The lighting, the outfit, the brick work; all say classic film noir to me, so you've done a great job on the scene! The next questions is (which for film noir I believe to be the most important one); is the story/emotion there?
For me it is to a point. The way the shadows fall on the protagonist really add to the atmosphere as does his stance, and the space left in the lighting for a second figure to emerge (as suggested by the title) is a great touch too. I'm left wondering what the purpose of this meeting is, where in the story our protagonist is etc.
My criticism with this scene, which may seem minor but I believe affects the image a lot, would have to be that I find the white static on the ground (which I guess is grass) very distracting and a more even/darker tone such as asphalt I feel would lend itself much better to the scene.
The white flecks in the brickwork I also find distracting, and perhaps a softer focus would have minimised those (which being film noir I don't believe would negatively affect the image in any way) - in fact I believe a softer focus may enhance this picture slightly, allowing the foliage to blend in more with the rest of the scene and leaving the scene slightly more open to interpretation by the viewer, which imo is a great way of increasing the atmosphere (just looking through the images I've rated along side this one, most others are in softer focus than this).
Anyway, I gave this a 7, it meets the criteria well and is a good image regardless. Hope other voters are enjoying it as much as I am, and of course what I've criticised in this scene may be something another voter likes about it =). |