How do you sum up the film noir style? For me words like dark, moody and sinister would be fitting but there’s a lot more to it then that. There’s the style both in lighting and subject matter to consider too.
I always think of Film Noir as being high contrast, black and white scenes lit with hard light resulting in strong shadows. Rightly or not I also think 50’s style crime drama and that’s what I set out to produce in my small home studio.
[youtube]www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9o1Pc6uDRU[/youtube]
The trick here was to set my main light low and hard (No softboxes or umbrellas) That gave great shadows from the Venetian blinds and the up light gave a sense of menace, as well as the subtle feeling our hero was on a higher floor looking down.
The rest was down to Styling. So asking Brian (the model) to have a bit of stubble, giving him a bottle of whiskey (or cold tea in this case) and of course, having him hold a vintage kids cap gun all helped set the scene and tell the story.
He seriously has to have a cigarette dangling between his lips… The smoke would add a really cool ambient feel to the image and make it more authentic 🙂
Yep that would be cool, be sure and add that when you shoot it 🙂
Thank you so much for this. I used this idea and setup for a fun film noir shoot a couple of weeks ago.
Hey Garvin
i have seen your tutorial and cerat my owen versions.
Here 2 samples
http://www.model-kartei.de/fotos/foto/17951470/
http://www.model-kartei.de/fotos/foto/17953666/
best regards
Jörg
PS: Thanks for all your tuts and vids.
Gavin, Thank you for this video. I did the same set up and the portrait came out just outstanding. Excellent!! I will be following you for sure!!
I thought this video was great, give me some ideas to work on.
i think a cigarette dangling between his lips, be good with the smoke .
I enjoy all your video tutorials they help me to learn more
Loved this, will use this set up, thank you Gavin.
Gavin, Je video’s zijn fantastisch! Hier kan ik weer mee aan de slag, bedankt vanuit Niel Belgie