Monday, April 18, 2016
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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French New wave directors incorporated a variety of experimental techniques and ideas into their films. One of the main techniques they used was the jump cut. The jump cut is a cut in the film that shifts from one scene to another abruptly disrupting any form of continuity in the film. This is seen when Patricia is interviewing a man and her face is seen facing different angles and some sentences remain unfinished when others start. Cuts are also seen on Michel's drive to Paris. These jump cuts were used to make the story choppy. The choppiness can be seen as the craziness of young people. Their lives are frequently all over the place and there is not a lot of continuity. These cuts are very annoying in the film as there is no smooth transition, but do give important symbolism and are important for the viewer to fully appreciate the film. The deeper meaning of these cuts, looking past the lives of young people, is how they affect the story. The cuts omit many parts of the movie forcing the reader to piece the story together. This engages the reader and makes them give their full attention, or else they won't be able to actually understand what is going on. Once the reader is engaged these cuts serve to confuse the reader and invoke even more thought. The cuts disconnect us from the characters and prevent us from connecting with them on an emotional level. This causes us to be unable to develop any sympathy for them. In the end of the movie when Michel is betrayed by Patricia and dies the reader has a hard time feeling sympathy for the characters. These cuts force a feeling of neutrality and gives us a new way to look at films. Rather than looking at characters as good and evil it allows us to take on a completely neutral bystander perspective.
ReplyDeleteThe film Breathless exemplifies two major themes of the new wave, jump cuts and breaking the fourth wall. These two major breakthroughs acted as a huge game changer for the film industry because they were things that haven’t been used so effectively ever before. Jump cuts as simply taking clips and using uncoordinated transitions that can be viewed as choppy and careless. However, it can be useful when utilized as a source of symbolism. If you think about it, Michele and Patricia’s “relationship” is very bad. Michele is a terrible man that sleeps with other girls, steals money and cars from people including Michele, and even murders people. Patricia is the responsible and successful woman in the relationship. She has a Job in which she was recently promoted, and was proving to have more success and stress than Michele. This imbalance and choppiness resembles the Jump Cuts, and how they provide a better understanding on the film itself. Along with jump cuts, there is the idea of breaking the fourth wall. This idea has never been used before. What it means to break the fourth wall is to talk to the camera, and simultaneously, the crowd. This technique has never before been used in any movie, which is why when the movie opened, people were so surprised because it was in the first scenes. Breaking the fourth wall helps to give the actors perspective on the plot. Usually, it is up to the viewer to decide what kind of person the actor is. Here, the actor is deciding for the audience and providing clarity for them as well.
ReplyDeleteThe film Breathless incorporates both experimental ideas and techniques that are meant to bring in a different perspective and add another layer of meaning to a typical gangster film. An experimental idea that is very prevalent in the film is that very little background information is given on any of the characters. Without knowing anything about the main characters, Patricia and Michel, it is difficult for the viewer to sympathize with them or to care about what happens to them. This lack of sympathy is one of the reasons that this film cannot be viewed as a typical love story or gangster film, instead it should be viewed as a film that is making a comment on how we view those types of films. One of the techniques that Godard often uses is a jump cut. A jump cut is when the camera suddenly jumps from one scene to another and cuts off whatever is happening in the scene. Godard often uses jumps cuts when the plot is getting to an especially exciting point. One example of this is when Michel shots the police officer during the start of the film. The camera quickly shifts focus without even showing Michel's reaction. This cut leaves the viewer to figure out what happened and doesn’t allow the viewer to see how the characters react to the situation, which adds to the viewer being unable to sympathize with the characters. This film is commenting on how we typically watch a movie by taking away the most exciting moments and not giving the viewer an explanation on why the characters are the way that they are.
ReplyDeleteThere were many things about Breathless that I thought differed a lot from films that we watch today. I think the most noticeable thing to me was the lack of excitement or tension. I'm sure Godard had a reason for doing this, but to the average viewer like me this made the film seem very anti-climactic. In scenes like the chase scenes it made the film seem quite boring because of how incompetent the policemen were; we knew for a fact that Michel was going to escape. I thought that this idea was kind of annoying, and also making fun of the idea of bringing meaning to the film. Another experiment that I noticed was the bitterness of Michel. This was so ironic because he is the protagonist and the viewer is supposed to be rooting for him; however, there were many times were I found myself resenting him and actually rooting against him. This was most noticeable to me in his relationship with Patricia; how he objectified her and kept trying to force her into doing what he wanted. However I did actually find that experiment very engaging, it shook up the story and made it more interesting to me.
