Film Noir

Film noir is black and white film in French and features themes which are more negative than positive, with an overall dark and shadowy outlook--being filmed in black and white. The film genre takes in detective and crime noir as well as many gangster films of the 1930's.

Film noir has sources not only in cinema but other artistic media as well. The low-key lighting schemes commonly linked with the classic mode are in the tradition of chiaroscuro and tenebrism, techniques using high contrasts of light and dark developed by 15th- and 16th-century painters associated with Mannerism and the Baroque. Film noir's aesthetics are deeply influenced by German Expressionism, a cinematic movement of the 1910s and 1920s closely related to contemporaneous developments in theater, photography, painting, sculpture, and architecture. The first recognized noir movie was "Stranger on the Third Floor" from 1940.
Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as stretching from the early 1940s to the late 1950s.

Visual style
Film noirs tended to use low-key lighting schemes producing stark light/dark contrasts and dramatic shadow patterning. Characters' faces may be partially or wholly obscured by darkness.

Structure and narrational devices
Film noirs tend to have unusually convoluted story lines, frequently involving flashbacks, flashforwards, and other techniques that disrupt and sometimes obscure the narrative sequence. Voiceover narration—most characteristically by the protagonist.

Plots, characters, and settings
Crime, usually murder, is an element of almost all film noirs; in addition to standard-issue greed, jealousy is frequently the criminal motivation. A crime investigation—by a private eye, a police detective (sometimes acting alone), or a concerned amateur—is the most prevalent, but far from dominant, basic plot. Film noirs tend to revolve around heroes who are more flawed and morally questionable than the norm, often fall guys of one sort or another. The characteristic heroes of noir are described by many critics as "alienated". (the protagonist always has a major character flaw which leads to ruin.) The femme fatale is not always the only woman in the life of the main character. There is often a balance of the evil femme fatale with another pure and virtuous woman who only wishes the best for the protagonist. In this battle, it is the evil that always triumphs in noir. The protagonist is powerless to make the choice of the woman who is best for him.

Another facet of noir films is the flashback. In nearly all noir films, generous use is made of this vehicle. Often the flashbacks are voice-overs, narrated by the protagonist recounting, somewhat sarcastically, the reasons and details of his downfall. A good example of this is William Holden in "Sunset Boulevard", where he narrates the entire story in flashbacks of what occured before his death.

The plot of a noir movie is circuitous and holds many surprises and unanswered questions for the viewer. Sometimes the resolution of the plot is left hanging, casting an even darker aura over the film, such as the ending of "Scarlet Street", another great film noire in which the audience is left to wonder what eventually happens to the main character. Still, there is much action in noir films, even with the plot unwinding slowly and building to a riveting climax.

Noir heroes are flawed humans and always shown to have character imperfections. Many of those heroes are detectives, taking the cases of mysterious women who draw them into a tangled maze of evil by making use of their hypnotic sensuality. Detective noirs are among some of the most popular films of this genre. Films like the Sam Spade mysteries began the whole detective and crime noir sub-genre and cemented actors such as Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall in the minds of noir buffs.

Worldview, morality, and tone
Film noir is often described as essentially pessimistic. The noir stories that are regarded as most characteristic tell of people trapped in unwanted situations (which, in general, they did not cause but are responsible for exacerbating), striving against random, uncaring fate, and frequently doomed. The movies are seen as depicting a world that is inherently corrupt. The tone of film noir is generally regarded as downbeat.

thesis research on color of black

Viewpoint of color black in culture influence:
Darkness and dirt are the spontaneous associations with black. In the world of symbol, black becomes the color of evil, the color of negation.

