Neo-noir (English: New-black; from the Greek neo, new; and the French noir, black) is a style often seen in modern motion pictures and other forms that prominently utilize elements of film noir, but with updated themes, content, style, visual elements or media that were absent in films noir of the 1940s and 1950s.

History[link]

The term film noir (French for "black film") was coined by critic Nino Frank in 1946, but was rarely used by film makers, critics or fans until several decades later. The classic era of film noir is usually dated to a period between the early 1940s and the late 1950s. Typically American crime dramas or psychological thrillers, films noir^[a] had a number of common themes and plot devices, and many distinctive visual elements. Characters were often conflicted antiheroes, trapped in a difficult situation and making choices out of desperation or nihilistic moral systems. Visual elements included low-key lighting, striking use of light and shadow, and unusual camera placement.

Although there have been few new major films in the classic film noir genre since the early 1960s, it has nonetheless had significant impact on other genres. These films usually incorporate both thematic and visual elements reminiscent of film noir. Both classic and neo-noir films are often independent features.

It was not until after 1970 that film critics began to consider "neo-noir" as a separate genre by its own definition. However, noir and post-noir terminology (such as "neo-classic", "hard-boiled”, etc.) in modern application are often disclaimed by both critics and practitioners alike due to the obscurity of such an unrefined genre. For example, James M. Cain, author of The Postman Always Rings Twice and Double Indemnity, is considered to be one of the defining authors of hard-boiled fiction. Yet, Cain is quoted as saying, "I belong to no school, hard-boiled or otherwise, and I believe these so-called schools exist mainly in the imagination of critics, and have little correspondence in reality anywhere else."^[1]

Unlike classic noirs, neo-noir films are aware of modern circumstances and technology—details that were typically absent or unimportant to the plot of classic film noir. In the films of the early 1940s and '50s, audiences are led to understand and build a relationship with the protagonist or anti-hero. Neo-noir films of post-1970 often reverse this role. Unconventional camera movements and plot progression remind them that they are merely watching the film and not partaking in the story.

Modern themes employed in neo-noir films include identity crises, memory issues and subjectivity, and—most importantly—technological problems and their social ramifications. Because these fundamental elements are as ambiguous in practice as their definitions, film theorists^[who?] argue that the term "neo-noir" can be applied to other works of fiction that similarly incorporate such motifs. Robert Arnett states that "Neo-noir has become so amorphous as a genre/movement, any film featuring a detective or crime qualifies."^[2] It is because of this genre's ambivalence that neo-noir is still shaped and interpreted so malleably today.

Others^[who?] have noted that films like After Dark, My Sweet and Hard Eight are neo-noirs that seamlessly combine the noir genre with elements of the Western genre in terms of setting and themes.

See also[link]

• Cyberpunk
• List of film noir titles

Notes[link]

References[link]

Bibliography[link]

• Arnett, Robert (Fall 2006). "Eighties Noir: The Dissenting Voice in Reagan's America". Journal of Popular Film and Television 34 (3): 123–129. 
• Conrad, Mark T. (2007). The Philosophy of Neo-noir. Lexington, Ky.: The University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 0-8131-2422-0.  The Philosophy of Neo-noir at Google Books.
• Hirsch, Foster (1999). Detours and Lost Highways: A Map of Neo-Noir. New York: Proscenium Publishers. ISBN 0-87910-288-8.  Detours and Lost Highways: A Map of Neo-Noir at Google Books.
• Martin, Richard (1997). Mean Streets and Raging Bulls: The Legacy of Film Noir in Contemporary American Cinema. Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press. ISBN 0-8108-3337-9. 
• Snee, Brian J. (July 2009). "Soft-boiled Cinema: Joel and Ethan Coens' Neo-classical Neo-noirs". Literature/Film Quarterly 37 (3). http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Soft-boiled+cinema%3a+Joel+and+Ethan+Coens'+neo-classical+neo-noirs.-a0204565670. 

Notes[link]

External links[link]

• An Introduction to Neo-Noir at Crime Culture by author Lee Horsley
• Neo-Noir Grosses at Box Office Mojo

Vidna Obmana (stylized vidnaObmana on many album covers) is a pseudonym used by Belgian composer and ambient musician Dirk Serries. The name Vidna Obmana, a phrase in Serbian, literally translates to "optical illusion" and was chosen by Serries because he felt it accurately described the music.^[1] Serries created music under the Vidna Obmana pseudonym from 1984 until 2007, when he official retired the name.^[2] Most of his current work is released under the Fear Falls Burning pseudonym.^[3]

Vidna Obmana has collaborated on several occasions with artists such as Asmus Tietchens, Brannan Lane, Capriolo Trifoglio, Diego Borotti, and Steve Roach. Some of these collaborations have become entire projects of their own, such as Continuum (collaboration with Bass Communion) and Principle of Silence (collaboration with Joris De Backer).