ReplyDeleteThe French New Wave brought a completely new way of looking at movies. Everything from the camera and editing techniques to the characters and plots were completely redesigned to appeal to cinema’s newest and largest audience, the younger generation. Breathless is a movie that shows the clear changes from the traditional films, to a newer modern era. Firstly, the characters act with an entirely new set of morals that was nearly never touched in movies previously. The characters do whatever they want, whenever they want and everyone seems to be much more liberal and open about promiscuity and sexual behavior, where both men and women were not being shamed for sleeping with many people. The film glamorizes the life of Michel Poiccard, who truly lived his life as he chose, doing whatever he pleased no matter who he had to slight, or steal from, or kill. This new film style allowed for the protagonist of the film to commit crimes, grope women, and say whatever he wanted, thus showing that the New Wave ushered in a new era which completely changed all of the known social norms. The new film style was different al well. Traditionally, films would try to hide the editing as much as possible, making the film seem fluid with many match cuts, yet Breathless’s editing style showed us choppy, rapid edits which are meant to be slightly disorienting and maybe a little startling to the eye. Also there were many more different types of camera movements than in movies before the period, allowing for the film to seem slightly more paced, even though the camera movement was also used to slow the movie down as was the case with the police detectives coming to see Patricia and Michel and Patricia’s argument.
ReplyDeleteBreathless uses distinct style and editing to convey a sense of ‘modern’ youth culture, effectively demonstrating the snappy, careless speed of young life. Choppy jump cuts, for example, make scenes feel like mini-montages rather than drawn-out, dramatic moments. The interview scene, exemplary of this effect, jumps from comments to questions to answers in a disorienting frenzy. In result, the fast pace of the movie is further heightened, and the audience is forced to infer images and pieces of the story to understand what is happening. The character development and dialogue of Breathless additionally act as cinema experiments that help relate the film to modernity. For instance, protagonist Michel is hardly the typical ‘hero’—but he’s not the typical ‘gangster’ either. His dialogue is abrupt and often incredibly rude (including his constant demands for Patricia to “take off [her] shirt”), and it is quite difficult to guess what he and other characters will say or do. This unpredictable and ambiguous nature of the film connects to the constantly changing youth culture, all the while engaging the audience as they attempt to find ways to relate to and understand the unique charm of Michel and Patricia. Finally, the soundtrack of Breathless feels edgy and repetitive, drawing a viewer into the loud and somewhat obnoxious world of Michel. Again, the jazz speeds up the film to the point that it becomes overwhelmingly up-close and personal. Altogether, Godard’s experimental techniques demand that the audience watch Breathless in a new way: they must watch with modern eyes, working to understand the enigmatic culture of French youth while keeping up with the film’s unanticipated jumps in character development and plot.
ReplyDeleteBreathless uses distinct style and editing to convey a sense of ‘modern’ youth culture, effectively demonstrating the snappy, careless speed of young life. Choppy jump cuts, for example, make scenes feel like mini-montages rather than drawn-out, dramatic moments. The interview scene, exemplary of this effect, jumps from comments to questions to answers in a disorienting frenzy. In result, the fast pace of the movie is further heightened, and the audience is forced to infer images and pieces of the story to understand what is happening. The character development and dialogue of Breathless additionally act as cinema experiments that help relate the film to modernity. For instance, protagonist Michel is hardly the typical ‘hero’—but he’s not the typical ‘gangster’ either. His dialogue is abrupt and often incredibly rude (including his constant demands for Patricia to “take off [her] shirt”), and it is quite difficult to guess what he and other characters will say or do. This unpredictable and ambiguous nature of the film connects to the constantly changing youth culture, all the while engaging the audience as they attempt to find ways to relate to and understand the unique charm of Michel and Patricia. Finally, the soundtrack of Breathless feels edgy and repetitive, drawing a viewer into the loud and somewhat obnoxious world of Michel. Again, the jazz speeds up the film to the point that it becomes overwhelmingly up-close and personal. Altogether, Godard’s experimental techniques demand that the audience watch Breathless in a new way: they must watch with modern eyes, working to understand the enigmatic culture of French youth while keeping up with the film’s unanticipated jumps in character development and plot.
