Why “Noir?”
We get that question often—why the name “Noir?” Mostly out of curiosity and fascination over the mystique that the word itself invokes. The truth is the word noir means everything to us and nothing, simply put, nothing could better embody the very soul of who we are creatively. Anyway, before we get all “film theory-Sidney Lumet” on you, let’s attempt to define the true meaning of word itself and go from there.
Noir: French translation adj. black, dark; murky; raven also see Film Noir.
Black:
1. Being of the color black, producing or reflecting comparatively little light and having no predominant hue.
- The achromatic color value of minimum lightness or maximum darkness; the color of objects that absorb nearly all light of all visible wavelengths; one extreme of the neutral gray series, the opposite being white. Although strictly a response to zero stimulation of the retina, the perception of black appears to depend on contrast with surrounding color stimuli.
-A pigment or dye having this color value.(Fine Arts & Visual Arts / Colors) of the color of jet or carbon black, having no hue due to the absorption of all or nearly all incident light
-without light; completely dark, Black is the color of objects that do not emit or reflect light in any part of the visible spectrum; they absorb all such frequencies of light. Although black is sometimes described as an "achromatic", or hueless, color, in practice it can be considered a color, as in expressions like "black cat" or "black paint".
Film Noir: a type of crime film featuring cynical malevolent characters in a sleazy setting and an ominous atmosphere that is conveyed by shadowy photography and foreboding background music; also: a film of this type.
*The 1940s and 1950s are generally regarded as the "classic period" of American film noir (WWII era).
To sum up, the word Noir literally means black and is also is used mostly in reference to a genre of filmmaking associated with the WWII era (1940s-1950). Let’s start with black. In science black is the absence of light. For example, a black hole actually swallows the visible spectrum and appears black, hence black hole. Applying this to the digital world, black is simply a pixel that is turned off or not emitting enough light for us to see, negative space if you will. So black is nothing. By acknowledging this scientific truth, one can logically posit that black also encompasses everything we see.
In the world of pigment, and art, black is often thought of as the absence of color, yet in truth it is so much more. Black is actually all colors being absorbed in the spectrum at once and white is the reflection of such. So, in reality, the color black is open and vast, letting in all of the colors of the spectrum. It is only our naked eye and the science of light that fools us into believing that black is nothing when, in fact, it is the most open of all colors.
For example, if you see blue, it is the reflection of only the color blue out of the entire spectrum that you actually see. The fact is that the pigment you’re using actually won’t accept blue and that’s why you see it. That is why black means so much more to us than its common understanding. To us black is the most accepting, open and neutral, of all colors. It embodies a clean slate, and open mind and a will to learn. It is the literal presence of everything, which opens a door of limitless possibility.
The spirit of the color black, as we see it, inspires us to do great things and to accept all things equally. This will allow a creator to truly bridge gaps and become open to ideas on every creative level. The melding of culture, art, craft and technology into coherent thought and purpose is our passion. It is no accident that this is directly related to our second major reason for choosing Noir as our name. Film Noir and the era itself are closely related to The Art Deco movement, which started in the 1920’s. This profound culture altering movement lasted for almost three decades and is still present in our culture today. Deco is also often showcased in the film Noir style. Art deco objects are very often black or use light and shadow, thus that art form also embodies the spirit of black.
Let’s stop here and talk about Art Deco in our next post; we have a small black statue of a falcon to locate. It’s around here somewhere…
