Individual Analysis

Scarlet street (1945) – 14:45

Opening scene Establishing shot - dark street, rain, night-time. Major key non-diegetic

carnival style music. Asynchronous sound of men singing. Group of men – formally dressed, black tie event., all smoking Man beating woman in street, man intervenes runs for police. Man and woman in shady bar.

The opening shot after the title sequence shows a darks street, there is minimal light and the weather is dull. These are common conventions of film noir due to its original themes of oppression and German expressionism. There is major key, non-diegetic carnival style background music; this is used to set an initial good mood for the film. The next shot shows the inside of a building in which there is the asynchronous sound of men singing. This shows that there is some sort of party or formal event happening. The following pan shot then shows a party in which all f the men are dressed quite smart. This shows that they may be quite wealthy. They are all also smoking which is a common convention in film noir and adds to the overall atmosphere. It is later shown in the scene that the party is being thrown in someone’s honour. After leaving the party one of the men comes across a man beating a woman in the street. This kind of action can also be quite common in film noir as many have strong links to oppression and violence. The street is dark at this point which is used to signify the darkness of the action that was taking place. The man that left the party intervenes and attacks the man who is attacking the woman. This also displays another common convention of film noir which shows women being weaker and needing to the ones that are rescued.