The first official assignment at Yrgo was to create a simple scene – imagined like a showroom for a festival – based on a film genre. I chose film noir as I wanted to challenge myself with a genre I didn’t know much about. And indeed it would prove to be perplexing.

In order to get a feel for what film noir means, I wanted to indulge in genre classics. It quickly became clear that the genre definition is somewhat ambiguous. Film noir was coming to light in a time of heavy censorship, regarding what was regarded immoral behavior, seen in much of 1930’s cinema. As a result of this, much of the films produced from the mid-1940’s to the late 50’s took a significantly darker path. It took much of its inspiration from early 1900-century thriller novels, featuring both the anti-hero and the femme fatale.

My scene features the dark, gloomy office of Cooper & Rhodes, Private detectives, intended to capture a feeling of indifferent yet elegant disenchantment. While trying to maintain a vintage decor I also included modern Scandinavian furniture marking my own interpretation of the space.