The French New Wave is a historically famous film movement which sculpted and continues to sculpt international cinema. Inspired by Italian Neorealists and Hollywood’s Golden Age, the filmmakers of the French New Wave successfully managed to incorporate two very different film cultures into one and create an exciting, unique and influential generation of film. Many young French filmmakers critiqued that the current style of cinema was too light-hearted, and the filmmakers set out to create intense films which focussed on relevant issues in their society. The French New Wave originated in the late 1950’s - post World War II, thus the directors sought cheap production methods and were majoritively able to achieve this by using inspired ideas …show more content…
Young film critics writing for famous French magazine ‘Cahiers du cinema’ felt that the films being made at the time did not explore important enough issues. They went on to create films which explored significant issues in hope to make a difference in society. The 400 Blows was created by Francois Truffaut and was derived from his traumatizing childhood. Throughout The 400 Blows, we follow the life of young parisian boy Antoine, who is stereotyped as a “troublemaker” due to his appearance. His parents neglect him from a young age and he is mistreated by peers, teachers, adults and authority figures. All these negativities lead him into a life of crime. This film gives an insight of what can occur when a child grows up in a disturbing environment. Another film which can be analyzed is Jean-Pierre Melville’s Bob le Flambeur, a film about a classy, well-educated and respected man whose gambling addiction continues to grow. When he hits an all time low, he decides to rob the casino. In his eyes, this heist is not a crime, but just a high-risk gamble. This film raises awareness of how badly an addiction can affect someone’s mental and physical health. The film directors from the French New Wave have successfully highlighted significant issues and sent out strong social and political messages to …show more content…
The type of camera shots used include fast pans, handheld recording, tracking shots and of course the most iconic camera shot from that era; jump cuts. The jump cut is a type of editing cut which abruptly jumps from one point in time to another. It was originally used in French New Wave films because it was able to cut a film's preview time without cutting important information out. Later on, Andrew Sarris analyzed it as representing “the meaninglessness of the time interval between moral decisions”. In this scene of Godard’s Breathless, it shows a policeman aiming his gun, and then it jump cuts to the victim falling to the ground. Through this editing technique, Godard has stated that the gun shot itself is not a major issue, whereas a man being shot, is. Hand held camera shooting also played a big role in the creation of these films. The directors used handheld cameras to capture scenes from a character's point of view, to create long tracking shots and it allowed them to shoot on location. Shooting on location was very common in films of the French New Wave. It was able to make the films more realistic, coinciding with the use of natural lighting and diegetic sound. This scene of Godard’s Breathless is filmed from a hand held camera, and views the protagonist driving from the passengers point of