Blog Post # 2 - February 12th, 2011

 After recently watching Jacques Tourneur's 1947 classic Out of the Past, I noticed many instances of Nondiegetic and diegetic sound throughout the film. An example of great nondiegetic sound is found early in the film at 4:49 mark into the film. The kid goes out to where Jeff is fishing and spending time with Ann. The background music plays a quite pleasant and harmonious music and tone to the scene to help add romance and beauty to the situation at hand where Jeff and Ann talk about their possible future together and how great things are going. All of the sudden at 6:22 in the middle of the conversation, the music's tone and sound change to a darker, more tense, and mysterious tone once Ann begins to speak about his past and what a mystery he is and when The kid signs to Jeff that a man wants to see him. The still below is right around the 6:22 mark and is the turning point in the scene from happy and pleasant to dark and mysterious that the nondiegetic background music helps to better the narrative. Another example is at the end of the film where the viewer finds that Jeff Bailey/Markham has been killed. At 1:34:06, the music starts low and mysterious while the officers move in on the car to check if the people in the vehicle are alive. The music stays consistent until 1:34:26 when the music comes in loud and hard as the officers opens the door to reveal that our protagonist, Jeff, has been killed. The music in both instances cannot come from that world as no radio or orchestra is out there playing for the characters in their world so since it is not from that world and used as a plot device to him enhance the story, it is nondiegetic.

At 15:00 we see a scene begin with diegetic sounds. The scene begins with a trumpeter playing the intro to a song at a club when the camera pans left to show many people dancing at a club. The music continues during Jeff's time there while he is asking Eunice Leonard about Kathie Moffat's whereabouts. Once his questioning is done at 16:33 the scene cross dissolves with another while the music fades. Another example of diegetic sound is seen in the one of the scenes following the aforementioned scene when Jeff enters Pablo's at 20:08 when a violin begins playing and as Jeff is sitting at the bar the violinist can be seen playing to a couple at their table and as the camera pans left and dissolves to show time has passed the violin has stopped and a piano can now be heard and once Jeff acknowledges it is the second time he went there to wait for Kathie the camera pans left to follow Kathie to her seat where the pianist is playing and as she sits the pianist can be seen playing and seen stopping once the piano has stopped. Once she settles herself a second or two later, both the violinist and pianist begin to play a song together at Pablo's while Jeff comes to Kathie's table and begins to speak with her and 22:14 when the conversation at Pablo's has ended, the music too has ended. Both of those examples of music are diegetic because they are not only playing while the characters are at that same setting and end when they leave but in this case in both instances, the actual musicians are shown in frame playing the song that is being hear and are creating music in the diegesis itself.

An example of a familiar image in the film are one of the first and last shots of the film involving the sign that states Jeff Bailey on the gasoline station Jeff is running. At about 1:30, as Joe pulls up after the opening credits a shot shows Joe looking at the sign that says Jeff Bailey on it. He then proceeds to admit minutes later at 4:35 that he was driving through one day and noticed his name on the sign. At the end of the film, The kid is shown looking at and reading Jeff Bailey on the sign at the gasoline station at 1:35:56 and signs to it with a smile and walks away as the film ends. I believe Tourneur crafted these shots to resemble each other for a few reasons. I believe it shows that an inanimate object can be used for many different things as Joe views the sign and finds his man while The kid views the sign and signals a goodbye as if he were saying goodbye to Jeff himself. I also believe it was an effective way to start and end the film as the first two characters shown in the film look at the sign. Joe sees it and it becomes the inciting moment of the film as he has found Jeff and The kid views it as a goodbye to Jeff by looking at the sign. Both the story and the plot use the sign to start and end the film.

This classic film noir does indeed show some great elements of film noir while it does have some parts that do not fit that billing. First off, the protagonist is a picture perfect example of film noir as Jeff is a detective who works between the law and crime and indeed is a bit of an outsider. Jeff is indeed an antihero as he does not always error to the side of the law. Another example, is the cinematography of the film as it uses contrast to create shadows as shown in the photo below. Many of the exterior shots are at night and in urban areas. The contrast of light and dark is classic cinematography in film noir as the name is French for "black film".

The plot structure is complex and the plot is not very predictable with many twists and turns that change characters plans throughout the film. Narration from the protagonist is also common in film noir especially when in reference to flashbacks like the one in this film. The setting does at times fit into film noir and at times it does not as many film noirs settings are in urban areas of big cities and while they are for a time in San Francisco, they spend much of the time in the film in lesser places like Lake Tahoe, Bridgeport, and Aculpoco. The theme of the film matches the way film noir theme is described in the textbook as, "the themes are fatalistic, the tone cynical." Out of the Past's theme is fatalistic for sure and the tone set by the protagonist is cynical. Lastly, Kathie is also a great example of a femme-fatale as she was quite seductive of Jeff and very deceptive to mostly all of the people she encounters within the film. She is quite violent as she kills two men in the film and continues to work both sides and confuses many to what her actual intentions are but she is smarter than Jeff and seems to be ahead of him in many ways throughout the film.