In film noir there are three main aspects that feed into the development of noir: German Expressionism, the detective fiction of the 1930s, and the cultural turmoil of World War II(Ward, 9). A basic premise of expressionism was that mise-en-scene should express the stress, psychological state of either its main character or the culture at large. This was the basis for having very tense and melodramatic shots because they were meant to bring out the character's feelings. The detective fiction was formed by writers who created visions of a dark corrupt underworld of cops and robbers, sexual exploiters, and omnipresent immorality was filtered by their cynical but morally secure detective characters. These films were filled with who-done-its and were very mysterious. The cultural turmoil of World War II films were on the ideas that the world was still recovering from the war and there was mystery about what was in the near future which brought about paranoia. .
The production of noir films all follow specific methods. The scenery is usually a panorama shot of a dark and damp street in an urban setting. There are certain shots such as high and low angles that allow the viewer to see that the character on screen feels threatened. There are also techniques such as a side-lit close-up, long take, and the foreground object bisecting the frame which implies that a person is indecisive and is building tension(film noir, 452). Film noir is usually abundant with night scenes, both indoors and outdoors, which suggests an eerie realism and low key lighting that emphasizes deep shadows which accentuates the mood of fatalism. All these factors go along side with what events were happening at the time of their production. During the German Expressionist time period there was a lot of anxiety about the rise of dictators and when America was peaking with noir films they were nervous about ties with Russia and other Cold War problems.
