The book I'm talking about gives an introduction to the french genre of the '30s, informing you of the codes and conventions that you'll often come across. For example, a troubled protagonist, crime themes, femme fatales, private eye detective, etc. Originally I wanted my story resonating around a femme fatale, but I had to end up scrapping her entirely. But that's quite alright. A new story for a new day when I have longer than five minutes to tell it more effectively, but it's interesting how my story evolved throughout this process.
Anyway, a major part of the genre is the lighting style. I have my troubled protagonist so I need to bring that across with the visuals as much as I possibly can. The reason that comedy is so high key and brightly lit is to assure the audience that we aren't hiding anything from them. What you see is what you get. Not with the likes of horror or noir styled films. Or, if it's a hybrid, it's knowing when to use which lighting style for what scenes.
It's the scenes that Barney, my troubled protagonist, is lost in his own little world where I want to exploit these noir lighting conventions. I want him shrouded in the shadows but lit in a provoking sort of way. There is a lot of talk of venison blinds that I wanted to incorporate, to suggest the character peeking out into the world without really entering it, simply out of curiosity's sake. There was a board we could have used in the studio before, but it appears to have gone walkies, so that won't be getting used, sadly.
Creating the set for Barney's imagination was to look fake. Not too fake, but we know it's not real. Shrouded in shadows but Barney would be lit up enough to be seen, but to be seen in an intimidating sort of way; the way that Noir Barney wants to come across. But, his character being deeply troubled and insecure, the darkness that he's shrouded in suggests he's being consumed by said personal issues.
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