RESEARCH: MINI CASE STUDY ON THE SCANDINAVIAN NOIR GENRE

I have independently decided to research and create a mini case study of the Scandinavian Noir genre as I think it would be appropriate inspiration for my own film trailer.

I believe that the Scandinavian Noir genre would be suitable inspiration for my film trailer. The use of dim lighting and naturalistic mise-en-scene would help us create emotional atmosphere throughout our own film trailer. Although some of the examples listed below are trailers for television dramas, I will be aiming to use aspects of their codes and conventions to create a cinematic trailer.

Scandinavian Noir, also known as Scandi Noir or Nordic Noir, is a genre consisting of crime fiction written in Scandinavia (Sweden, Norway and Denmark) with common characteristics or codes and conventions, that is typically portrayed in a realistic style with dark, morally and complex, cryptic and calculative mood.

Scandinavian Noir crime fiction television series' have been incredibly well received by the British public including by myself who has watched two BAFTA award winning Wallander series by Henning Mankell staring Kenneth Branagh , the film The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and its sequels by Stieg Larsson and The Bridge written and created by Hans Rosenfeldt when they were televised on the BBC. This influenced me to view the trailers and openings for popular Scandinavian Noir genre crime fiction series and take effective camera angles, mise-en-scene, lighting, camera shots and locations as inspiration in creating a sinister, 'underground', dark, mysterious and haunting atmosphere. Language (dialogue or wild sound), characters (heroes), settings (location/mise-en-scene) conveyed through effective camera angles, camera shots and dark, deep, emotive percussion music are three of the main commonalities in the Scandi Noir genre, which also features plain, white, bold subtitles for British viewers. The television series are often adapted from novels of the police procedural subgenre that largely focusses on the monotonous, every day work of police departments across the nation but not always focussing on a variety of crime investigations.

British Newspaper The Independent states, "Nordic crime fiction carries a more respectable cachet...than similar genre fiction produced in Britain or the US"; suggesting that the Scandinavian genre presents a classy, sophisticated, more respectable and prestigious value to it's British and American contemporaries.

HERE is a link to an article on Scandi Noir in The Independent.

Below is the trailer for Wallander on BBC One.

Below is the film opening (with credits) for Scandi Noir detective series The Bridge.





The opening for Scandi Noir police drama Beck features time lapses I could use in my film trailer - it can be found HERE.

Beck can be found on BBC iPlayer 

Below is the music video for Feeling Good by Swedish DJ Avicii. Although I can't use this exactly as inspiration due it being a different project and genre to my film trailer, however it is still advertising a product and successfully using codes and conventions of a Scandi Noir trailer and film/television series opening. The dim lighting creates a sinister, depressing-like feel creating an emotional yet majestic atmosphere. The vast, scenic, Scandinavian landscapes across fjords and coastal roads creates a sense of awe and spectacle.

The wide stretches of coast lines and majestic shots of vacant, eerie and mysteriously quiet cities such as Malmo in The Bridge has inspired me to buy a tripod for my Iphone to capture time lapses using a professional method.

Casey Neistat uses a tripod like this to capture his time lapses on his iPhone - this has inspired me to buy one of my own

From watching Casey Neistat's daily vlogs on YouTube (HERE is a link to his YouTube channel, HERE is a link to his Instagram account, HERE is a link to his Twitter page, HERE is a link to his Beme account)for about a year now, I have viewed his amazing time-lapses he captures on his travels. Casey Neistat is a popular YouTuber with over 1 million subscribers to his channel; he is a film maker and founder of the new social media platform Beme. He has also inspired me to start capturing time lapses in my free time and for my film trailer.

Below is an example of one of Casey Neistat's daily vlogs on YouTube - stop at 4:07-4:15 to catch a time lapse of New York Cities Hudson River Harbour. This can be used as inspiration for my film trailer.

Below is another example of one of Casey Neistat's daily vlogs on YouTube - he plays the time lapses he has captured (normally on the same day as he films his vlog) at the beginning of each vlog with his name, date and number of vlog he has created.

Below is an example of a film trailer for The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo - this is a film of the Scandi Noir genre and has aspects of mise-en-scene, effective dark lighting, low camera angles and a variety of camera shots that could be useful in our film trailer in conveying a dark, sinister, 'underground' feel and atmosphere.