Tuesday, April 21, 2015
What's New About the New Wave?
French New wave auteurs like Godard envisioned their films as a radical re-visoning of the static filmmaking of the French studio system. What experimental ideas or techniques did you notice in Breathless (could you explain in some detail)? How do these experiments change the way we enjoy a film? Are they engaging or annoying? Do they bring meaning to the film? Do they make fun of the whole idea of bringing meaning to film?
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The elements of French New Wave both help in creating this re-envisioned film and detract from the meaning in the film Breathless. First of all, the use of jump cuts is used several times in this film and in my opinion is unnecessary and detracts from the film. In the scene where Michel is driving from the cops and there are multiple jump cuts that happen fairly quickly, I think this makes the cops look incompetent. The cuts make the chase look very fast and chaotic and then when Michel turns and the cops don’t realize, they look foolish. The use of maybe more long takes in this scene probably would have worked better in portraying the cops as competent people. Another experimental technique that was used in Breathless is called ‘breaking the 4th wall’ meaning the actor looks into the camera and basically speaks to the viewers. Michel does this while in the car in the beginning and it definitely enhanced the film. The reason this technique is so powerful in this film is since there is not a whole lot of character development or structure of sympathy, it really helps to get to know the character. When Michel looks into the camera and talks to the viewers, those few seconds serve as an expedited character development which is rare in this film. In addition, the fact that Breathless was filmed on location helps to make the film more realistic. This element made the film more believable even though the plot itself was not very realistic.
ReplyDeleteIn addition to the formal qualities of French New Wave cinema that were radical re-visionings of filmmaking, such as the use of abrupt jump cuts and breaking the “fourth wall”, the concepts explored and the tone of this new form of cinema, and particularly the film Breathless, serve to break New Wave filmmaking from its cinematic history and propel cinema into uncharted territory. When watching Breathless, the viewer is unable to go without noticing the unique tone of the film. Although the content of the film is rather exciting—there are chase scenes, gangsters, and big cities—the film undeniably has a slow, even apathetic mood. There are many prolonged scenes where there is little to no dialogue or action, such as when Michel and Patricia are sitting in her apartment. When the camera zooms into one of the character’s faces in an extreme close up, their expressions are near empty in deep, introverted thought. While there are undoubtedly times of excitement throughout the movie, these scenes are juxtaposed against the overall somber tone of the film where the characters go about living their lives without giving too much thought to the ramifications and consequences of their actions. They are bored of and apathetic towards the mundane day in and day out of life that they see around them, so they instead create drama to make their lives more interesting. The movie is, in a sense, an honest look at the youth psyche. Both Patricia and Michel do things that neither they nor the viewer can explain, such as when Patricia decides that she will tell the police where Michel is. In this way, the film becomes even more exciting than a traditional crime movie. Not everything is handed to the viewer; rather, the viewer is forced to take a deeper look at why the characters act the way they do, and why the movie is set up in the way it is. In a world where cinema was dominated by Hollywood ideals, where the viewer was looking for the instant gratification of entertainment through cinema, Breathless certainly provided a fresh outlook on the world that was much more honest to how people—especially young people— truly processed and interacted with the world.
ReplyDeleteGodard demonstrates the concept of French new wave in Breathless through choices in the cinematography and the general storyline of the movie. French new wave started a new era of film through breaking many “rules” in cinema and displaying new aspects of plot in the films. In Breathless, Godard uses jump cuts quite often in an effort to cause confusion and chaos in the film. When Michel is about to shoot the cop at the start, the film does not show an extreme long shot of Michel shooting the gun and the cop falling to the ground. Instead it shows a series of jump cuts from Michel reaching for the gun, to the trigger being pulled, to the cop lying on the ground. These quick cuts make the scene happen rapidly and the viewer can barely keep up with the events happening. It also causes lots of confusion and commotion as the viewer doesn’t ever see the cop get shot but infers that he did from seeing the trigger pulled and the cop lying on the ground. Other than jump cuts, Breathless also uses a concept called “breaking the fourth wall” where the actor speaks directly to the viewer as he stares at the camera. This was a new tool at the time that was very different as the acting takes a turn in the film. At the end of Breathless, Patricia stares directly into the camera and asks a question before the film ends. She practically asks the audience a question that is then never answers which brilliantly leaves the audience pondering about the movie and the ambiguous ending. Regarding the storyline, Breathless contains many aspects that are consistent with French new wave. The plot line about a gangster running from the cops was a common plot type as it shows the resistance against the norms and the actions of the younger generation in the 1960’s. Also the presence of sex and romance in the film is much more common in French new wave than earlier films as seen through Michel’s and Patricia’s relationship. The 1960’s were a time of social change around the world and French New Waves expresses the effect of this on film and the successful outcome.
