FILM NOIRFILM NOIREdited by Harrison Douglas-GrattonEdited by Harrison Douglas-Gratton

L.A. ConfidentialL.A. ConfidentialLA NoireLA Noire

L.A. CONFIDENTIAL Vs LA NOIRE

Film Noir is well known for its unique visual style, which usually attempts to build suspense and mystery through the use of low angle shots and dim lighting. They deal with themes such as crime and drugs, and tend to take place in large, urban areas to show the underbelly of society. A lot of film noirs are very pessimistic and dark, with the protagonist being more of an anti-hero than a saviour.

LA Noire and LA Confidential have both similarities and differences in their respective opening sequences, regarding their styles and the conventions they use.

A common trope in film noir is for the main protagonist to narrate over the events of the film - this could be for the entire movie, or just for one scene (ending, most likely). This is where both L.A. Confidential and LA Noire follow a film noir convention - however, in neither of these does the main character do the narration; it's a supporting character. From this we can see that both introductions attempt to challenge film noir rather than follow its style religiously.

Both intros are very similar in their inclusion of a voiceover and anthologies of 1950's related clips. In both voiceovers, the speaker narrates first about how LA is a city of opportunity and dreams, before later going down a darker path and admitting that "not everything is as it seems" (LA Noire). This links to the idea of film noir focussing on the "underbelly" of society,

Neither intros are conventional in their portrayal of film noir, in the sense that the style and techniques are a lot more visibly modern than in other recently released noir's such as Sin City (a neo-noir) or the intro to Casino Royale. In L.A. Confidential, this is visible by the fact that the colours used are much more vibrant and the narration is very positive and upbeat (despite the brief implications of crime in the end of the clip). Although LA Noire also uses bright colours in its introduction, the background music and voiceover used are considerably more pessimistic.