The conventions of L.A. Noir

L.A. noir is almost a sub genre of a sub genre; L.A. noir is very similar to film noir but has its own style and conventions. L.A. noir is generally filmed in colour with use of monochrome in certain scenes. There are heavy elements of crime, deception, adultery and smoking.
L.A. noir is set in L.A. which is a very sunny state of America, the lighting throughout L.A. noir films is. The strong and bright lighting adds a very eerie effect to the films, the bright sunny lighting contrasts with the dark themes such as crime and adultery. The lighting is ironic as the images are of crime and evil and the lighting is bright and colourful.

L.A. Noir features the same style of characters and the same generic conventions of film noir. The main difference is the way the film is shot using bright lighting however dark and gloomy monochrome shots are also used just the same as film noir however the dark shots are often used as flash backs and to reveal a time period to the audience. The bright sunny shots are very contradicting of the dark and evil plot lines. The mise en scene is very dark and the strongest link to the original film noir style.

L.A noir is commonly shot in American Los Angeles because of the weather conditions. The sunny weather provides a strong contrast with the dark night scenes and the bright sunshine can be linked with money or success, as many of these films are based around gang activity or crime, the sunshine provides a connotation of success .whereas The darkness or evil is commonly shown in night scenes as it provides the perfect tone for sinister activity or the dark connotations of the director.

The sound tracks and the narrative structure is very similar to the film noir style of non diegetic and non diegetic sound. The sound tracks are also very similar, older style music is sampled over the image to create a tone or effect however as in film noir the music is often used to establish a disagreement of moods or tones.