Escaping The Eight: The French New Wave

A Different World

• Emerged in the late 1950’s and rejected traditional filmmaking techniques, choosing instead to focus on experimentation.
• There was a desire to find new ways of storytelling that differed from mainstream commercial cinema.
• There were new approaches to elements such as editing and narrative while some of the social and political ideas were explored in greater depth.

New Voices

Jean-Luc Godard

• Introduced new editing techniques such as the jump cut.
• Influenced many American filmmakers such as Penn with his unconventional storytelling technique
• Works such as ‘Breathless’ (1960)

Alexandre Astruc

• He encouraged filmmakers to experiment with film, equating cinema to an art form with an artist
• Works such as ‘The Crimson Curtain’ (1953)

Francois Truffaut

• He criticised French cinema, complaining that scripts who adapted from literature to screen and then given to directors who shot the film without providing any of their own personal voice.
• Works such as ‘The 400 Blows’ (1959)

New Techniques

Typical features of the French new wave filmmaking style included:

• Location Shooting
• Handheld Cameras
• Long Takes
• Use of Direct Sound and Available Light
• Jump Cuts rather than Continuity Editing
• ‘Camera wasn’t used to mesmerise the audience but rather to play with audience expectations‘ – (Wikipedia)
• Things would appear jarring to an audience on purpose