The University of New Mexico Best Student Essays

Lighting as a Creation for Darkness

Film noir is a popular genre and style of film that has a pessimistic view of the American society in the 1940s and 1950s and expresses the hopelessness of good morals in a hostile world. The genre is defined even by its name, film noir being a French term for “dark film.” There are many films that mastered the style of film noir, one of the most popular of which is The Big Sleep, directed by Howard Hawks and based on the novel of the same title by Raymond Chandler. The Big Sleep has many characteristics that put it in the film noir genre, characteristics which are also present in a film that is generally never considered to be film noir, but is arguably neo-noir, In Cold Blood. In Cold Blood will be used in this essay as an example of a neo-noir film for the purpose of being compared and contrasted with The Big Sleep. In Cold Blood is directed by Richard Brooks and is based on the admired non-fiction novel by Truman Capote. There are many attributes that put a film in the film noir genre, according to Jeremy Butler, a university professor and textbook author specializing in teaching film and television. Some of these attributes are dissymmetrical mise-en-scène, the use of deep focus and wide angle lenses in the camera, extremely low and high angles, using black and white film stock, and foreground obstructions. Apart from these methods given there are also several methods which strictly involve unique lighting techniques. Although there are many attributes that make a film noir, the use of lighting is the most important attribute because the presence of non-traditional lighting techniques and the use of chiaroscuro create a dark tone which reveals implicit and unknown truths to the audience that action and dialogue do not reveal.

Film noir is created through multiple means and is not judged to be noir solely on one visual or thematic standard. Many experts on film noir agree that dissymmetrical mise-en-scène, deep focus, and foreground obstructions are all characteristics that are common in film noir, but do not absolutely have to be present to qualify a film as noir. Although Alain Silver’s list of “Nine Elements of Style in Kiss Me Deadly,” is being used in reference to the film Kiss Me Deadly, the majority of the elements are simply common characteristics of any film that is noir. One of the elements is, of course, lighting. The lighting portion on the list goes on to describe how lighting is used to affect the tone of the scene. Silver explains, “the shadow[s] cast over Hammer’s face when he stops at the roadblock, are stylistic corroborations of Velda’s sense of impending danger” and “The low light when Carver opens the box of radioactive material is, most appropriately at that moment in the film, hellish” (222). Silver also explains that the lighting creates tones which are not explicitly stated through dialogue or shown through actions, but are more subtly exposed through lights and shadows. These tones, which are generally dark and distinctly pessimistic, are the foundation for making a film noir. The lighting creates these tones which reveal to the audience what is truly intended for them to see: the harsh realities which the characters live in and must face. Producer, director, and Clarion University Assistant Professor Robert G. Nulph goes on to describe film noir based explicitly on lighting, stating, “Film noir has a distinct style, with shadow-filled, low-key lighting. Night ruled in film noir, the shadow more important than the light” (59). Nulph explains that lighting techniques, whatever they may be, were needed in film noir and that lighting was the ruling and dominant attribute. Virtually every expert on the genre of film noir would agree that the use of non-traditional lighting and the creation of shadows to convey tone is expected from a film claiming to be in the genre.

One non-traditional lighting technique that is essential in creating film noir is the use of low-key lighting. There are three types of lighting when creating film in general: key light, fill light, and back light. According to Janey Place and Lowell Peterson, authors and experts on the style of film noir, key lighting is the primary source of illumination. The key light’s purpose is to create sharp shadows by being placed high above the character or characters, and to the side. The fill light is a softer light that is used to fill in the shadows which were produced by the key light, making the shadows appear to be greyer rather than a rich black. The back light is a nonstop light facing the actor or actors from behind and is placed opposite of the camera (Place and Peterson 66). Low-key lighting is when the ratio of key light to fill light is high and results in the image being high in contrast and having strong, black shadows. Low-key lighting is, fair to say, always used in film noir. This effect creates an extreme difference in the light and dark areas on screen, which leaves the tone of mystery and obscurity that would be difficult to create without using low-key lighting.

The use of shadows and low-key lighting in many noir films, including The Big Sleep, is what makes the tone, the unknown truths, visible and known to the audience when it is not expressed through dialogue and action. The low-key lighting technique is used generously and adequately in The Big Sleep. There are constantly shadows visible throughout the film, which create tones of uneasiness and mystery and even paranoia. In one particular and noticeable noir scene in The Big Sleep, shadows are created through venetian blinds and fall on the protagonist Marlowe in a pattern of equal black and white stripes. The low-key lighting is what makes the separation of lines and the black and white colors beautifully crisp on Marlowe. Since the difference between the black and white is so extreme, it is likely to be viewed as a visual metaphor for good versus evil. In this particular case it can be viewed as the difference in what Marlowe knows to be true and of what Marlowe is uncertain or unaware. This implication created through the use of lighting is important to the audience and unapparent to the characters, and is used not only in The Big Sleep, but also in In Cold Blood.

