1. a style or genre of cinematographic film marked by a mood of pessimism, fatalism, and menace. The term was originally applied (by a group of French critics) to American thriller or detective films made in the period 1944–54 and to the work of directors such as Orson Welles, Fritz Lang, and Billy Wilder.

   • a film marked by a mood of pessimism, fatalism, and menace.

     plural noun: films noirs
      

   http://www.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/news-bfi/features/infographic-what-makes-film-noir [accessed 07.04.18]

according to this article, to make a good Film Noir image, it should contain:

• assymetrical, imbalanced
• Deep focus, give background equal importance
• High contrast, no fill light, long shadows
• use reflections to increase sense of drama and unreality
• ‘Choker’ close-up to heighten intensity
• wide angle focal length
• dutch tilt, strong diagonal bands (cased by prison bars, staircasses, blinds)
• obscured vision (cigarette smoke, rain, fog, protagonist being drugged or knocked out)

google image search for ‘film noir’

http://www.darkmansdarkroom.com/film-noir-lighting-with-lighting-diagrams/ [accessed 07.04.2018]

In Darkman’s blog, gives examples of lighting setups and says :

The lighting is sometimes either stark dark or light contrasts as are the dramatic shadowing effects known also as the chiaroscuro style. Chiaroscuro is a style of light and dark paterning that came from Renaissance painting. One typical cliche and always notable scene type is the shadows of venetian blinds on the wall or across the face of the characters in the movie or photo.

I very much like this genre and shows what can be done with little lighting.  However, I would like to think about how to use this genre in a modern contemporary setting rather than just recreate images like those above.