ReplyDeleteIn the 1960 film Breathless, Director Jean-Luc Godard was both imaginative and courageous for experimenting with cinematic techniques and ideas throughout the story; in doing so, Godard added much depth and originality to his film making it more thought provoking and powerful for the viewer. Godard once said that he wanted to “take a conventional story and remake, but differently, everything cinema had done.” He accomplished this feat by creating a film which was innovative and different in multiple ways, the first being the filming and editing processes themselves. The magnitude of the jump cuts creates a nervous tempo and an unpredictable mood throughout the entire film, which mirrors and intensifies an already tense and unpredictable plot. For instance, the scene in which Michel runs from and then kills the policeman is filled with jump cuts and erratic camera movements, ultimately creating a fragmented unpredictable montage of the unpredictable chase. Moreover, these jump cuts are often juxtaposed against longer takes, further crafting a feeling of spontaneity and turmoil. Beyond the cinematic techniques, Godard also takes huge risks within the storyline of Breathless. Similar to Ozu in Early Summer, Godard experiments with leaving out critical events of the story, such as why Michel is owed money, the initial meeting between Michel and Patricia, or what happened when Patricia spent the night with Van Doude. These omissions of major plot points push the viewer out of a passive role and force the viewer to do their own story telling in order to make the story cohesive. Other moments in Breathless are just strange, such as the police chase updates unrealistically scrolling along the billboard or Michel’s unrealistic walk of death. Similar to one of the major themes of the film – the characters’ confusion and difficulties in understanding the events around them – these odd moment ensure that the film viewers endure these same feelings. Undoubtedly, all of these cinematic techniques and ideas make the film unique and create an unusual cinematic experience for the viewer. However, when analyzing the film as a whole it is clear that Godard went above and beyond creating something different than “everything cinema had done”. Indeed, the film escalates to a point where, at times, it feels like Godard is simply being unconventional for unconventionalities sake. Perhaps Godard, a film journalist himself, is commenting on the ease of adding advertent or inadvertent meaning into a film, while poking fun at the film industry by daring them to conventionalize an unconventional film.
ReplyDeleteAt this point we have watched over 7+ in the Century of Film class. Breathless by Jean-Luc Godard was visually different than anything we’ve watched so far and I would attribute that to the French New wave techniques. After discussing the film in class, we were able to pick apart certain characteristics which I though made the movie more interesting. Michel Poiccard and Patricia are two mischievous love birds wrapped up in the meaning of life. Breathless, with it jump cuts and long takes, makes the movie perplexing in a constructive way. Not everything is laid out in front of you, it’s up the audience to make some assertions about the characters. We don’t know how Patricia and Michel met or any of their family history. Additionally, Patricia is somewhat of an oddball. She doesn’t know whether or not she loves Michel but ultimately is responsible for his death after she turns him in to the police. Breathless is far more engaging than annoying, because it leaves you thinking in the end. You are urged to think about Patricia as a person and her morals. To me, she is in it for the thrill and nothing more. Godard put his own twist on what he had picked up as a movie critic. We, the audience, are rooting for Michel and Patricia’s safe escape to Italy. Godard purposely bends the rules of cinematography, especially during the car chase scene when Michel talks directly to the camera. Breathless was once of my favorite movies so far because the ending doesn’t necessarily make sense. Everybody had that “ah, okay” moment after we had a class discussion.
ReplyDeleteOther than the obvious use of jump cuts, this French New Wave film brought a new concept of boldness and action into film, making the film much more engaging. Breathless does this through the role of the main character. Up to this point (in our class), no film has been able to provide the bold main character that Michele is in Breathless. His role provides an exciting, memorable, new type of experience for the viewers because viewers are forced to follow an anti-hero. With Michele, Breathless brings an anti-hero to the big screen; he is a devious criminal with criminal goals. Yet, we viewers find ourselves rooting for him as we get to know him throughout the film. While, today, we might be used to this type of film experience, moviegoers probably were not in 1960. A key moment in the film that represents the transition to this new style is the first scene, showing Michele breaking into the car. In the very first shot, viewers are exposed to Michele successfully breaking into, and stealing a car. The technique used does not ease viewers into the plot. It provides full, immediate exposure. The camera movement and placement is just as quick and action minded as it is in any other part of the film. With this scene, right away we are exposed to this bold, intense story and main character. Right away, we are brought into the action of this story with a brilliant hook. This film is fresh and different because of this. It brought a brand new experience to theaters. Beyond jump cuts, this a key piece to what the French New Wave meant in this film, and what it did to make it more exciting.
