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Lighting for Noir (B&W):

M1chae1

M1chae1

Hey guys.

I'm going to be working on a project that plans to go B&W noir. I'm not only going to be acting in this production, but I'll also be heavily involved in the production side--this will include working on the lighting at times.

Now, I'm not a lighting designer, but I've been doing film long enough, and have done lights on a few features in my time, so I'm comfortable with the way lighting works in terms of three-point systems, background fill, gels, lighting concepts, etc...however, I've never done a B&W noir peice, and I was wondering if you guys had any links or references I might be able to check out online.

I understand noir consists of high contrast, lots of shadows, point of interest lighting, etc...but I'd love to check out any stylistic breakdowns of the lighting system...know what I mean?

I will be doing lots of Google searching myself, so don't think I'm being lazy here...lol.

Any help?

(I love the lighting of Mercury Men and would like to do something similar: http://www.mercuryseries.com/)


Thanks.

[EDIT: I've found this article, which really helps. http://www.videomaker.com/article/13548/ -- but please share some more links, schematics, or advice. Thank you.]
 
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I would suggest lots of gobos and flags. Use items like tree branches, window blinds, solid shapes, like crosses - using flags (Pieces of wood or cardboard that block part of the light. You also might want to use an eyelight, so that if the scene is dark, you can see the actor's eyes.
 
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If you haven't read John Alton's book, that might also prove useful for techniques in low key lighting.

Thanks for posting Mercury Men btw. I wasn't aware of it, now I have to find a way to watch it. :lol:
 
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If you want a nostalgic look, use fresnel, focusing sources. Look at films like "Rebecca" which use "impossible" reversed shadows etc to telegraph character moods.

Not a casually-created look, though.
 
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Noir is much more than the lighting, just remember that. The shadows and darkness are used to portray suspicion, mistrust, paranoia, fear, etc. Don't just cast shadows, cast shadows for a reason. In noir the director has much to say about the lighting, because it is almost a character itself.
 
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No. We decided to go color instead. I know I know, we're sad sacks. But I'm glad we did. We changed around the style quite a bit, and are now going 3-strip color 1950's style.

Sorry.
 
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Noir was developed when the German Expressionist artists fled Germany for fear that making any stories that were even remotely critical of the Nazis could get them killed.

So the pictorial roots are in German expressionism (Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Nosferatu, etc...). The Western had fallen out of favor with modernization and discontent with city life and industrialization. Gone were the happy times of working a plot of land and having control over your own destiny, the new way of life was working for someone else and hoping you'd be able to keep your job as others were clamoring for it.

The attitude was that of the anti-authority hero... inner city mistrust of the police, flagrant corruption and a remorse at the loss of that self sufficiency or the past 2-3 decades.
 
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M1chae1 said:
Just remember, you don't need to go B&W for noir...you can do it in color also. Look at Blade Runner.

Cheers.
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Dont mean to sound pretentious but Blade Runner was neo noir. And Chinatown is my fav neor noir film.
Just wanted to put it out there for the general public so more ppl start differentiating within the noir style itself.

Maybe this comment will make someone do some research and learning on the subject and then i will have imparted knowledge :yes::D
 
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Double Indemnity has some great looks in it...

Apparently the work of John F Seitz. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_F._Seitz

From the DI Wikipedia page:

Here Wilder taps into his 1920s Berlin roots, and he and Seitz give the film a look subtly reminiscent of German expressionism, with dramatic deployment of light and shadows.[37] "He was ready for anything," Wilder said. "Sometimes the rushes were so dark that you couldn't see anything. He went to the limits of what could be done."[38] They would contrast the bright sunny Southern California exteriors, shot on location, with dark, gloomy, rotten interiors shot on soundstages to give the audience a sense of what lurks just beneath the facade — and just who is capable of murder.[2] The contrast was heightened, in Wilder's words, by "dirtying up" the sets. Once the set was ready for filming, Wilder would go around and overturn a few ashtrays to give the house an appropriately grubby look. Wilder and Seitz also blew aluminum particles into the air so that, as they floated down, they looked just like dust.[39]
Early use of "venetian blind" lighting would become a stock-in-trade film noir look

Another technique Seitz used was "venetian blind" lighting which almost gives the illusion of prison bars trapping the characters. Barbara Stanwyck later reflected, "...and for an actress, let me tell you the way those sets were lit, the house, Walter’s apartment, those dark shadows, those slices of harsh light at strange angles — all that helped my performance. The way Billy staged it and John Seitz lit it, it was all one sensational mood."[40]
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