Film Noir Photography

And representation

The task

• We were set with a stage to work in teams and recreate Film Noir styled images around the school site. To this post I will add the original and edits of the pictures, annotating with why I have edited them in that way and also if I had any influence towards my photograph.

Influential Existing Photograph

• This is the influence for the first photograph me and my group creates. I like this picture and the style of it due to the fact a lot of the conventional stereotypes of women in films at that period of time have been broken. In a lot of cases the women are shown as very weak and just objects. However this women is strong and powerful, however one typical convention of women in this photograph is that she is still sexy. She is still wearing tight, black clothing with a high thigh slit up the leg, still being sexy.  

My photograph• This is my first photograph, taken with the

influence of the picture above, it has a few similar aspects, but also some aspects of my photograph go against the influence. Although my model has a similar expression to the model in the researched photograph, my model looks more innocent, partly due to the fact she doesn't have a gun. However both the picture i took and the researched picture are both portraying the women in a very sexy manner. I wanted to amplify this in my photograph by making the photograph black and white, but keeping the lips bright red, this creates a more sexy look to the over all photograph, but in addition, my model is also wearing tight revealing clothing, and to again amplify the focus on her body shape, we took the photograph so a silhouette of her body shape is projected onto the wall.

The Second Influential Existing Photograph

• A lot of Film Noir styles involve a heavy use of dramatic shadow and lighting, to create more of an effect on the audience. I really like this photograph, the mise-en-scene in this photograph shows how powerful she is and shows she is independent and strong, this independents is shown by the money shown on the table, and she has a very strong powerful expression on her face, and the lines of shadow across her face make it more dramatic and strong.

My Photograph

• With the influence of the previous researched photograph, I created this photograph. Rather that focusing so much on making her look powerful ad strong, I wanted to focus on the strong use of dramatic shadow on the models face. But the cigarette and red lips to also make her look more powerful and strong. This is why I made the lips red, to make her long stronger but also again, linking back to the idea of the women being sexy.

The Third Influential Existing Photograph

• This is the photograph I chose as an influence for my own photography. I like the heavy shadows within the photograph and also the fact she is smoking and the serious look on her face makes her look very strong and emphasises the strength and power she has. This strength she demonstrates is very controversial to the normal representation of women in Film Noir films. Like I said on a previous slide they are often portrayed as weak and powerless.

My Photograph

• Again, like in all the photographs I have produced, I have made the lips red to enhance the sexiness of the model, due to the lack of costumes and surroundings I have to use editing techniques to enhance how sexy she looks. And then to make her look more powerful I used props like the cigarette and the vodka to make her look like a more powerful women, to then break the typical conventions of women.