French New Wave: Changing Film Style

1. Self reflexive https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPXV_Tm6iIw Vivre sa vie https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2n_r_5RXobM • Goodfellas • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJEEVtqXdK8 • -like a record needle skipping • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHweRWh5qcs (20 min in) • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONMSe_zhq70 • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1yUwWG5ikE (1:14 mark)

2. The French New Wave

3. A film movement is: 1) films produced within a particular period and/or nation and that share significant traits of narrative and style 2) filmmakers who operate within a common production structure and who share certain assumptions about filmmaking -sometimes these filmmakers even get together and write a manifesto -but a film movement does not need to be that organized

4. Change and Developments in Film Style after WWII • Awareness of film history • Technical Innovations • Filmmakers started using a more fragmented, discontinuous editing style than CHC • Narrative changes • Films become self reflexive

5. Cinephile: lover of cinema

6. “Brechtian” -developed by Bertolt Brecht in the 1920's and 30's. -distances the audience from the text (rather than getting caught up in the plot/emotions) and forces them to question the social realities of the situations being presented in the play.  -forces viewer to be self reflexive (i.e., thinking of self) while reading/viewing the text

7. Technical Innovations • development of new portable, easier to use cameras • portable sound equipment • development of faster film stock that needed less light

8. Handheld cameras and portable sound equipment changed the way cinema looked and who had access to filmmaking

9. Fast film stock -needs less light to create an image -good for shooting on location where lighting is variable Slow film stock -needs more light to create an image -creates a polished look and balance of greys

12. Cahiers du Cinema critics: • 1. criticized contemporary French cinema • 2. developed the concept of the film auteur

13. Ben Hur

14. John Ford, auteur -FNW critics equated the director’s camera to the author’s pen -they argued that certain directors were able to “write” with film

15. The French New Wave’s impact came from 4 key films which appeared between 1959-1960: • Le Beau Serge (The Good Serge), Claude Chabrol • Les Cousins (The Cousins), Claude Chabrol • The 400 Blows, Francois Truffaut Breathless, Jean-Luc Godard

16. Richard Neupart on the French New Wave: “They were all building upon personal and shared aesthetic principles and especially on historical context.  They knowingly picked who and what they wanted to react against…and, they all worked very, very hard, even if the results sometimes looked casual and spontaneous.”

17. Characteristics of the French New Wave • Cinematography • look is similar to documentary because shot on location with available light • leads to a casual unpolished, often grainy look • overexposed and underexposed shots—creates graphic discontinuity • used fast film stock • Narrative • plots are based around chance events and digressive episodes • open ended narrative 3. Editing (next slide)

18. Editing in the FNW • free editing style, very different from rule of continuity editing • this editing makes itself visible, draws attention to itself • it can be repetitive, change its pace, etc. These techniques include: Long takes Violations of 180 degree rule Graphic discontinuity Jump Cuts Quick cuts

19. Graphic Discontinuity Example

20. Jump Cut (NOT JUMP SHOT!!!) • 30 degree rule states that every camera position should be varied by at least 30 degrees from previous one • so if two shots of the same subject are edited together and there is not a sufficient difference in camera distance or camera angle between shot A and Shot B, there will be noticeable jump on screen