Low-key lighting is also highly visible in In Cold Blood. The use of low-key lighting is extremely effective for the opening scene of the film. A bus is driving along a desolate highway at night. On the bus a little girl goes up to a man in the back who is strumming his guitar in the shadows. All that is visible of the man is his guitar and the foot of his boot, along with the shadowed outline of his head. The foot of his boot is directly under the key light, every design on it clearly visible (this later becomes valuable information in the case of the Clutters’ deaths when a unique shoe design is left in the victims’ blood). She watches him momentarily before excusing herself back to her seat. As she walks away the camera moves from the foot of the boot to the man’s shadowed face. The complete darkness of the scene is broken by the lighting of a cigarette which now acts as the key light, virtually the only light in the scene apart from the light which is being used as the back light. This key light illuminates only the man’s face and leaves everything else in darkness, revealing him to be the killer, Perry Smith. Tension is created, but doesn’t end there. As soon as Perry blows out the match and a trail of smoke escapes from his mouth, the scene quickly cuts to that of the other killer, Dick Hickcock, in complete darkness. A sudden flash of light occurs, revealing only a portion of Hickcock’s eyes, and a few feet away from him, the barrel of a rifle. The rest of the shot is black except for these two troubling images. While the scene of Hickcock’s eyes and the shotgun illuminated in darkness lasts a mere six seconds, the tone that is created is powerful enough to be disturbing and disquieting in only the way that film noir can, produced through a simple act of low-key lighting. The shadows in In Cold Blood created by the use of low-key lighting are ever present and have a tendency to be on the faces of characters, or more appropriately, on a portion of the face of a character, revealing the double lives in which they live or perceive. With the main characters of the film having light skin complexions, accentuated by the use of black and white film stock, their half shadowed faces show a stark contrast between black and white. This easily evokes the thought of chiaroscuro.

Chiaroscuro is the contrast between light and shade, and light and dark aspects in an image; similar to low-key lighting, it expresses the difference between the black and the white. The term chiaroscuro began to be used for the description of paintings, and the technique was mastered in painting, but the term and technique soon transferred to other forms of artistic expression. The technique is especially visible in film noir. Hugh Manon, the assistant professor in the screen studies program at Oklahoma State University, who specializes in film noir, makes many comparisons between chiaroscuro and medical X-rays. He explains that chiaroscuro can show deeper meaning in scenes and talks in detail about ordinary places in life in film noir and how these places and scenes are affected by chiaroscuro. Manon says that “the interiors of these mundane locales are lined with bold alternations of darkness and light” and that “it is as if our most banal assumptions about everyday locality have been X-rayed to reveal a dark and undetectable disease” (5). Manon describes how the use of chiaroscuro affects ordinary things and makes them into something extraordinary. The tone of the scenes described is without a doubt a tone of sickness and darkness. This tone could not easily be created without the use of chiaroscuro and the tone is also what helps constitute films as noir, with their pessimistic and distraught outlook on life and society.

Chiaroscuro is ever-present in The Big Sleep. A subtle yet effective way that chiaroscuro is expressed in this film is through Vivian Sternwood’s clothing. In the beginning of the film when she is simply viewed as the better of General Sternwood’s two daughters, she is introduced to Marlowe wearing all white. White is commonly associated with innocence and purity and so Vivian is perceived as such. After her “betrayal” of Marlowe, she is seen in all black clothing, signifying the change from innocent to immoral. In this sense, she turns into the dangerous and sexy woman who is common in film noir, the femme fatale. The director is, without the explicit use of action or dialogue, letting the viewers recognize Vivian’s changing role when Marlowe is still unsuspicious of her.

