ORPHAN BLACK: Orphan Black’s homage to both the traditional and contemporary facets of the film noir genre doesn’t stop at the presence of train station junctions and cynical anti-heroines in hats. In addition to trends in story, character, and setting, the series presents a wealth of stylistic cinematic clues that impart an important visual identification with the genre. You simply can’t have film noir without labyrinthine urban settings, chiaroscuro lighting, or the occasional Dutch angle, and Orphan Black has plenty to spare.

Film noir literally means "black film," and any film that falls under this umbrella must be partially defined by exactly this feature: light and darkness playing cat and mouse to create shadows both literal and figurative. And Orphan Black is, indeed, a kind of black film. The mysterious Mrs. S explains the series' title thusly: "children in the black." And so they are. Children hiding in the shadows, who endeavor to remain untouched by the oppressive world around them. But, as in most noir stories, the shadows are rarely safe. 

The night is dark...and full of terrors.

Inspired by the distorted, grim aesthetic of German expressionist styles, film noir can be immediately identified by its dramatic use of light and shadow to communicate aspects of personality, and to create a distinct portrait of a world that is full of deceptions and insecurities. To properly pay homage to a genre where intensity/style of light and shadow reflect the sinister qualities of the narrative and generate a psychological feeling of suspense in the viewer, Orphan Black's lighting is key.

As in Welles' chiaroscuro rife Citizen Kane, sweeping shafts of soft, angled light create an eerie mood of foreboding and suspense

In Orphan Black's take on light, darkness is not absolute, nor should it be. In a series where protagonists and antagonists alike exist in limbos of half illuminated truths, the lighting must always reflect these partially visible deceptions and slow, creeping personal revelations.

The Angry Angel, for instance, often manages to find herself in a quasi-divine glow, perpetually walking “toward the light.”


Flashlight beams often cut through various darknesses, temporarily exposing only the barest semblance of truth.


A femme fatale archetype stands in a doorway, appropriately backlit, as sinister as she is elegant.


And our protagonist is often “side-lighted to enhance the profile from one side, thus pointing to the moral ambiguity of this main character who is neither a knight in shining armor nor completely bad.” (source).


As the light paints the atmospheric tone to a complex world set vaguely in the present—or perhaps the precursor to a not-so-far off future—the set design must further fill in thematic blanks. In keeping with certain neo-noir “color picture” adaptations and conventions, the cinematic language that illustrates Orphan Black's Generica is equal parts upbeat and neo-gothic—somewhere between the colorful clarity of Kiss Kiss Bang Bang's breezy dark comedy and Gattaca's bleak, minimal, futuristic aesthetic. The seedy, graffiti covered streets of Felix's urban stomping grounds could be a back alley entrance to Roman Polanski's Chinatown. The often neon-lit night exteriors, and the sudden stark, antiseptic minimalism of higher-end locations such as Beth's apartment or Rachel's glass tower evoke the semi-persistent rain, neon, and quasi-futuristic design of Ridley Scott's Blade Runner.

Rachael and Rachel. Coincidence? Doubtful. Androids do dream of electric sheep.

Other potential references to Ridley's iconic sci-fi neo-noir epic also include Blade Runner's Chinatown...


Paid homage to with Orphan Black's own rendition on Chinatown, and nods to hard-boiled noir's seedy, neon lit aesthetic.


In addition to neon lights, alleys, and mirrors—staples of noir and psychological thrillers—other set implements jump out of Orphan Black's narrative as obvious shout outs to its reference material.

Exhibit A:


This spiral design in Paul's Trexcom Consulting office may be reminiscent of antiseptic Gattaca...

A double helix if we've ever seen one.

...which itself hearkens back to the iconic eye/spiral imagery of Hitchcock's mind-bending psychological noir thriller, Vertigo, in a full circle of thematic noir imagery.



Exhibit B:

The slatted Venetian Blinds lighting effect common in film noir and paid homage to in contemporary noir...

Left: Blade Runner. Right: Chinatown.

...is likewise regularly alluded to in the fairly window-rife Orphan Black.


It can also be noted that the more motivationally, ethically questionable characters in the series receive the most distinctly thematic noir treatment. Detectives Bell and DeAngelis are increasingly given a visual Good Cop Bad Cop hierarchical treatment as the mystery unfolds from their perspective. Monitor Paul is mysterious, perpetually lurking and vague. Olivier's labyrinthine underground lair is exactly Psycho style creepy, full of allegorically all-seeing eyes as incarnated by the surveillance monitors, and decorated with taxidermied monstrosities which are both representative of Olivier's body modification, as well as a callback to the possible transgenic elements affecting the clones' biology.

Say what you like about Norman Bates' hobbies, but at least he didn't splice a tail onto his bum.

Although the series tends toward organic foreshadowing and allegory rather than outright symbolism, Orphan Black doesn't forego seeding symbolic cinematic cues into the environments surrounding the characters. Symbol, after all, is a staple of film noir. Orphan Black's signs are in its shots and, as in most noir, those shots communicate valuable subtext. As in classic noir, the camera is descriptive and vocal, utilizing dramatic angles, framing and editing techniques that are to one extreme or another, or artificial visual distortions which work as dramatic visual cues to the viewer of a shift in perspective.


Sarah's initial scenes with Beth's therapist are a great example of this cinematic tactic. Note the dramatic shift in camerawork and editing between these Episode 1 and Episode 2 scenes. A freshly minted “Beth” has no idea what she's gotten herself into, as illustrated by disjointed editing and visual distortions. By the second episode, however, Sarah is a bit more caught up with Beth's life, and is reinvigorated by urgent purpose (getting “Beth” reinstated; getting “her” money back from Art), and is able to communicate with pointed clarity.

Elsewhere, Cosima's sequences are calmly photographed, even in her times of distress, to signify her rationalism and analytical mind. Subversive, dubious characters like Tomas or Leekie are constantly filmed at distorted, extremely close, or Dutch angles, imparting the unease of any character experiencing them upon the viewer. Like some post-Bodega Bay fiasco Melanie Daniels, Alison sits and stands stiffly, but with grace, and is photographed in an equally conservative way – the camera typically putting her center frame in accordance, perhaps, with her slightly OCD sensibilities. Erratic and mentally unstable Helena is constantly heralded by jiggering camerawork and an appropriately discordant soundtrack, Cape Fear style. 

Cape Fear also, perhaps, provides some compositional inspiration for Season 1's primary antagonist.

Ultimately, Sarah Manning is our guide on this wheeling adventure, and the camera is ostensibly hitched to her like a handgun throughout the picaresque Season 1 journey. Reminiscent of our view of Cary Grant's mistaken identity dash in North By Northwest, we are perpetually on the move with Sarah through rooms and halls, in and out of cars, up and down dark, labyrinthine corridors, steeling ourselves for the next unwelcome twist in the story unfolding around her.


The net effect of all these stylistic callouts to the noir genre supports Orphan Black's paranoid, conspiratorial noir narrative, which emphasizes a world saturated with dubious alliances, allegories for widespread corruption, and anti-heroic characters haunted by fate. On Orphan Black, the children in the dark must still contend with the more sinister powers that lurk in that same darkness, challenging their individuality and spirit. In tackling issues such as cloning and nature versus nurture through a noir-flavored lens, Orphan Black’s narrative does what it was designed to do: compel us to ask questions about who we are and what kind of a world we might really live in. It is, as it always has been, an exciting and provoking method of communicating deeper concepts—cloaked in shadows and thrills.

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Written by: Hafsah
Hafsah is a medium-mannered graphic designer, writer, film buff, and raging root beer enthusiast, in no particular order.
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