Vidna Obmana is often cited as one of the more notable dark ambient musicians.^[4][5]

Discography[link]

Solo albums[link]

• The Ultimated Sign of Burning Death (1985) Therapie Organisatie
• Experience Artaud - Soundtrack for Experimental Theatre (1988), Mechanical Orchestration Music
• Deathchamber - Trancedreamed (1988) Mechanical Orchestration Music
• Gathering in frozen beauty (1989), The Decade Collection
• Near the flogging landscape (1990), VioletGlassOracle Tapes
• Refined on gentle clouds (1991), Direct Music
• Passage in Beauty (1991), Projekt
• Shadowing in Sorrow (1991), Projekt
• Ending Mirage (1992), Projekt
• Echoing Delight (1993)
• Revealed by composed nature (1994), Hic Sunt Leones
• The Spiritual Bonding (1994) Extreme
• The Transcending Quest (1995), Amplexus
• The River of Appearance (1996), Projekt
• Twilight of Perception (1997), Projekt
• Crossing the Trail (1997), Projekt
• Landscape in obscurity (1998), Hypnos - with Capriolo Trifoglio and Diego Borotti
• The Surreal Sanctuary (2000), Hypnos
• The Contemporary Nocturne (2000), Hypnos
• Subterranean Collective (2001), Project
• Soundtrack for the Aquarium (2001), Hypnos
• Tremor (2001), Relapse/Release
• Isolation Trip/Path of Distortion (2002), Klanggalerie (7" LP)
• Spore (2003), Relapse
• Legacy (2004), Relapse

[edit] Opera for Four Fusion Works Series

• An Opera for Four Fusion Works
  • Act One: Echoes of Steel with Dreams in Exile (2002), Hypnos
  • Act Two: Phrasing the Air with Bill Fox (2004), Hypnos
  • Act Three: Reflection on Scale with Kenneth Kirchner (2006), Hypnos
  • Act 4 (2007), Hypnos

Collaborations[link]

[edit] With Bass Communion

• Continuum I (2005), Soleilmoon
• the continuum recyclings, volume one (2006), Tonefloat (2LP)
• Continuum II (2007), Soleilmoon

[edit] With Big City Orchestra

• Vidna Obmana & Big City Orchestra (1989), Mechanical Orchestration Music

[edit] With Serge Devadder

• The Shape of Solitude (1999), Multimood

[edit] With Alio Die

• Echo Passage (1999), Musica Maxima Magnetica; Prokekt Records (USA)

[edit] With Brannan Lane

• Deep Unknown (2002), Ambient Circle

[edit] With Dreams in Exile

• 2-disc re-release of The River of Appearance (1996) with accompanying re-conceptualization of the album by Dreams in Exile

[edit] With Klinik

• Gluttony (2005), Hands
• Greed (2006), Hands

[edit] With Jan Marmenout

• Spirits (1999), High Gate Music

[edit] With David Lee Myers

• Tracers (2003), Klanggalerie

[edit] With Neurotic Youth

• Bleeding Wounds / Only Fear Will Survive (1986), Ladd-Frith

[edit] With PBK

• Monument of Empty Colours (1988), The Decade Collection
• Compositions : Depression & Ideal" (1989), Freedom in a Vacuum/PBK Recordings
• Fragment 3 (1991), N D

[edit] With Jeff Pearce

• True Stories (1999), Mirage

[edit] With Steve Roach

• Well of Souls (1995), Projekt – 2 discs
• Cavern of Sirens (1997), Projekt
• Ascension of Shadows (1998), Projekt (limited edition 3-disc set included Somewhere Else, re-released 2005)
• Live Archive (2000), Groove Unlimited
• Circles & Artifacts (2000), Contemptary Harmonic
• InnerZone (2002), Projekt
• Spirit Dome (2004), Projekt
• Somewhere Else (2005), Project

[edit] With Sam Rosenthal

• Terrace of Memories (1992), Projekt

[edit] With Djen Ajakan Shean

• Parallel Flaming (1994), Multimood
• Still Fragments (1994), ND

[edit] With Willem Tanke

• Variations for Organ, Keyboard and Processors (1999), Multimood

[edit] With Asmus Tietchens

• The Shift Recyclings (2002), Soleilmoon
• Motives for Recycling (Linear Writings, Nachtstücke Revisited) (1999), Soleilmoon
• Untitled Collaboration (1995), Syrenia

Other collaborations[link]

• Zero Point (2001), The Foundry - by Seofon with Thermal, Stephen Kent, Robert Rich, Steve Roach, Not Breathing
• Music for Exhibiting Water with Contents – Soundtrack for the Aquarium (1992) Antwerp ZOO - Split with Hybrids
• A Thunder Orchestra / Vidna Obmana (1986), Ladd-Frith - Split release with A Thunder Orchestra

Anthologies[link]

• Noise/Drone Anthology 1984-1989 (2005), Ikon/Projekt
• Anthology 1984 - 2004 (2004), Ikon/Projekt
• Memories Compiled 2 (Near the flogging landscape, Refined on gentle clouds) (1999), Projekt: Archive
• The Trilogy (1995), Projekt: Archive - Compilation of Passage in beauty, Shadowing in sorrow and Ending Mirage
• Memories Compiled 1 (Monument of Empty Colours, Gathering in frozen beauty) (1994), Projekt: Archive - with PBK

References[link]

External links[link]

• Vidna Obmana at VidnaObmana.be (official website)
• Vidna Obmana at MySpace
• Vidna Obmana at Allmusic
• Vidna Obmana discography at Discogs
• Vidna Obmana at Piero Scaruffi