Film noir - any tips

benj09

benj09

Hello, shooting my first professional project on monday and it's a film noir style advert for Guylian belgium chocolates...

Do you have any tips for making it look as visually brilliant as possible, the setting will be a candle lit dinner in an apartment...

Thanks
 
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High contrast, don't shoot high contrast, but crush the blacks in post.
Shadows are ok, in fact they are your friend. In fact, sharp shadows like window blinds, moving fan blades, that short of thing are very signatuire noir.
Pools of light, candle will work well for this. Where the light drops off as you move away from the focus of the frame.
Photos, especially crime scene photos.

Go rent A touch of Evil, Chinatown, etc... some of the classics and watch this weeekend.
 
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If you really want that old look, you can get an antique movie camera. I was looking at this 16mm black and white camera similar to what they filmed the Twilight Zone on.
 
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You can hang a venetian blind on a stand to get the shadows where you want. Use a focusing spotlight/fresnel if possible.

Also there's the slash of light across the actress' eyes trick, when we first see her.

You can have pronounced shadows of things that turn out to be benign other things.
 
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Snappy, well timed dialogue with lots of wit and and chock full of innuendo.


From 1:30 or so:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glmdhH3aOug


I hate myself for posting this version of this clip, but can't find a proper b/w of this scene in the short search I just did. Lots of good clips from this film out there in proper b/w, just not this one for whatever reason.

Just ignore the image. Play the vid, skip to about 1:30 and then just close your eyes and listen. No, really, avert your eyes. Viewing Colorized Noir for too long is a lot like staring into the Ark of the Covenant ...
 
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