Introduction
Film noir is Hollywood crime dramas style of film making as from 1940s to 1950s. These crime dramas were characterized by a chiaroscuro style of low-key black and white (Conard 12). Neo-noir on the other hand is a word used to describe the past 1970 films. These films were reminiscent of the 1940s and 1950s noir films. Unlike the noir films, neo-noir films incorporate up to date themes, visual elements or media, content and style making the neo-noir more updated.
The word noir is a French word meaning, “black film” it is documented to have first used by Nino Frank a French critic in 1946. The techniques factored in the noir films style are harking back to German Expressionist cinematography. The screen displaying of these films is usually darker than that of the average film brightness. The contrast is out of the camera used in these films. The camera is characterized by light bright documentary style (Muller 34).
The cameras setting of the noir films exhibit some creativity for instance; the angles are creative and unusual. The intension of this creativity was to extend the audience’s unease sense. The atmosphere was also fantasized by dark rainy nights. The contemplation of moral issues facing the protagonist exhibited by his walking down to the dark rainy night is a common iconic scene in these films. Sexual motivations and clinical attitudes are the vital emphasize of these films. In noir films, an anti-hero is usually the protagonist who is mostly a victim of circumstances, a private eye, and a law obedient citizen who is lured to crimes, a hapless grafter or a plainclothes police officer (Conard 62). The protagonist is usually an alien of the social order, moved off course by a femme fatale and suffers an existential catastrophe. The protagonist is further described to be facing ambiguity in moral decisions. The fight between and the prevailing world is continuous and seams to getting off him.
Neo-noir is a film style utilized in the periods after the noir films. It necessarily means new noir. The films are generally post 1970 films reminiscent of 1940s and 1950s noir. The uniqueness prevailing among these films is the presentation of modernization and technological advancements in cinematography. These advancements are absent or considered as unimportant in the noir movies. The protagonist in these films is viewers’ favorite thus and the audience follows him with an aim of understanding his actions and reasons for the actions. The camera settings in the neo-noir films do not show unconventional movements in addition to plot progression that seems to be an indication to the audience that they are not part of the story and thus they are just viewers (Schwartz 31).
The common themes in the neo-noir movies include the memory issues, subjectivity and identity crises. The rampant theme is the common problems brought about by technological advancements in addition to the consequences available for these concerns in the society (Schwartz 43).
In conclusion, the films that are categorized under noir are typically of psychological crime dramas and thrillers. The neo-noir utilizes modern technological advancements. The two also differ in their periods of existence. The noir are of 1940s and 1950s whereas the neo-noir films are the past 1970s movies. The advancements in the neo-noir films make it difficult to define the neo-noir films, as they are amorphous as a genre/movement.
Works Cited
Conard, Mark T. The Philosophy of Film Noir. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2006. Print.
Muller, Eddie. The Art of Noir: The Posters and Graphics from the Classic Era of Film Noir. Woodstock: Overlook Press, 2002. Print.
Schwartz, Ronald. Neo-noir: The New Film Noir Style from Psycho to Collateral. Lanham, Md: Scarecrow Press, 2005. Print.