ReplyDeleteBreathless follows Michele Poiccard’s fantasy like life around the streets of Paris – the exaggeration used in scenes and the techniques during the film illustrate a nearly perfect world until the very end in which Michele’s dream comes to an abrupt stop. This New Wave type of film acquired more satirical like adaptations to small parts in the movie. This, in turn, gives the audience the impression that this movie is not necessarily ludicrous but hard to believe. For instance, the scene in which Michele follows the detective not only demonstrates the incompetence of the detectives but it is also absurd that Michele was able to tail the detective for as long as he did. As a result, the viewer is drawn in by the dreamlike film until the very end upon which they awaken to face reality. The next contribution to the new wave in Breathless was the movement of the camera – with either erratic or drawn-out scenes, each technique contributes to the fantasy like nature of the film. In regards to short takes, the scene in which Michele kills the police officer is not only hard to believe but also is hard to understand what even happens. This disorientation might confuse the audience to the point that they accept what just happened on film. The audience is captivated by the nature of the film that they stay to see what will happen after they wake up from Michele’s dream.
ReplyDeleteSome of the main things that I noticed that contributed to the idea of New Wave included the characters talking to the audience as if they were right there next to them. This helps to break down that invisible fourth wall dividing the actors from the audience. Another thing that is particularly new wave about this film is the numerous jump discontinuities that occur during someone speaking and sometimes even in the middle of a sentence. Jump discontinuities are meant to catch your eye and throw you out of the moment and I think that a casual observer would interpret these choices made by the film makers to be distracting and a result of sloppy film making. However being the expert observers that we are, we are able to see them as the result of careful planning and production. Another thing that makes this particularly new wave is the length of takes. Breathless has a large amount of absurdly long takes which we have seen before the only difference is that in this the camera often times follows the action creating the sense of an invisible onlooker whereas in other films like Early Summer the camera was stationary and let the action play out in one central location rather than follow it around. The final thing is that a majority of this film was shot on location meaning it was shot on the streets of Paris using natural lighting and the actual hustle and bustle of the city as background. While this is similar to Rome: Open City, it differs in that this was not meant to capture city life but rather focus on a very small world within the city using the city as a backdrop.
ReplyDeleteThe film “Breathless” is a captivating and thrilling story that was very capable at using unexpectedness as a method of capturing the audience’s attention, and retained the feeling of wonder by making every detail essential. By oversaturating certain scenes with jump cuts, the film makes a note of the fact that most details in a movie act as ‘filler’ for the essential storyline. Much like how modern Hollywood cinema would cut through mundane scenes (a person’s walk to the store) and replace it with jump-cuts that imply the action (leaving the door at home, walking through the store doors), “Breathless” cuts across actions that many people would consider more-or-less continuous and non-deserving of an impatient cut. The impressiveness of this tactic stems from the film’s ability to retain the message while immensely reducing the run-time of each event. The go-to example of the implementation of jump-cuts in the film is the scene with Michel shooting the police officer; we see Michel, then the officer, then Michel seeing the officer, Michel’s hand grasping a gun, a cop falling backwards into the bushes, and finally Michel frantically running across a field. To most people, the message is conveyed rather clearly; Michel was cornered and shot a cop. However the scene itself was over before a conventional version of that scene would even have time to show us the cop’s arrival, making the entire scene so condensed that it takes on the format of a fast-paced montage. The main effect of the fact that every detail besides those deemed ‘essential’ were removed is that every frame in those types of scenes is very important to notice in order to properly grasp the content. This frantic style induces an intense focus from the audience and allows the film to implement more intricate messages into the regular-length scenes whilst also being able to expect a larger portion of the audience to retain more components, remember the film in more detail, and vastly appreciate the amount of thought that was put into the directing and filming of the movie.
ReplyDeleteIn century of film so far we have seen several movies so far this semester, this one being one of my favorites. I really enjoyed the plot in the story and the difference in this plot compared to other movies we have watched so far. The director didn’t give us a lot of background on the characters which was something new that was brought to the movie. Also the shooting of the camera in the movie was an interesting quality. They had a new camera that they could now carry around and it could easily be moved around the city if needed. They used this allot throughout the movie on the streets of Paris. This brought something very realistic to the way this movie was made. Although the plot was a little out there they could draw in some realistic qualities through the way they produced it. This was a feature of the movie I enjoyed and it didn’t draw my attention away from the plot of the story. Another quality that was brought to the movie was the amount of jump cuts that they created during the editing process. I didn’t like this as much because it jolting us from scene to scene and it made the movie very choppy. This annoyed me because I liked everything else about the movie besides the amount of jump cuts that were used. In conclusion the movie over all had a lot of new things to bring to the film industry .
