Neo Noir- examples

Misfits and Sin City

Zombie Noir was a one off episode of the popular British TV drama Misfits. In this episode a female character has come to believe her life is a Film Noir, because of this she has the common life of a typical Femme Fatal, for example she manipulates the men around her by exploiting their need to protect her causing them to do exactly as she says which eventually backfires and ends with her death.

The story line follows the basic Film Noir pattern although it has a few twists, the episode does not start at the end which it usually would in a typical production, also the everyman/anti-hero kills himself because of his actions whereas in typical Film Noirs the everyman gets punishment from someone else. Other aspects are also very typical for a Noir such as the cigarette smoke and  having certain scenes in slow motion to distort the image, the dramatic music when there is tension between characters, the importance of alcohol for the everyman and the Femme Fatals behaviour.

One of the most obvious ways of telling this Neo Noir from a film noir, other than the fact there are zombies as main characters, is the scene is only in black and white when focused on the Femme Fatal, otherwise it is in colour but it is slightly faded to give it a dramatic atmosphere.

 

 

Sin City is a lot more like a typical Film Noir ,It opens with dramatic jazz music playing in the background along with police sirens, while a woman wearing a red dress walks into the black and white scene. We then hear a man speak in a voice over which is very common in Film Noirs. He has a very dramatic and manly voice which makes us think he is the hero of this story, he describes what has happened using the past tense which again is very common. They start a conversation in which he is very complimentary which make it seem like he is interested in her. The lighting in this scene is coming from the doors behind them which create a lot of shadow, this makes the atmosphere a lot more dramatic

and is a very typical way of using lighting unconventionally. For 5 seconds there is a white silhouette of the characters kissing, this is a modern technique and sets it apart from other Film Noirs. Before he kills the woman, in his voice over he is saying that he told her he will protect her and take her away from her problems, also that he loves her which is very typical but then he shots her and holds her until she dies, pathetic fallacy is used by the rain becoming heavier when she dies.


Blade runner is a science fiction neo noir film made in 1980 and set in 2019. Although its set in the future Blade runner has a lot of typical film noir conventions, such as the use of mise-en-scene to create atmosphere and feeling for example there is a lot of smoke in the air from either factories or cigarettes which gives the scene a sense of mystery, the use of dull lighting creates this too. The contrast of neon lights and dull set is quite typical in Neo Noir films and is very present in Blade Runner, the buildings and signs have very neon elements but the overall colour scheme is very dark and dull which is very Film Noir like. The sounds in Blade runner are very typical for Noir films, for example Voice overs of the every mans thoughts/ him explaining the storyline and dramatic music to create tension and cause the audience to become aware of the mood of the scene, the music itself however is quite modern. Although the storyline is very modern and science fiction like the 'everyman' seems to have an average job in the clip.