Discuss the difference between Film noir and L.A noir reference to ‘The Third Man’ and ‘L.A Confidential’

Film noir are films from the late 1940’s, which are based in black and white. The black and white themes of the film are to bring out more of its features to the audience as you can see a lot more with the contrast of black and white lighting. Film noir in this era is associated with a low key black and white visual style. The majority of the films in this genre are about murder, crime, betrayal or mystery which tends to make these films have more suspense and makes the film more ominous. The film noir genre was just made after the Second World War which is the main cause for why most of all these films are set in a depressing manner.
One particular common film of this genre noir film is ‘The Third Man’. This is because the film has most of the characteristics of a general film noir movie, in the way where the film is set, the voice over and the light on dark lighting. ‘The Third Man’ is set in Vienna, scenes are shown at the start of the film which makes the city seem very dark, gothic and mysterious, the way they do this is by showing images of old churches and the way that the dark city seems to contrast with the light sky. The voice over at the start of the film is in a conflicting language which may indicate isolation. The narrator seems to lower his when talking about the darker things which happen around Vienna as well, like the black market. Also when this is happening there seems to be a contrast with the music as it is cheerful and jolly music playing. In ‘The Third Man’ the lighting is very low key, where the key light is around the corner from a very distant shot. The film is very black on white.
Another style of these films is L.A Noir Films. These are practically the same types of films with the same characteristics, but in some way different as well.
The majority of L.A noir films are set in colour unlike the film noir style. L.A noir films are set in the heart of Los Angeles. This could seem odd to the audience as the film noir genre is seen as depressing and dark whereas Los Angeles is associated with sunny beaches and happiness. In these films the audience gets to see more of the darker underside of Los Angeles with the themes of crime and deception like corrupt policemen and as well as the contrasts of the jazz music and the lighting that is used in the opening on the films. The lighting that is used in this style is to create moral ambiguity.
A film in the style of L.A noir is ‘L.A Confidential’. This is about corrupt policemen and Hollywood ‘sleaze’. This style of corrupt policemen is there to confuse the audience as the police are seen as universally good. The film also creates enigma in the opening scene with the good cop/bad cop and with the distinctive looks and voices of the characters.
The film L.A confidential does have some noir conventions such as the styled clothing, flawed heroes, corruption, and femme fatales. The femme fatales in this style of noir are very similar to the film noir style with the femme fatales being seductive and with the ability to hypnotize the male heroes or victim.
The styled clothing is also very similar in the way that both the female and male characters dress. The women tend to dress in something which seems to seduce the male in some way. The males in both of the styles of noir films dress usually quite smart as they are usually policemen or detectives, which tends to be suits or an overcoat of somekind.
A lot about the film noir and L.A noir styles are very similar but also different in many ways as well. Film noir focuses on the more depressed side and darker side of the film noir genre whilst L.A noir is set in a depressing manner but also at the same time the audience gets a happy and jolly sense possibly as the setting is not as dark and dreary as it is in ‘The Third man’. There are also small differences like the style and genre of music used and the contrast of picture with music.