ReplyDeleteWhile Jean-Luc Godard’s 1960 French film “Breathless” was produced on a tight budget, in a short period of time, and with then-amateur actors, the new film techniques that were employed as part of the French New Wave both were engaging and brought new meaning to the concept of film in a revolutionary light. One experimental technique is the use of jump cuts to depict the passage of time, a technique abandoned for years and not too common in previous French films. Exemplary of this is Michele and Patricia’s taxi ride after Michele has knocked-out another guy who refuses to pay him immediately for a car. These jump cuts either depict Michele and Patricia conversing in the back seats of the taxi or depict the road and the back of the front seats, including the taxi driver’s head. In the former case, the shots are relatively short, but still long enough to capture bits of the conversation and emotions characterized by Michele and Patricia. The conversations are either about various crimes Michele has committed or is about to commit, about love, or about mundane and irrelevant pet peeves. In the latter, individual shots are extremely short, consisting of Michele yelling short, absurd commands to the taxi driver including “don’t shift gears yet!”, “pass that Peugeot!”, and “drive faster!”. Despite the hurry, Michele commands the driver to stop and abruptly lifts the skirt of some random woman to address the pet peeve of Patricia regarding Parisian and their skirts. In short, the jump cuts, though unusual, are essential to completely understand the characteristics of both Michele and Patricia; for example, it becomes quite evident that Michele is a spontaneous individual who enjoys action and is commanding in behavior, and that Patricia is a quite philosophical woman. Considering the lack of material in the film which would explain the backgrounds or histories of any of the characters, the information which these jump cuts provide of Michele and Patricia are quite important to the audience so that the audience can at least sympathize with the characters a little.
ReplyDeleteThe “New Wave” of film making is an original stylistic approach to cinematography. Within the filming itself, there are plethora of jump cuts, and long takes, protagonists often stare into the camera, and the film uses location shooting. The jump cuts are in the middle of scenes that could be substituted by long takes that have fluidity to them; however, the constant cut makes the reader focus more, in my personal opinion. The long takes are engaging as well because the audience feels in the moment with them. The suspense and connection the audience builds with the film can be attributed to the length of the take, but also the eye contact that the protagonists make with the camera. This idea of “breaking the fourth wall” breaks the chasm between watcher and actor to make the film more “in the moment” and realistic, almost as if they were talking to us. This is evident when Michel looks into the camera and tells Patricia about his feelings, which was unusual until the start of the end of the movie. Later on, in the last few seconds, Patricia breaks the fourth wall and repeats the words of the officer about puking. This type of connection builds the film into a personal matter for the audience, like they are your friends and they are telling you about their love life, or if you’re really theatrical, it is your own life and you are Patricia/Michel’s love interest. This type of freshness brings the film to an unprecedented level of entertainment for the audience. Freshness of the film can also be attributed to the youth culture exhibited in the film: smoking, stealing cars, falling in love, breaking the rules, etc. This type of life style was romanticized in the film with Michel’s “all or nothing” attitude and Patricia’s “regret over nothing” attitude. The bridge into this youth counter-culture brought something new to the table in regards to cinematography that shared a new type of story; the audience idolized their lives to an extent. This freshness and spontaneity of the characters and their lives amplified the effect on all the audiences’ senses that the movie touched on.
ReplyDeleteThe two things I noticed in the new wave film Breathless were jump cuts and spontaneity in the film. Jump cuts were not unheard of at the time but they were not used to the frequency that they were used with in this French new wave film. Many scenes, but ore specifically scenes with police conflict, had jumps cuts at random moments attempting to had a realistic feel to the film. Although I do believe they were successful in this attempt because in real life we do not see the whole conflict and we do miss some pieces, I found it annoying as a movie viewer. When someone views a film it is because they want to be told a story through this art form and by adding a significant amount of jump cuts it makes the story choppy and in some instances an element of the story itself is lost. The other element was the spontaneity of the film. While telling a story at random moments the characters would carry out random actions for no particular reason. The most noticeable example was when Michele got out of the car, ran over to a girl with a skirt on, threw up her skirt, then ran back and drove off. All in all I believe it is making fun of bringing meaning to the film because they are clearly distraction elements and add no value to the story.
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