The Lady from Shanghai Scene Analysis

The Lady from Shanghai Scene Analysis

Film Noir

Film Noir: 'black film' - mood or atmosphere is bleak and pessimistic.

• Film Noir has a very distinctive look.
• Film Noir can be seen as a genre of stylish/crime dramas.
• Film Noir was first used by Nino Frank in 1946 to describe the bleak but stylish style of the film.
• Emerged from Hollywood in 1940s during the end of WW2 and the years after.                                     - Because Europeans brought their culture to Hollywood when they fled,                                     - Influenced by German Expressionism.                                                                                         - Pessimistic outlook because of the brutality of war.

         Classic Period of Film Noir was 1941 - 1958. The first being Maltese Falcon (John Huston,                1941) and the last being A Touch of Evil (Orson Welles, 1958)

Film Noir has a unique visual style:

• Dark and Light
• Shadows
• Strange camera angles (dutch angles)
• Silhouttes
• Blinds and Bars
• Extreme Contrasts
• Black and White

And has unique visual features

• Rain
• Night
• Cityscape
• Smoke
• Cigars
• Cars
• Guns
• Beautiful Women (femme fatale)
• Urban Streets
• Private Investigators

Main Characters are usually the femme fatale and a private Investigator.

And the Narrative Elements are - flashbacks, circular anarratives, voiceovers, tragic endings, twisting and complicating plots and subplots, a network of minor characters.

Hollywood in the Studio Era

Hollywood in the Studio Era.

During the height of the great depression, most of the workforce couldn’t find a job or ‘make ends meet’, during this time, Americans would use film as a means of escape for many people. Genre film became more popular (gangster films, musicals, westerns and comedy) 

Five Film studios ‘ran’ the industry during the Studio/Golden age, each studio would focus on its own type of film. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer was the biggest studio in the 1930s, They made big budget musicals, comedies, melodramas. As it was the biggest studio they were able to spend alot on sets, costumes and big actors. Paramount Pictures was known as the most ‘European’ studio because they lured a lot of film makers from Germany and the UK. The filmmakers were given more leeway to put their own stamps on the movies. Warner Brothers was branded as the studio of the working class, they created low-budget melodramas and gangster movies. 20th Century-fox which were known for musicals, westerns and crime films. RKO would create extremely popular Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers musicals. They took a lot of chances with film unlike other studios. All five studios dominated the production, distribution and exhibition of film till 1948.

Aswell as the ‘Big Five’ there was the ‘little three’ which consisted of Universal Pictures (Thrillers, melodramas and westerns), United Artists (movies like 1960s James Bond) and Columbia (Adaptions of novels and stage plays). Columbia was the first to get into television as it owned no theatres to show the films created. 

These 8 ‘Majors’ controlled 95% of film in the US.

TYPES OF SHOTS

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TYPES OF SHOTS

USING SHOTS FROM BILLY STAR AND 1999 WILDFIRE

EXTREME WIDE SHOT

• The view is extremely far, to the point where the subject is almost not visible.
• Usually used as the first shot of the scene so the audience knows where the scene is set.
• Shows the entirety of the location, almost as if you would see the entirety of a stage at a play.
• Useful for when the action is spread out in the scene.
• Also can be called extra long shot or extreme long shot

WIDE SHOT

• Subject takes up the full frame, from head to toe (not always the whole width and height).
• You can see the whole of the character in detail, this allows directors to show what they wear, how they would look if you saw them on the street etc, helpful when making a viewer make a judgement of a character.
• Varys interpretation as some find may find a shot too wide to be a wide shot and some may find a shot too close up to be a wide shot.

CLOSE UP

• A feature or subject take up most of the frame.
• A close up of a person usually means a close up of there face but it can vary.
• Useful for showing detail and also for cut ins.
• Emphasises a persons emotional state.

EXTREME CLOSE UP

• The feature takes up all of the frame.
• Shows extreme details and emotions.
• BUT, too close to show general reactions or emotions as it usually zooms into one feature of a persons face.
• Also called XCU.

TWO-SHOT

• Useful for establishing the relationship between two characters.
• Introduces audience to a new character while also showing the relationship they have with another so an audience can create a judgement of the character.

MIDSHOT

• Useful for when a subject is talking without alot of emotion or intense concentration.
• Allows room for hand gestures and some movement.
• Almost as how you would see a person in flesh.