jay@umd5.UUCP (05/14/85)
I can understand why some film 'purists' prefer to prefer their 'film noir' in its original pristine black and white. We are talking about blacks and whites that are difficult to appreciate today since the majority of the extant versions of these films are n'th generation dupes with most of the original detail (including "color") washed out. Black and white films made today, few and far between that they are, lack the texture of these films made 30 to 40 years ago. As a result, modern audiences don't particularly care for black and white (it's mostly grey and white anyway). But this doesn't mean that color is inappropriate to film noir. Quite the contrary. I believe that color can be used creatively in the making of new 'noirish' films. In fact, it has. Films like 'Taxi Driver' (which is as bleak in its world view as the darkest of the 'noir' cycle) use bright colors in their night scenes to emphasize the sleaziness and, at the same time, the allure of Time Square. Scorcese mutes colors in other scenes to suggest Travis Bickle's alienation, his loss of perspective, his loss of the ability to perceive color. 'Chinatown', one of my personal favorites, uses browns and greens, again to emphasize the drabness and decay of Los Angeles. This film is a modern day remake of every 40's film noir that ever preceded it, relishing societal taboos that could only be hinted at in films released during that period. Yes, it can be done and done effectively and even on a low budget (as 'Blood Simple' proves). Making a film in either color or black and white requires a conscious effort to make the most of the pallette of choice. Regarding that film professor who says you can't make film noir in color, would he be willing to elaborate further on this statement? -- Jay Elvove ..!seismo!rlgvax!cvl!umd5!jay
markg@nvuxf.UUCP (M. Guzdial) (05/17/85)
As I graduated last May, and my alma mater (Wayne State University) hasn't
even a single UNIX machine on campus (Can you concieve of such a CS program?),
hopes of getting some feedback from my film instructor on his comments are
small.
However, some insight may be found in his definition of film noir, which
is different from the one posted earlier to the Net. I prefer the
one posted to the net previously by Jay Elvove. My professors's is
too specific.
The "film noir" that he described had to be a mystery of some sort. Most
of its settings had to be on rainy nights so that the director could play
games with reflections. The overall tone was to be depressing. As stated,
"the male protagonist must fall under the spell of a femme fatale" though
neither must necessarily be destroyed. A point that Elvove made that the
instructor emphasized was that "protagonists were no longer heros and
the notion of good and evil was blurred," to use the Net posting's words.
I think his major gripe with "Blade Runner" was that he felt that the use
of color detracted from the camera's playing with the reflections.
He did, however, agree that much of "Taxi Driver" was of the "film noir"
genre, but wouldn't agree that the entire film was of that genre since it
wasn't really a mystery.
Considering "Taxi Driver" as a "film noir" brings up an interesting
correlation between Elvove's explanation for the original cycle of
depressing "black" movies ("noir" is French for "black"). Scorsese does
indicate that Travis is a Vietnam vet, so perhaps he's encouraging the
explanation of "film noir" as coming from the "anxieties produced by
the war."
(I think that at this point, if Woody Allen was moderating this newsgroup,
Scorsese would jump in and tell me how wrong I was and that he had a completely
different from the idea from the very beginning and what's "film newarr"
anyway?)
Mark Guzdial
{ihnp4, houxm}!nvuxf!markg
--
Mark Guzdial
{ihnp4, houxm}!nvuxf!markg
(201) 949-5471