What is the Film Noir Look ?

MPerson said:
Be warned though - Sátántangó is 7.5 hours long. 😱

I suggest The Man from London (A Londoni férfi) if you wamt to sample his work. Only 2.3 hours long!
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I just watched the TRAILER "the Man from London'
Looks soooooo Good ....Can't Wait to see IT...have to check if its available on netflix.....THANK YOU ....Tres Cool !!! 😎
 
German Expressionism of the 1920's is described as harsh black and white photography with much of the cinematic imagery at night. C-B & Brassai were shooting during this period and their images are in that style. Film Noir begins just before the Second World War and ends in the mid-1950s. It, too, is a cinematic style but incorporates other elements other than film. The lighting is not as harsh. It is the other elements of the story that give it the name, the dark nature of the subject matter and the hero/heroine with the questionable character and dark past. The story usually takes place at night but not always. The film stock for both these styles is different. The German Expressionism was silent film and Nitrate film while the Film Noir was Silver based. German Expressionism is Caligari and Metropolis while Film Noir is The Big Sleep. If I were to compare the two and only to answer this question I would say that Film Noir is the Sonnar lens and the Summicron is Expressionism but, of course, it is the lighting, subject matter and story line that are most important. Film Noir was influenced by German Expressionism.
 
JSU;Helen-- If I read things correctly you have had a major turnover in your kit (21/3.4 said:
WOW Steve You got me down RIGHT...LOL 😉...Thank You

Unfortunately I do Not own that lens ...long Sigh ...🙁
My dear Friend Cam ( aka 'je ne suis pas' here on RFF & Flickr) was in Town on Holiday and she Loaned Me her Noctilux 1.0
while we were having brunch. That pix was taken in a French Bistro...Tres Moody with a Touch of Noir which I attribute to
Seizing that Moment, SLOW Film & a FAST lens ....
GREAT COMBO...rich Blacks

Needless to say I am hoping the 75 Lux will CURE ME of Noctilux FEVER...😉


goo0h said:
Brilliant, as usual!
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Goo0h: Cheers & Thanx VERY MUCH for your Kind Thoughts ! ...xo-H
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Tri-x pushed to 1600, developed in Microphen
Shot wide open at 50mm / f1.8.


filmnoir.jpg
 
MPerson said:
I'm a big fan of Béla Tarr - dark and heavy is his starting point. 😉
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I watched 'Werckmeister Harmóniák' last night. This uneducated redneck from Pennsylvania lost the plot within the first 60secs, but it was like watching 2½ hours of stunning B&W photography. Just stunning.

I was impatient, found a few of Béla Tarr's movies as torrent files and downloaded them straightaway. Now I have to find the DVD's and add them to my very small movie collection. I am not much of a movie person, but that was a time will spent.

I hope to watch 'Londoni Férfi' tonight.
 
P. Lynn Miller said:
I watched 'Werckmeister Harmóniák' last night. This uneducated redneck from Pennsylvania lost the plot within the first 60secs, but it was like watching 2½ hours of stunning B&W photography. Just stunning.

I was impatient, found a few of Béla Tarr's movies as torrent files and downloaded them straightaway. Now I have to find the DVD's and add them to my very small movie collection. I am not much of a movie person, but that was a time will spent.

I hope to watch 'Londoni Férfi' tonight.
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Glad I could repay you for all the info you have given on Rodinal and stand-development. I use it a lot and love it.

Going to throw out another one - this time a cinematographer who influenced Tarr - the Russian Andrei Tarkovsky. 😉

Some of Ralph Gibsons earlier work also interests me, as it verges on film noir and I managed this week to get hold of a copy of:

'Darkroom' 1977, Lustrum Press, Edited by Eleanor Lewis.

He details his use of Tri-X and Rodinal and his darkroom process. Whilst Tri-X has changed I may experiment with good old Double-X and ORWO N 74 Plus using his developing process.
 
I'm also eager to watch some Tarr this weekend.. Thank you for this suggestion. Anyway, Tarkovsky is a genius, I'm great fan of most of his films. Not long ago I watched the last one - Offret (The Sacrifice), which is a bit un-typical for Tarkovsky as it was shot by Sven Nykvist - THE cinematographer who worked most of his life with Ingmar Bergman. And it is very very interesting to watch the blending and mingling of Tarkovsky and Bergman (albeit "only" in the visual side of the film).
 
On pushing film:

I checked my Massive Dev Chart iPhone App, but for the combination I'm looking for (Delta 100 Pro pushed to 400, in Rodinal) it listed no times.

Seems there's a much easier rule of thumb on pushing:


Development time X 1.33 = Push one stop.


So, Delta100Pro in Rodinal 1:50 is 9 minutes.

9 x 1.33 x 1.33=15.92 minutes

15 minutes and 54 seconds to develop Delta100Pro pushed to 400 in Rodinal 1:50.



I'm kinda hoping to get some like this:
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Oh, and when it comes to the summum of 'modern' Film Noir, check Billy-Bob Thornton in The Man Who Wasn't There, or go see RumbleFish (complete film, Chinese video server, slow).
 
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Enjoying this thread. No Femme Fatale in this image, but perhaps fits the context:

Cafe Noir, Montreal 2010
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JOE1951 said:
"Film Noir" doesn't have to be taken at night. I think "Film Noir" is about attitude, mostly bad, and the strong play of light, and atmosphere.
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I agree. Case in point is a film called "A Touch of Evil" set at the USA-Mexico border, fully recommend it.

Also, since some previous posts mentioned the European influences - "The Third Man" for some darker scenes and some classic lines:

"Like the fella says, in Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love - they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock."
 
Joe1951 and Robbeiflex are right.

I suggested The Man Who Wasn't There with Billy-Bob Thornton and Frances McDormand. A Coen-brothers film. It's not even shot in B&W, but it is a modern film-noir movie, purely from theme, plot, character psychology, femme fatale, etc.
 
helenhill:

Love your photos in flickr. The blacks are inky, very nice.
Can I ask which slow film you are using ? I read that you use quite a bit of Fujifilm, is this Acros 100 for your Noctilux shots ?

thanks
 
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