Hot like Mexico...

Michael Kera

Well I want to start off by saying I am going to include pictures because it is easier to see what I am talking about. Also there are three paragraphs, but to make it look nicer, the pictures are going to be at the beginning of the sentence. Did anyone else notice that the opening scene was all one take until the explosion? It was about three and half minutes.



The placement of the lights helped to develop the characters and set the mood.
In Tanya’s case (Hank’s friend) I would guess her key light is positioned about 80* from where she is looking and it is raised above her head pointing down. This effect can be seen on her face because it emphasizes her check bone giving her face a more puckered look. This is important to me because everyone else in the movie had a more round face, but hers was defined. The shadow falloff on her neck is very defined so I would guess it is very bright and at distance away from her. She probably also has a softer defused fill light almost right in front of her. You can tell were the lights are because of her eye light or catchlight as the book calls it. All of these elements work in her favor because it gives her almost a mystical look and later we find out she does read tarot. This is an interesting shot because usually women are lit with soft light, but to emphasize her face, she needs a hard light, most likely diffused slightly.
There is a light near the floor pointing up because the shadows are going up Hank’s coat which causes his face to be completely hidden. This effect also adds dark circles under the middle guy’s eyes making him look more frightened. Even in the background of that scene it’s brighter towards the bottom of the wall than the top.
Pancho’s face is half hidden when he tells Susie that the phones are down; which makes him look sinister. Even the way he leans towards the camera with the phone in his hand. This lighting situation could reveal his alternate “evil” intentions of framing her. The light is place camera right, probably located some where between 78-89* of the camera. If it was exactly 90* we wouldn’t be able to see the right side of the actor’s face, but we can see the bottom eyelid.



I don’t watch many Film Noirs but I love how the shadows look.
In the motel scene where Susie is kidnapped the light on her is soft and almost portraying her as an angel. Then as the people move in closer a shadow crosses over her face and you see her look of terror, like shadow demons have come to take her away.

In the very beginning when we see the bomber run off screen his shadow is seen darting across a wall. This evokes a sense of mystery because we don’t know who it is yet.

Then as the men are going into the “stripper” building we see the nervous man’s shadow run over Vargas’s body. Along with mystery I feel it gives the scene a sense of danger, because the shadow is luring Vargas into a trap.



Now shadows do show action and cameras capture action and shadows. Now I am not for sure that this shadow is the camera but the same shadow occurs twice at different times in the movie.

(Sequentially)
The shadow moves up Hank’s body and turns into a square, possibly being the body of the camera.

The scene where Susie talks with Grandi and Poncho at one point Grandi turns around to talk with Susie, but we don’t see her because she is off screen and it looks like he’s talking to air, but we can see her reflection in the mirror and I thought that was very cool.
Speaking of reflections I also liked the shot where the man is looking out the window and we see Grandi and Hank’s reflection in the window.