CMAf12 Film Noir and the Arts of Lighting

Faculty of Arts
Autumn 2024
Extent and Intensity
2/0/0. 5 credit(s). Type of Completion: zk (examination).
In-person direct teaching
Teacher(s)
Patrick Keating (lecturer), Mgr. Radomír D. Kokeš, Ph.D. (deputy)
Mgr. Tereza Bochinová (assistant)
Mgr. Šárka Jelínek Gmiterková, Ph.D. (alternate examiner)
Mgr. Radomír D. Kokeš, Ph.D. (alternate examiner)
Guaranteed by
Mgr. Radomír D. Kokeš, Ph.D.
Department of Film Studies and Audiovisual Culture – Faculty of Arts
Contact Person: Mgr. Radomír D. Kokeš, Ph.D.
Supplier department: Department of Film Studies and Audiovisual Culture – Faculty of Arts
Timetable
Mon 14. 10. 16:00–19:40 C34, Tue 15. 10. 12:00–13:40 C34, 16:00–17:40 C34, Wed 16. 10. 10:00–13:40 C34, Thu 17. 10. 8:00–11:40 C34, Fri 18. 10. 9:00–13:40 C34
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is only offered to the students of the study fields the course is directly associated with.
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
The course introduces students to lighting in Hollywood film noir from 1940 to 1959. The primary objective is to explain Hollywood lighting in functional terms, asking what cinematographers expecting lighting to do. Five key functions will be discussed: representing figures in space, situating those figures within a historically specific milieu, enhancing the emotional impact of narrative turning points, playing on expectations about where the story is heading, and doing all of this pictorially via artfully structured compositions. In support of this primary objective, the class will cover the history of several lighting conventions in mid-Century Hollywood, focusing in particular on the lighting of actors (figure lighting), the lighting of particular kinds of stories (genre lighting), and the lighting of sets and locations in such a way that they appear to be lit from within (effect lighting).
Two supporting objectives involve the analysis and history of film noir. The class will feature analyses of several specific films, such as The Asphalt Jungle; Sorry, Wrong Number; and Touch of Evil. These examples will demonstrate functional analysis in action, illustrating how filmmakers used the existing lighting conventions in innovative ways to produce dramatic effects. More broadly, the class will rethink some familiar assumptions about the history of film noir. Whereas historians traditionally define studio-era film noir in opposition to Hollywood norms, this class proposes that noir lighting drew on well-established conventions. Well before the emergence of noir, Hollywood cinematographers had endorsed the idea that lighting should vary over the course of a film. With its unusual emotional effects, film noir gave cinematographers the opportunity to exploit that range of variation. The result was a set of films that combined dramatic storytelling with social critique.
Learning outcomes
After completing this course, a student will be able to:
- identify and explain the core functions that studio-era Hollywood cinematographers expected lighting to fulfill
- watch a film noir (or look at images taken from a film noir) and recognize which lighting conventions are at work
- write an essay analyzing a sample scene or sequence from a film noir
- explain the debate about film noir’s relationship to Hollywood and offer a historically informed opinion in this debate.
Syllabus
  • The following topics will be discussed:
  • Day 1: Overview of the basic approach. Two common trends in noir scholarship: noir symbolism and noir exceptionalism. A critique of both approaches. A new alternative, proposing five key functions of lighting in Hollywood, not just in noir but in studio-era cinema more generally. A preliminary account of how noir might expand these functions. Some general discussion of the assumptions underlying functionalism. Key example: The Asphalt Jungle.
  • Day 2: The basic conventions of Hollywood storytelling. An overview of noir’s use and/or subversion of these conventions. Then there will be a philosophical aside, asking how lighting can tell a story. A proposal is offered, emphasizing the relationship between light and time—in the individual shot, in the three-minute scene, and in a feature-length story. How genre creates expectations. Key example: Sorry, Wrong Number.
  • Day 3: Summary and illustration of several useful terms for the description of figure lighting. How ideologies of gender and race informed Hollywood’s figure-lighting conventions. History of glamour lighting, with an emphasis on a shift toward hardness starting in the 1930s. How figure lighting changes from scene to scene. Key example: The Letter.
  • Day 4: The idea of lighting for milieu. Effect lighting. Lighting on location. Then there will be a brief historical detour, examining the culture of electric lighting in the United States prior to and during noir. Noir criticizes the existing culture of electric lighting in two ways: by showing the dark spaces that were left behind and by showing the bright spaces that seemed alienating. Key example: Touch of Evil.
  • Day 5: A proposal suggesting five ways that lighting might evoke a character’s internal state: imagined, inflected, consonant, dissonant, and localized. The question of symbolic lighting. Noir’s relationship to Expressionism. The pictorial aspect of noir lighting. A return to the key idea that lighting in the film noir changes as each film unfolds. Key example: Secret beyond the Door.
  • PATRICK KEATING is a professor in the Department of Communication at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas. He is not only a leading expert on the history of Hollywood cinematography and lighting, but also a professional cinematographer. He is the author of books Hollywood Lighting from the Silent Era to Film Noir (2009), The Dynamic Frame: Camera Movement in Classical Hollywood (2019) and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2021).
Literature
    required literature
  • ALTON, John. Painting with Light. University of California Press, 1995
  • KEATING, Patrick. Film Noir and the Arts of Lighting. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 2024
  • KEATING, Patrick. Hollywood lighting from the silent era to film noir. New York: Columbia University Press, 2010, xi, 296. ISBN 9780231149037. info
  • Genre and Hollywood. Edited by Stephen Neale. London: Routledge, 2000, viii, 329. ISBN 0415026067. info
    not specified
  • KEATING, Patrick. The dynamic frame : camera movement in classical Hollywood. New York: Columbia University Press, 2019, xi, 349. ISBN 9780231190503. info
Teaching methods
Lectures, screenings, readings

For the preliminary test:
Janey Place and Lowell Peterson, “Some Visual Motifs of Film Noir,” in Film Noir Reader
Steve Neale, “Film Noir,” in Genre and Hollywood
Patrick Keating, Film Noir and the Arts of Lighting, chapter one (“Introduction”)


For the final test:
John Alton, “Mystery Lighting,” in Painting with Light
Patrick Keating, Film Noir and the Arts of Lighting, chapter three (“Lighting Characters”)
Patrick Keating, Film Noir and the Arts of Lighting, chapter five (“Lighting Milieu”)
Assessment methods
The 100% attendance at the lectures is compulsory and will be checked throughout every lecture (with the exception of distance students who are allowed to miss two out of the six sessions). Written test (preliminary and final one)
Language of instruction
English
Further Comments
Study Materials
The course is taught only once.
  • Enrolment Statistics (recent)
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