The cinematography and editing in film noir films was basic to say the least. For effect and concordance with the angular, minimalistic lighting, the camera angles and cinematography were equally as strange. Heirarchy and power struggles were shown through high and low angles. Characters who were deemed more powerful were shown at a low angle to appear bigger and intimidating and characters who were seen as inferior were shot at high angles for opposite effect. Dutch tilts and depth of focus are without question recognisable as extremely “Noir” techniques. These make the audience feel confused and are mainly used in point-of-view shots to help understand the characters and how they’re feeling.
In it’s day, continuity editing was just as important as it is today, definitely taken advantage of in Noirs and was the sequence editing of choice but it wasn’t the only type of editing they used. Jump cuts were very popular and were specific to the genre as there were typically more than one thing happening at one time, for example, car chases. Non-linear and discontinuity editing was also used, though not largely - these types of editing were uncomfortable to the eye so were used sparingly, but to give the mentioned effect.
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