Film Noir and horror.

The name ‘film noir’ has the literal meaning of ‘dark’ or ‘black film’. This originated from the 1940’s and early 1950’s where French critics often characterised horror films by cynicism and pessimism, they were also often set within an oppressive urban world of crime.

Horror films generally have twisted points of view that show a main protagonist who is distant and cut off from the rest of civilisation. Common themes of dark films consist or dark shadows and spirits that are linked to the main protagonist, a perverted love and the extinction of unnatural or ‘unholy’ forms and spirits. Through-out the horror genre the directors of the films tend to dominate most of the scenes with shadows and low-key lighting which adds suspicions and an overall theme of darkness to the picture, creating an obscure Mise-en-scène and a feeling of anticipation for the viewer.

In the 2014 film Unfriended director Levan Gabriadze (www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q72LWqCx3pc) used; close ups and extreme close ups to emphasise that the teenagers in the film were confronting the poltergeist of their former friend. Through-out the movie the overall space of the shots and the back space is tight and small which presents the audience with the notion that there is no escape and the teenagers are being suffocated by their past.

The film is shot as if you are looking at the computer screen of one of the main protagonists (the girl to the left). Due to the primary camera being stationary on the screen of the computer it causes the audience to feel trapped within the first person perspective of the character and feel as though they are trapped in the technological world these teens were sucked into.

 (This shows what the audience saw through the majority of the film)

The instability of the webcams depicts the idea of these teenagers’ lives being extremely unstable and that they seem to have no control over what happens to them even though they believe they do.

Many films in the horror genre use a mix of diegetic and non-diegetic sound. This represents what is real and what is make believe. For example someone may scream which is diegetic sound, this shows how their fear is real and they are genuinely scared. An example of non-diegetic sound would be loud bangs or music that ascends in volume when something bad is about to happen, this shows how the horrific part of the film is false and not necessarily real.

Directors commonly use camera shots like tracking or pans. Tracking allows the audience to travel alongside the action of the specific subject, this is commonly used in horror films to follow alongside someone running or to follow a person/creature. They also use camera shot like pa and tilt, pan allows you to see the whole scene and create a foundation for what is going on. A tilt can be used to portray the fact any of the situations I horror are show how un-sustainable the lives of the characters are.