ReplyDeleteGodard’s Breathless featured a couple new techniques and ideas that showed it was a movie of the French New Wave. The techniques include using rapid jump cuts, breaking the fourth wall, and using jazz music in the background throughout the movie. The new ideas were to make the movie sexual and to have more deep thoughts discussed during the film. Most of these techniques and ideas were used as a symbol for a more “modern” life. While the choppy jump cuts were very annoying, they served a purpose on a deeper meaning. They make it a little more difficult for the audience to understand the characters feelings because they don’t let the characters reaction or emotion show when they talk. An example was when Patricia was talking to the American and it would show him talking and looking at Patricia and then jump to him looking out the window, still talking in the same dialogue. This symbolizes modernity because shows the faster, care-free life that young people live. Another technique Godard used was to break the fourth wall immediately when the movie starts. This was something totally different from movies of the past and made the audience feel they were more a part of the crazy gangster life that Michel was living. The third new technique was to use one jazz track in the background of the film throughout the entire movie. This appealed to young people and showed modernity because during that time in Europe, jazz was the young, popular type of music. It also fit the mysterious, cool style of life Michel lived. For the new ideas, using more sex and nudity was an obvious appeal to young people because it is edgy, riské, and something that not a lot of films showed before this one. The only part of this film that was new and didn’t quite appeal to modernity was the deeper thought Godard implemented into the film. There were many times when Patricia and Michel were talking where a serious topic like death, grief, and love. They also quoted many famous authors and books. I think the reason Godard did this was to provide a more serious side to such a wild film. I also think he did this because he is very interested in some of these authors’ work and probably wants people to know his views on these serious topics.
ReplyDeleteGodard's film, "Breathless" shows a lot of characteristics of the French New Wave. The French New Wave brought a new sense of style to the film industry, and Godard did a great job of using the characteristics in his film. Some of these characteristics are long takes, jump cuts, and the choice of music. Long takes are used everywhere in the movie. The longest take in the movie is in the scene where Patricia told Michele that she called the police to come get him. In one singular take lasting longer than a minute Michel and Patricia walked around the room a countless number of times. There is no need for the take to be so long. The use of the long take in this scenario is used to cause a feeling of suspense for the viewer and to slow the film down and make the viewer anxious to see what is going to happen next. Jump cuts are used very often as well. An example of one of the jump cuts is when Michel is running away from the police. The cut is so abrupt it is as if Godard did not even attempt to match the two takes together. In fact after the jump cut Michel is on the other side of the street and the view is completely changed from the scene prior to the cut. This jump cut causes confusion for the viewer, but the length of the take also causes suspense. Lastly the Jazz music brings a sense of coolness and also brings suspense, and in many cases makes the viewer almost feel as if he or she is a part of the movie. The Jazz in the background gives the movie a sort of excitement that most movies of its time did not have. At the time Jazz music was a rebellious genre, so the Jazz Music gave the viewer a rebellious feeling. Jazz also originated in American so this gave the European film a different more American style which made the movie more appealing because this dissented from the typical European movie. The use of this new style brings a lot of attention towards the movie and makes the movie very entertaining and keeps the viewer engaged for the entire duration of the movie, because the viewer is always on his or her toes and does not know what to expect next. All in all the French New Wave is a successful and fun style of film making.
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ReplyDeleteThroughout Breathless, there are several new techniques used. Location shooting is an aspect used during the whole movie. Since it was filmed right on the streets of Paris, it gives the viewers a chance to see the true beauty of it and fully experience it. With the location shooting comes natural lighting. This helps the movie to appear more clear and clean. The jump cuts throughout many scenes make it difficult to understand the true emotions of the characters. During the scene where Michel and Patricia are talking in bed for a very long time, there are many short jump cuts. Throughout this conversation, Michel disrespects Patricia by commanding her to take off her clothes as well as move to a different country for him. It is difficult to see the true emotional response to requests such as these since the jump cuts occur before them, making it very easy for her to hide her emotions from the viewers. Although the responses in situations like these were unclear, from their conversations, the viewers can tell that Michel and Patricia are in love. They talk about serious topics such as grief and death. I believe that the jump cuts add to the film because it adds a little bit of suspense to an already suspenseful film.
Breathless was a very enjoyable movie to watch because of its unique qualities and introduction of new techniques. The storyboard of the movie as well as the filming techniques and aspects of the movie truly make it a French New Wave film and more importantly keep it a staple in the classic film community. These experiences such as the jump cuts, bring a new feel to the film scene. As opposed to your average movie, having these new cuts introduced not only keep the audience engaged but spike the pleasure of the viewer as well. They do bring meaning to film because they make the film unique. The film becomes associated with the wave that made it significant. If it wasn’t for the unique aspects of the film, Breathless would not be nearly as interesting and engaging as it was. In my opinion they don’t make fun of the whole idea of bringing meaning to the film because they bring a good meaning. If it brought a bad reputation or meaning to the film then surely it would be making fun of the movie, however, these new techniques and ideas that introduced into Breathless truly made it the interesting movie it is today.
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