researching into Mise-en-scene

Lighting

John alton photographed more than 100 films in his career with over 20 of them being Film Noirs, including T-Men (1947), He Walked by Night (1948) and The Big Combo (1955). All three were quintessential Alton pictures, with low key lighting where often a single light source was used to get harsh crisp shadows. film noir use 3 point lighting which all focus on one point, the main light is called a key light which is the one that is most bright. you also have a fill light which is opposite the key light which helps fill in the shadows left by the key light. lastly there is a back light which separates the main focus and the background. in film noir the most prominent light is the strong key light and back light, fill lights are not as dominate as they want to exaggerate the contrast to create the low key look, however having a little bit of fill lighting will add something interesting to your shadows. film noir generally uses hard lights as it leaves sharp edge shadows. For ours we are going to film in the dark and under a street lamp and i will be smoking under and the lamp and the light will emphasis the smoke.

Costume and Props

in film noir you will often see cigarettes or cigars and normally the femme fatal is smoking. we also see that the femme fatal wears a smart dress which is normally black or red and the would normally wear red lipstick which shows a sign of danger and the men are dressed in smart black suits and there is normally a gun involved. With our film noir i am wearing a red dress, with red nails and red lipstick, Josh is wearing a suit and will have a gun. I will be smoking as well.

Location 

Film Noir is normally set on a a dark street or in a city, sometimes they can be set in a bar or somewhere associated with the mob. Most Film Noir films are set in Los Angeles as they are based in america. For Our film Noir, our location is on a street at night with street lamps and we are also using an alleyway. 

Reflective comment
Having carried out the research, I feel more confident about creating our own film. As i am in charge of costume and props, I feel that i have a clearer idea of how to style our cast. I am going for smart clothes with iconic highlights such as red. I need to be careful to avoid any costume items that are clearly contemporary.