The color of black

Neutral symbolism:

1. Black sky refers to the appearance of space as one emerges from the Earth's atmosphere
2. In auto racing, a black flag signals a certain driver to go into the pits
3. In Portuguese politics, black is the party color of the Left Bloc
4. In ancient China, black was the symbol of North and Water, one of the main five colors
Positive symbolism:

1. In Western fashion, black is considered stylish, sexy, and powerful.
2. Black is seen as a color of seriousness and authority:
-Many priests of the older religious denominations traditionally wear black.
-Lawyers and judges often wear black robes.
3. Black Friday is the first Friday after Thanksgiving and is, statistically, the largest shopping day in the US. The concept is that, all the shopping can put a company into the black

Negative symbolism:
black is sometimes used with a negative connotation. The reasons for this are various, but the most widely accepted explanations are that night is experienced by humans as negative and dangerous. A secondary reason is that stains are most visible as dark additions to pale materials.

1. Black is often a color of mourning
2. Black magic is an evil form of magic, often connected with death
3. bad guys always wear black
4. A black cat is superstitiously considered bad luck and linked with death in the U.S., however in the UK a black cat is considered good luck.
5. Evil witches are stereotypically dressed in black and good fairies in white
6. death ( meet Joe Black)


Images in black:
1. batman
2 spider (spiderman)
3 owl
4 death
5 shadow
6 Islamite
7 vampire
8 priest
9 nightmare
10 ghost
11 music notes
12 Gothic style
13 skull








REFERENCE:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black

visualize graphic history

New thesis approach:

• many people don't know what graphic design means ( many of them refer this job title to fashion, interior design.. )
• there are less people enjoy reading
  
• could universal language makes history of graphic design more interesting?
• how about combine experience design and graphic icon?
  

culture of disabled

Deaf Culture

• Deaf people do not perceive themselves as having lost something (i.e., hearing) and do not think of themselves as handicapped, impaired, or disabled.
• Deaf culture commonly perceives the term hearing impaired as insulting or misleading (Deaf people feel the word "impaired" carries too much negativity)
• Deaf culture emphasizes community and interdependency but the main characteristic of Deaf culture is the use of signed languages
• Acceptance within Deaf culture can depend on the age at which a person became deaf

Common terms used within the Deaf community:

• This term refers to members of the Deaf community who share common values, norms, traditions, language, and behaviors.
• Deaf, hard of hearing, and deafened - Within the Deaf culture these words refer to a person's audiological status. Notice lower case "d'" is used. People who describe themselves as "hard of hearing" or "deafened" do not see themselves as members of the Deaf culture. Some may know sign language but their primary language is English
• Hearing Impaired - This term often is used by the media and society in general to refer to people with a hearing loss. A more acceptable generic phrase is "deaf and hard of hearing" to refer to all people with a hearing loss. Within the Deaf culture, the term "hearing impaired" often is seen as offensive. It suggests that Deaf people are "broken" or "inferior" because they do not hear.
• Hearing - Within the Deaf culture the term "hearing" is used to identify people who are members of the dominant American culture. One might think the ASL sign for "hearing" is related to the group's ability to hear (e.g., pointing to the ear). However, the sign for "hearing" is related to the ability to "talk." The act of talking is clearly visible to Deaf people, whereas listening or hearing is not. From the Deaf culture perspective, it is the act of "talking" that clearly separates the two groups.

Blind Culture

• Blindness is viewed in almost the opposite light from deafness
• Different Agenda
• use a form of written communication that differs from the mainstream. Braille bears no visual resemblance to the written alphabet and only a person trained to read Braille can do so
• The use of a long stick as a "bumper and probe" is generally recognized world wide as a sign of visual impairment.

REFERENCE
http://www.nfbnet.org/pipermail/nfbmo/2004-May/000391.html
http://www.jgb.org/resources.asp

what are the problems that disabled people have

1. Job opportunities are limited
2. Living environment is friendly for healthy people, need Accessible Environments
3. Disabled People Left Behind in Emergencies


Executive Summary (Media Literacy Audit: Report on media literacy of disabled people)



http://www.ofcom.org.uk/advice/media_literacy/medlitpub/medlitpubrss/disabled/