It's in The Eyes

When we started this movie in class I was aware of film Noir, and that Double Indemnity was one of first movies to portray it. Even though I knew these things going into the movie, I was still surprised by what I saw. Seeing as how this is such an old movie, I was expecting the noir aspect to be different from what it is like now. I figured that a movie like L.A Confidential, which in a sense is film noir, would be completely different because of modern advancements in film. However, after watching the film I realized I was wrong. Double Indemnity had the same essential factors that play into film noir than any other modern film would have. 

The one essential factor that stuck out to me was the dramatic close-ups. In my opinion, it doesn’t matter how old Double indemnity is, or how modern L.A Confidential is, they both have this aspect in the film. I thought it was interesting that even though Double Indemnity was modest and overly dramatic to the point where you want to mock the movie, it still draws you into the plot with close up shots. There were a lot of these shots, where the characters didn’t have to say anything, the camera just zoomed in on their face, and by looking at their eyes and hearing the music in the background you would immediately understand what the character was feeling or even thinking. I believe this idea is essential to film noir, and after watching Double Indemnity I now know that even at the earliest stages of film noir, this idea was meticulously incorporated into the films.

The image below is an example of a face close up on Neff. I unfortunately can’t determine when this still is from plot wise, but I can still assume what he was thinking. From his eyes it seems as though he is a little caught off guard, or unsure of the situation, whatever it might be. He looks nervous, and on edge by the way his lips are pursed. He also looks fearful. This was one of many examples of where I found this idea throughout the movie. There were plenty of close ups on Mrs. Dietrichson’s face which added to the drama and intensity of the film as well.  

Harvey as an Old Man

Ann Voris
Literature and Film
Lawler - 2

The Quitter
Journal Entry #2

            Seeing as this is a graphic novel, the images play a major role in how the story is told. The images can provide the reader with detailed portrayals, and allow someone to analyze a character or situation more closely. There was one specific image in this second section of the book that I read that stood out to me quite a bit. The image is on the second to last page. It consists of Harvey as a grown man in present time, or at least present to when he was writing this graphic novel about himself. This first caught my eye because it was evidently very different than any other image I had seen prior in the novel. At the top of the page you see Harvey as a high school student being scolded by his mother, and then all of a sudden an image of old man jumps out at you. By taking a closer look I realized the symbolism laying with in this image. In the foreground of this image you see Harvey’s face with an explanation expression, and what appears to be a book, and pencil. Harvey wrote in this image in present tense an explanation for why he thinks the way he does, and did back in high school. The book in the image that he is writing could possibly symbolize this actual graphic novel, and he may be in the process of writing it in this image, sort of like a flashback. The book seems to be what is emphasized most in the foreground. I would argue that there isn’t much emphasized in the background, the stack of paper is evidently shaded, but it doesn’t seem to signify much. Another reason why I get the flashback feel with this image, or maybe a flash foward because Harvey is and older man, is because the frame itself isn’t actually framed with any lines like all the other images. The image instead just sort of appears on the page, which in my opinion, makes its stand out even more than if it was framed with dark lines.

            Another aspect of this image I found to be interesting was the lighting. Harvey’s face is shaded lightly, which I believe was done intentionally to show that Harvey is enlightening the reader in a way. He is sharing personal information, so he is in the light. The book in the image is also shaded lightly because it is important, compared to the coffee mug, and telephone, both of which don’t indicate any legitimate meaning. The last feature of the image that captures it in its entirety is the angle and distance of the shot. The angle is a medium close up shot, which, similar to a movie, is appropriate for when what the character is saying, and what is surrounding the character is important. Both of these elements were clearly trying to be captured in this image.