History & Development of French New Wave

French New Wave is one of the most major film movements during the late 1950s and early 1960s. It changed filmmaking throughout the world by encouraging the new styles, themes, and also modes of production. French New Wave films are considered as independent films as most of them are produced in the real location instead of the settings made in studio, which also makes the whole productions’ cost becomes low compared to films produced in the studio. As a result, approximately 120 first-time French directors were able to shoot feature-length films between the years of French New Wave. Young directors such as Louis Malle, Francois Truffaut, Jean-Luc Godard, and Claude Chabrol, are famous directors of French New Wave. Chabrol's Le Beau Serge (1958) is credited as the first French New Wave film, followed by Truffaut’s The 400 Blows (1959) and Godard’s Breathless (1960) which had created the world's attention to the New Wave and lead the movement to thrive.

French New Wave aroused attention from many critics. Cahiers du cinema which is a French film magazine founded by Andre Bazin and Jacques Donial Valcroze. They organized a special topic for the New Wave. Claude Chabrol, Jacques Rivette, Francois Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard are part of writers of Cahiers du cinema before they became filmmakers. This group of writers will watch many formerly unreleased movies at the Cinematheque Francaise, which is a film archive and public theater in Paris, and then make critics on the movies. With Autuer Theory, they argued that films should reflect the directors’ personal vision through mise-en-scene.

According to Bordwell(2010), the movement has come to the end in year 1969 and the last French New Wave film is Weekend by Gordard. This is because the form of cinema has merged into the mainstream cinema. Besides that, the directors came out with their own style of making films and also their own production companies, which lead them to make mainstream films for profit.

Reference:

• Bordwell, D., & Thompson, K. M. (2009). Film art: An introduction (9th ed.). New York, N.Y: McGraw-Hill.
• Neupert, R. J. (2002). A history of the French new wave cinema. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.

Synopsis of Breathless (1960)

Breathless (1960) was the first French new wave film that directed by Jean-Luc Godard in 1959. The story was started by a thief who called Michel who killed a policeman. He tried to persuade her American girl friend who named Patricia to escape to Italy with him. However, she knew Michel was running from police in French when she questioned by the police. Patricia betrayed Michel, she called the police. In the end, Michel died because he shoot by the police in street.

Trailer of Breathless (1960)

Trailer of Breathless (1960), retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJFFy3soy9Y

French New Wave Video

Casting

Chong Kai Xiang          ——  Anti-hero

Lim Zhuang Yi              ——  Femme Fatale (Joey)

Tan Chun Liang            ——  Ah Chai

Dexter Liu Jiah Wei      ——  Boss

Thiventhran Chinniah    ——  Fighter A

Theng Wei Kean          ——  Fighter B

Characteristics of French New Wave

Reject film traditions

Elliptical/ Jump Cuts

Location Shooting

Direct Sound & Available Light

Handheld Cameras

Long Takes

Improvised plot & Dialog

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Reject Film Tradition

For the aesthetic aspect of French new wave, the directors in this specific tended to reject the film traditions.What is the film traditions in the history of films in the past time? Most of the French films before 1950s and 1960s were mostly adapted from the novels and books. Besides that, these French films were usually filmed on big budget and within a studio system unlike French new wave films. These films are plotted properly before the filmmakers filmed them. The scriptwriter also produced the well completed script before filming the movies. The French new wave directors refused to emphasis on plot and dialogue, they thought these were too fake. They preferred to emphasis on mise-en-scene which include lighting, setting and props, actor’s behaviour and movement and makeup and costumes. They were not having big budget to produce their film thus they can’t get into the French commercial cinema. One of the famous director who named Jean-Luc Godard was the writer of the film magazine, Cahiers Du Cinema as well. He was the one who directed Breathless (1960) which is the first French new wave film. He rejected most of the film traditions in this film. For example, he chose to use improvised dialogue and plot. In the film Breathless (1960), Michel and Priticia talked with each other by using their own words without following the script.


Elliptical/ Jump Cut

The other characteristic of French new wave is elliptical/jump cuts. In the normal film type, the filmmakers prefer to use continuity editing rather than jump cuts. They wanted to create the smooth flows throughout a film by using continuity editing. In the contrast, the French new wave filmmakers liked to use jump cuts or elliptical in their films. This is to create the disruption in the sequence of the film in order to grab attention from the audiences. Jean-Luc Godard used a lot of jump cuts in the film Breathless (1960). For example, when Michel was driving in the stolen car, the backgrounds were kept changing while his position was just remained the same. Jump cuts also allow the editors to cut a single action into several parts. For example,  Paticia was going into Michel’s car after she bought her new dress from a shop in the street. This single action can be captured with one shoot, but the director chose to use jump cuts to separate it into few parts.

Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ol_EimFQhgs

Location Shooting

French New Wave never has a formally organized movement. Breathless (1960) was filmed in Paris during the months of August and September 1959. Breathless (1960) only shot in just four weeks, which the budget of this film is low. The auteur director is also the scriptwriter for the film. They did not follow a strict pre-established shooting script. Unlike the controlled studio sound stage and back lot shooting that characterized Hollywood film making during this era, the French New Wave directors were dedicated to shooting in natural locations. For example, the director of Breathless (1960), he thinks that the scenery is suitable for a certain scene, he just stop and shoot. 

Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f__eDRY5vRQ

References:

• Richard Neupert (2002). A History of the French New Wave Cinema - Richard Neupert - Google Scholar. Retrieved from http://books.google.com.my/books?hl=zh-CN&lr=&id=OIp7bDHNDs8C&oi=fnd&pg=PR7&dq=french+new+wave&ots=LEDsH3huKp&sig=frwT54uhbLXuTaXhoMC2Uv2hPVc&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=location&f=false

Direct sound and Available Light

Breathless (1960) has used natural lighting which is the sharp contrast between black and white. The directors also used natural and available lighting as much as possible rather than glossy studio light. Editors would not edit the lighting most of the time. For example, the scene of Michel following a guy in a lift and the scene of the cop following Patricia. The Godard did not use any lighting. Hence, the scenes look dark.

The sound in French New Wave film also live recorded which was unusual during this era. The sound of some scene in Breathless (1960) is louder and some is softer. The director did not do any correction. Directors often allowed actors to improvise dialogue and even to make changes in the plot. During this improvisation, to achieve a natural sense, actors were also encouraged to talk over each other. When the characters talk together, the sound will mix with the background music or the sound of surrounding. For example, the scene of Michel and Patricia talk while walking along the crowded street.

Michel and Patricia talking to each other at crowded street.
Retrieved from http://www.criterion.com/current/posts/2462-sight-sound-poll-2012-breathless

Retrieved from http://www.adorocinema.com/filmes/filme-29/fotos/detalhe/?cmediafile=19879503

References:

• Douchet, J. (1998). French new wave (1st ed.). New York: Hazan Editions in association with D.A.P
• Michel Marie (n.d.). The French New Wave: An Artistic School - - Google Scholar. Retrieved from http://books.google.com.my/books?hl=zh-CN&lr=&id=LUWijfZ_QkMC&oi=fnd&pg=PR5&dq=french+new+wave&ots=mz9RXBupKg&sig=fgA2A56qJ9SMihaSwLekZMxuhGg&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=sound&f=false

Handheld Cameras

French New Wave used handheld camera technique and most of them used this technique in fiction film. This technique is a cinematographic technique which the photographer used one camera to shoot and the camera is held in the hand, or people say it as free camera. Most of the time hand-held camera allowed them to shoot on location which is long shoot and the photographer will followed the characters whole journey. Because of this, it made some scene look like shaky and unstable but at the same time, it create a more spontaneous or realistic film style. When Breathless made waves in (1960), the feel was based on aesthetic innovation, filmed with handheld camera, that would become Godard’s signature. For example in the Breahless, a simple conversation between a gangster, Michel and his American girlfriend Patricia walk and talk in the street and the camera follows them. Instead he follows them from behind, making the audience feel like a sneaking eavesdropper.

Retrived from http://www.douban.com/note/142199233/

Retrived from http://www.douban.com/note/142199233/

Retrived from http://cinecam.wordpress.com/category/actividades/page/2/

References:

Lanzoni, R. F. (2004). French Cinema: From Its Beginnings to the Present. Continuum.

Neupert, R. (2007). A History of the French New Wave Cinema. Univ of Wisconsin Press. 

Long Takes

The term "long take" is used because it avoids the confusing meanings of long shot, which can refer to the frame of a shot, and "long cut". In this “long take”, the camera movement is important, that is because in long take in which there is little or no camera movement is differently perceived from one in which the camera movement is unmistakable, if got any mistake, it will need retake one more. For example in the Breathless, Michel and his American girlfriend Patricia is using around three minutes to shoot with handheld camera technique. The scene is natural and looks realistic and real for them. At the first of the scene, Patricia is walk into the scene and the camera is following her. After that, Michel had moves into the frame and they continue to walk and chat. Patricia and Michel stop in the middle of the street and this is Godard wan to play with the assumption that the camera is taking audience from one place to another place but he defies that expectation when they do not embrace or kiss, they simply turn back and back towards the camera.

Retrived from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BOJKX0r4ao

References:

Lewis, J. (2012). Essential Cinema, 1st ed. Cengage Learning. 

Sterritt, D. (1999). The Films of Jean-Luc Godard: Seeing the Invisible. Cambridge University Press.

• Udden, J. (2009). No Man an Island: The Cinema of Hou Hsiao-hsien. Hong Kong University Press. 

Improvised Plot and Dialog

In French New Wave movies, they actually loosen the story plots and made many of the stories vague and open. Why is it so? This is because they want to give the viewer the feeling of anything can happen. French New Wave movies were using non-linear narrative to present the story whereby the beginnings of films were not started as the classic narrative that tells story with the linear plots structure. The structure arrangement of the films will make the audiences think about the story base on the cues and accumulated information as the film will begins in the middle of the film. The arrangement of the plot was not in order and sometimes flashback scene appeared. This can be seen in the beginning of Hiroshima Mon Amour (1959) that started with opening shot of two naked bodies with just close up to the arms and shoulders. Then the continuity shot of this scene finally disclose in the middle of the film that the lovers Elle and Lui are having sex.

 They often filmed in public locales with improvised dialogue and plots constructed on the fly. The actors were encouraged to improvise their lines, or talk over each other’s lines as would happens in real life. For example, the inconsequential dialogue in A Bout de Souffle film (Breathless), they included the use of vernacular speech and colloquial expressions of the main male character, Michel. His casual and informal language with a wealth of popular and slang terms and expressions result in using dialogue that is often mumbled. This reflected his original background from a poor immigrant family and hoping for a greater status and wealth. Besides, monologues were also used in French New Wave movement, for example in Godard’s Charlotte and her Bloke(1959) as there were voice-overs expressing a character’s inner feeling.


Conclusion

As a summary, french new wave had created a whole new criticism in the film industry during that time. This is because they questioned and they criticized. This enable they to improvise their film in different ways and make the new wave film a new phenomena.