Video Essay Plan Storyboard and Recording

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Script

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The phrase that art imitates life is commonly used, and widely accepted, but how would this apply to noir and as an extension neo-noir?

The still image will stay on screen slowly zooming in before cutting when done

It’s no doubt that the despair of the great depression in the 30’s and 40’s rolled over into the themes of classic nior. We see characters struggling to get by in everyday life “in a world where there are no transcendental values or moral absolutes” (Porfiro 81). This often results in our main characters committing morally grey acts to achieve the life they want, as seen in Double Indemnity (1944).

The opening scenes of double indemnity play with the main character entering the house and talking to the love interest. When im done talking the clip will keep playing for a second, with the viewer hearing the main character talk about his insurance policies. Then fade to black

Before the rise of the classic noir genre, the world was a very different place, with the law only seeming like a suggestion. Illegal bootlegging of alcohol was common and even public officials would visit speakeasies

The stock footage of a speakeasy in the us will be playing in the background, I will also overlay light piano music over the people dancing

Overall art does imitate life, and this is easy to see with the classic noir when we look at historical events leading up to the creation of genre. It’s easy to see how the hard economic state of the great depression lends itself to the dark and existential themes of the noir and why the American people had such Grimm themes on their minds.

The fight with uncle joe from touch of evil plays, the ending of the script lines up with uncle joe being chocked and the narrator states the the last few words

The Prohibition set the stage for the gangsters and mob bosses to gain control that we so often see in noir films.

The image is zoomed in slowly as i talk

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These two major historical events influenced the themes of noir all with the backdrop of urbanization and the “labyrinth” of the city as Christopher would put it.

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See above

See above

While it may be easy to apply this historical logic to classic noir films, to understand it for the niche neo-noirs created today we have to take a deeper dive.

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In country noir we often see many of the major themes of classic noir, but why might this be when the historical context is completely different? When we take a closer look we will find that it’s no as different as we think

The clip stops when the main character of “a single shot” shots his gun. With the gunshot playing after the narrator for dramatic effect.

Country noir often takes place in rural settings with the city of classic noir starkly contrasting.

The image starts zoomed in on the characters from winter bone and slowly zooms out to reveal the huge forest behind them.

Christopher states on page 4 ” Out of the Past is an oddity in that much of its narrative is constructed of nonurbanflashbacks” , and these flashbacks depict rural America with rose-tinted glasses, but how might this help us in defining the setting of country noir?

Another still image slowly zoomed in.

In classic noir urbanization and the city has corrupted the characters and we see many mob bosses and gangsters as a result of this thus the city is depicted in a negative light.

A clip from out of the past plays with the characters moving around and talking

We see the same themes in country noir, but it isn’t the city corrupting the characters, but the rural setting. The lawlessness of rural American is often a common theme in country noirs.

A clip from wind river plays with the main character disregarding the man in the snow

In Winters Bone the main character’s main motivation is money, trying to track down her father so their family can keep the house. This is all the fault of her father who was previously arrested.(pause) The sprawling city of the classic noir corrupts characters the same way the rural setting of country noir does. The corrupted characters in country noir aren’t gangsters, but normal people who have had their character lost to the natural landscape of rural America just trying to make ends meet. Now lets look at why this might be.

The clip plays from winters bone with the whole family. Narration continues and pasues for the character to explain them needing money after i state it.

Rural America in contemporary times lends itself to the themes of noir somewhat easily. With many factory jobs and other employment opportunities leaving the country or being completely automated.

Infographic shows decline in manufacturing employees in america

The dynamic between the country and city is completely flipped on its head in rural noir. The city is often seen as full of opportunity, while the rural settings they inhabit our depicted as a husk of the past As seen from the filming set in no country for old men. More recent urbanization in America has led to this and created the perfect world that “emphasizes life’s meaninglessness and man’s alienation its catch~words include “nothingness,” “sickness” “illness,” “dread,” (Porfiro 81).

Montage of no country for old men setting plays

	All things which can be seen in classic noir as well as rural noir and all ways life is influencing the art we consume.	Still image slowly zoomed in
	As a case study, we will look at No Country for Old Men.	Slowly zooms
	Our main character is seen holding a bag of money he is soon to take. This was from a drug deal gone bad. Much like our main character in Doubly Indemnity, he is taking a large morally grey risk in pursuit of money. My argument is that this is a clear similarity to the morally grey choices of our protagonist in classic noir.	Clip plays of him going through the case of money
	In classic noir the morally grey choices sit in front of the backdrop of a lawless city, and in the same way this is seen in rural noir.	Image zooms in on characters from Touch of evil and classic noirs then pans to the example at the bottom being blade runner ect
	The historical events leading up to those settings are different, however with urbanization creating the city that exists in classic noir,	Graphic shows influential events in urbanization of America leading up to the 50’s
	and it destroying the rural world in country noir. I	Slowly zooms on image the fades to black
Black screen	In both cases the nature that are characters inhabit are direct result of the time they were created in.	The word being said scroll across the screen
	In rural noir urbanization and attempting to adapt to the more civil way of life pushes its characters to make morally grey choices in the lawless rural land that they know. While in the classic noir the same can be said about the city.	Clip from winters bone plays when she goes and looks for her father, shows characters fighting
	Current events like inflation and other economic stressors lend creators to create more stories like this, with their main characters committing the morally grey acts so commonly associated with noir	Image montage plays



	Overall identifying the themes that carry over from classic noir into country noir is easy and straightforward at first, but it is not until we take a closer look at the real-life events surrounding both genres that we can have a better understanding of them as a whole	Short Clip forms single shot plays with him walking through the woods then cuts to a clip from kiss me deadly plays with the car pulling up to her.


	With classic noir being influenced by the prohibition and great depression, and rural noir by urbanization and current economic times.	Image scroll across screen

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