots. POV shots really present to the audience what situation the character is going through. Normally, the scene with a POV shot includes handheld camera work. By using this technique, it worries the audience and somehow makes them believe that something dangerous is going to happen and it’s going to happen to the main character or to the character who played the point of view shot.

 

Before people see the film, they can kind of guess the genre by the film cover or trailer, but some directors like to make it clear to the audience that they are watching a horror, psychological, action etc. In a film opening, lots of non-diegetic sounds are used to create fear and tension which lets the audience know that they are watching the genre of film they thought they were.

 

One example of a film with a thrilling opening scene would be Batman: The Dark Knight. In this scene, it starts with a loud noise of a window smashing which suggests the scene that is about to follow will entail lots of action. Another example of a film with an opening scene which has a big impact would be Fast and Furious 5, where the main character Vin Diesel is on a prison bus in the middle of nowhere until out of nowhere, Paul Walker and others come and try to overturn to release their friend. This sets the mood for the audience and gives them a brief insight to what this film is going to be about.

 

In the opening scene of ‘Saving Private Ryan’ by Steven Spielberg, it shows a number of soldiers on a number of boats dressed in army uniform. This immediately tells the audience that they are soldiers possibly going to fight on a beach. Throughout the opening 2 minutes of the film, the weather reflects what emotions the characters are going through. This is a good example of pathetic fallacy. Handheld camera shots are used in the opening scene when the soldiers are on the boats. The shakiness of the camera makes the audience feel nervous and puts them at unease. In the opening scene of Saving Private Ryan, Steven Spielberg used sound very carefully to have a much bigger effect on the audience and make them realise that what these men went through whilst at war was something so traumatic and awful. When on the boats arriving at the beach, there is hardly any sound. There is no dialogue between troops apart from soldiers opening up their water bottles to drink. The only thing the audience can hear is the faint gun shots in the distance which tell the audience they are edging closer to their target. The next big sound that the audience can hear, is the captain on the boat telling the troops at the front to open the door and run towards the beach. The camerawork and sound link very well at this point because as soon as they open the door, you can see German troops shooting and this is where most of the sound comes from. It goes from non-diegetic sound to diegetic sound in a matter of seconds which suggests they are coming under monstrous amounts of gunfire.