The use of chiaroscuro in film noir helps the audience see the deeper meaning of the characters and to better understand the desired tone of the scene. The same technique for clothing as chiaroscuro is used not only in the case of Vivian, but for the other Sternwood daughter as well, Carmen. When Carmen first meets Marlowe, as the first character to be introduced to Marlowe, she is wearing both a black shirt and a white skirt, which signifies the duality of her nature. She is most certainly mentally ill and perhaps she cannot fully distinguish the difference between good and evil on her own. She most likely views herself as a “good girl” when in reality she commits bad and violent acts. For instance, the scene in which she takes a gun to Joe Brody in an attempt to murder him, she is cloaked in all black, even with a black hood and black gloves. The only visibly lightened area of her body is her face. The use of black clothing to an extreme shows not simply that she is bad, but that her actions are awful. As Manon suggested, the use of chiaroscuro, here through clothing instead of X-rays, made the mundane clothing something more than what it was usually viewed as by regular onlookers. The clothing has revealing characteristics that help portray the wearers as their true selves, the true selves which are not always known to the other characters, but which are subtly hinted at for the viewers.

Chiaroscuro is used in In Cold Blood as a type of foreshadowing and is important for creating the tone of the entire film. It has the same effect as in The Big Sleep and also in the way in which Manon describes, but this film uses chiaroscuro well with the difference between the amount of light and dark in a specific character’s setting, instead of with clothing and X-rays. In the beginning stages of the movie the two killers, Hickcock and Smith, drive to the Clutter mansion on a dark road. The majority of this short yet important scene is filmed from the inside of the killers’ car, which is so dark that it is hard to make out the expressions on the killers’ faces. The camera switches several times between the two men in the dark and a window in the Clutter mansion, with extremely limited dialogue. The window leads to a room which belongs to the daughter, Nancy, the innocent town darling. She is getting ready for bed by lamplight which brightens her entire room, accentuating the white curtains, white bedding and her white pajamas. The evidence of chiaroscuro in this scene is nicely put together, and needless to say, astounding. The camera bounces back and forth between the black and darkened car to the brightly lit, white, almost saint-like room as the killers contemplate their upcoming actions. Smith says to Hickcock in the dark, “Let’s pull out of here now before it’s too late.” Hickcock’s response is simple silence as the camera turns to the window in the house and Nancy Clutter turns off the light in her white room, suspending the film momentarily in darkness, as if in a response to Smith’s unacknowledged statement. This reveals, through the use of chiaroscuro, Hickcock’s want and even need to continue with the dark plan that will cost Nancy Clutter and her entire family their rich lives.

Film noir is created by the collection of many techniques, ranging all the way from the use of deep focus lenses to the intentional use of black and white film stock, but lighting is what truly makes a film noir through its tone. It has the ability to create palpable tones of depression, tension, pessimism and mystery all by using non-traditional lighting techniques such as low-key lighting. The use of lighting in noir and neo-noir films is predominant in evoking a sense of chiaroscuro. The classic film noir film, The Big Sleep, and the neo-noir film In Cold Blood, both express their underlying tones of immorality in human nature and cynicism towards society through non-traditional lighting techniques and chiaroscuro.

Works Cited
Butler, Jeremy G. “Miami Vice: The Legacy of Film Noir.” Film Noir Reader. United States: Limelight Edition, 1996. 290-292.
Capote, Truman. In Cold Blood. United States: Vintage Books, 1965.
Chandler, Raymond. The Big Sleep. United States: Vintage Books, 1939.
In Cold Blood. Dir. Richard Brooks. Perf. Richard Blake, Scott Wilson and John Forsythe. Columbia Pictures Corporation, 1967.
Manon, Hugh S. “X-Ray Visions: Radiography, Chiaroscuro, and the Fantasy of Unsuspicion in Film Noir.” Film Criticism. 32.2. 2003. 2-27.
Nulph, Robert G. “Lighting Film Noir Style.” Videomaker. 2008. 59-62.
Place, Janey and Peterson, Lowell. “Some Visual Motifs of Film Noir.” Film Noir Reader. United States: Limelight Edition, 1996. 65-76.
Silver, Alain. “Kiss Me Deadly: Evidence of a Style.” Film Noir Reader. United States: Limelight Edition, 1996. 209-228.
The Big Sleep. Dir. Howard Hawks. Perf. Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, John Ridgley, Martha Vickers and Charles Waldron. Warner Bros. Pictures, 1946.

Added February 17, 2011

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Nominated by Randall Gann in his English 102 course. Gann states that Alison’s essay, “Lighting as Creation for Darkness,” is a fine example of student achievement in writing. She presents her topic of lighting techniques in film noir in a clearly and concisely explained manner in order to set the stage for her main argument—that film not normally associated with film noir is, in fact, using film noir techniques. The essay analyzes details and specifics of two films in a way that shows the reward of the often difficult process of critical thinking. “Lighting as a Creation for Darkness” is not only a well-constructed and well-written essay, it is also a pleasure to read.


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