FIlm noir failure

Moving Pictures

Maybe I'm being hard on myself, but I'm kinda not happy with the image I produced a few weeks ago, to accompany a story about a play, "Noir Suspicions." The play is an audience-involved, 1940's style, film-noir, private detective murder mystery thing.

I wanted to capture that film noir feel ... but I'm not happy.

But first, a story.
I showed up 20 minutes early, to scope things out. I had a vague idea of what I wanted to shoot - a Bogie/Casablanca feel, and *ass*um-med the stage lights would be set to give the kind of contrasty lighting I was after.

Issue No. 1: There's were no lights.
Issue No. 2: There was no stage.
Issue No. 3: THere were precious little props, and background? Faghettaboutit ... imagine the basement of a church, complete with doors, clocks, and other stuff that simply didn't fit into a film noir feel.
Oh, and issue No. 4: the leading lady was ... indisposed. She didn't appear until five minutes after the shoot was to begin.

I decided to use a cross-lit setup, with key light a speedlight on a stand, left of the male lead, set high and using a shoot-through umbrella. This would give me the all-important hat shadow, and also give catchlights in the female lead's eyes.

So with the left light at about 1/8 (I guess) - fill light right, shot direct to give me a "harsh" feel, at 1/32 or 1/16, direct IRRC. Did the strobist test-case "shoot your hand" for exposure to get something there, and then opted for low ISO to kill what little ambient there was, as the background was a sliding metal thingie that you'd see used to close up front doors of malls ... so now I've lost that middle-ground. All light is flash, now.

And about then, I discover Issue No. 5: Male lead is a rock star for posing. Female lead? Not so much. She seems unwilling to look at the male lead as requested ... at that point, I note female lead is wearing non-period, 70s-era hoop ear-rings. Such are removed. I make note that I'm not used to lighting to *create* shadows, but eliminate 'em. Hmm. I knew the pic would run b/w on a b/w page, and didn't bother with anything other than a "flash" white balance.

Oh, and the director is getting antsy at this point.

I take a couple photos, adjust the angles of the lights .... Play, tweak, spend about two minutes actually shooting. I'm getting too much light on the male lead's face, so I ponder throwing a gobo/snoot onto the fill light, note director is getting way more antsy ("Uh, we have to get going," she says), note that by now, it's 7:15, and the rehearsal is now behind schedule ... scrap the gobo/snoot idea, compose a couple more shots, get this last one, figure "OK," and call it a day.


Shot ISO 320, f7, 24 mm on the 24-70, IPTC says shutter was 1/250. (The 1/250 is because I'd been shooting basketball at that speed and felt it would lend well from a familiarity perspective.)

So - with all that. What could I have done differently? Other than, perhaps, ask the director what materials I'd have to work with when booking the shoot three days earlier?

First off, I didn't record the actual final flash settings for future reference. Shoulda done that.

Bryce Wilson

To my eye, there isn't enough drama in the lighting to give a true film noir look. There needs to be more shadow.

I would think one main light positioned so there would be very noticeable shadows on both subjects with a light in the rear to rim them may have worked better for the classic noir look.

divamum

In general, I have learned the hard way: Expect the Unexpected. I usually have three or four ideas in my head pre-shoot just in case what I hope will be there isn't. I always try to scope out an unfamiliar venue when I can too (even if only on Googlemaps in walkaround mode). Was this an amateur theatre production or pro? If pro, shame on them for not telling you it would be offstage in a basement without lighting/set (unless the basement IS part of the mood, in which case, probably would have been good to somehow include it as setting). If amateur, well, it sounds about par for the course.....

I'm not the expert on this kind of lighting - especially on the fly! - but this shot is very bright and quite even, which isn't what I associate with film noir.

Thinking out loud:

• I'd have probably turned the flash power down even more (or used high speed synch and bumped up the shutter speed) so as to give the whole thing a darker, less evenly lit mood.
  
• I probably would have tried to find something I could shoot through to create a high contrasty, noir-ish mood. Window blinds? (Put the flash outside and shoot into the room). Plant? (Flash through it so it becomes a gobo either on the people, or against the background). Anything else that could have been used? Ditto.
  
• I probably would have worried less about her catchlights than creating shadows where I wanted them; a single light sometimes can really nail this look, since it IS all about shadows.
  
• I might have used a doorway if there were a way of incorporating it into a shot without getting an ugly, distracting background (eg girl up against doorframe, guy leaning into her either threateningly, or lustily, depending on appropriate mood for characters). Maybe redo the pose into a more Bogie/Bacall-ish feel
  (ie her with her hands against his chest, looking up at him).

Looking forward to see what others will suggest

Bryce Wilson

Take a look at the images on this site:

http://scripts-onscreen.com/tag/film-noir-screenplays/

Moving Pictures

divamum wrote: »

Was this an amateur theatre production or pro?

Amateur - but the last time I was in this venue with a play being performed by this local collective, it had a delightful stage/lighting setup.

I'm not the expert on this kind of lighting - especially on the fly! - but this shot is very bright and quite even, which isn't what I associate with film noir.

I think my guts were leaning in the right direction: snoot/gobo/power down the fill.

I probably would have tried to find something I could shoot through to create a high contrasty, noir-ish mood. Window blinds? (Put the flash outside and shoot into the room). Plant? (Flash through it so it becomes a gobo either on the people, or against the background). Anything else that could have been used? Ditto.

Great thought there. Will put that in the arsenal.

Mike J

Bryce Wilson wrote: »

To my eye, there isn't enough drama in the lighting to give a true film noir look. There needs to be more shadow.

I would think one main light positioned so there would be very noticeable shadows on both subjects with a light in the rear to rim them may have worked better for the classic noir look.

+1. Too much light for film noir. Need lots more shadows to evoke that mood.