film noir

The debate of whether film noir is a genre or not is still not decided and changes with different people's opinions. However, genre or not, film noir can be defined as "a visual style" that is presented in a certain way  in terms of lighting, tone, and story. Film noir is known for its distinct style of seedy bars at night and dark alleys, often set with very low key lighting for a clever use of shadows which disguise characters or put them behind bars using the shadows of the banister.

One of the key elements of film noir is its use of lighting. Lighting is very cleverly done in film noir as it is 

used to set the scene much more than in any other film, such as in Hitchcock's "Shadow of a Doubt" where 
Charlie is put behind the shadows of the elongated banister bars, reflecting how she is trapped in the house by her Uncle Charlie. Extreme high and low angles help to portray this idea that film noir has, of superiority and the power of the villain.

Film noir is not strictly recognised as a genre, however it is better described as a time period. It was the decade of film-making after World War II and was not recognised at the time to be 'film noir' as a western is, however films such as 'The Maltese Falcon' and 'Strangers on a Train' all made in this time ere, later on became 'film noir'.

The site www.filmsite.org describes the most common themes and characteristics of film noir:

"Film noir films were marked visually by expressionistic lighting, deep-focus or depth of field camera work, disorienting visual schemes, jarring editing or juxtaposition of elements, ominous shadows, skewed camera angles, circling cigarette smoke, existential sensibilities, and unbalanced or moody compositions. Settings were often interiors with low-key (or single-source) lighting, venetian-blinded windows and rooms, and dark, claustrophobic, gloomy appearances. Exteriors were often urban night scenes with deep shadows, wet asphalt, dark alleyways, rain-slicked or mean streets, flashing neon lights, and low key lighting. Story locations were often in murky and dark streets, dimly-lit and low-rent apartments and hotel rooms of big cities, or abandoned warehouses."

The female roles in film noir are usually part of one of two groups, the first being a loyal, loving, generous woman who will always stand by her man's side, the second being the famous 'femme fatale'. This woman would be a mysterious, misleading and menacing character who would ultimately be responsible for our hero's destruction as she would lead him into doing something he didn't want do, such as murder. Often when our hero was a detective-type character, the 'femme fatale' would pull him into another storyline entirely where he would become entangled in a mess of a situation making it almost impossible for him to escape.