I wanted to explore looking at the lighting in film noir because there are quite obvious lighting uses that differenciate the male characters, particularly the leading male characters and the femme fatales.
Above, where Barbra Stanwych's character is photographed, there is a huge concentration of light shining on her even though she is the femme fatale in the film. And below the character Gilda is photographed with a soft, bright light behind her head, which is actually intentionally done to give the character a 'halo effect' to make the character more innocent and angelic looking, thus making it look more feminine. These images show typical visual conventions that audiences almost instinctually connect to femininity, because the softness of the light and the bright shine reminds us of feminine qualities. this type of lighting could be achieved through down lighting and spot lighting.
looking at these pictures makes me notice the lusture that is emphasized on the subjects' hair, and this makes me think of how I colours use objects with reflective or shiny surfaces because this could be a common feature that audiences relate to femininity.
In film Noir the leading male character is shown in high contrast lighting which emphasizes shadows and darkness and is used to represent ambiguity in the characters. The picture of Humphrey Bogart shows a bold and significant shadow on the wall while below Fred MacMurry has strong shadows on his face. This gives off a masculine feel because it is strong and harsh lighting which matches the typical features that audiences would relate to masculinity. Darker colours are also often associated with masculinity, so this could be a reason as to why darker lighting works well with masculinity.
Phallic symbols such as guns and cigaretts are often used in film noir, so this could be something to look into or focus on when I decide what masculine products I want to photograph.
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