Group Members
Alexandra Lee Wei Lin
Chan Chia Sin
Crystal Foo
Hor Yin Rul
Yee Wei Shan
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Young
film-makers in many countries tried their hand in creating their own “new waves”
in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Britain’s working-class cinema of the “angry
young men” that basically was about the displeasure towards status-quo. It turns out the new wave movement in France turned out to have the
most impact in terms of influence. A core group of directors who were once all
film critics for the magazine Cahiers du Cinéma namely François Truffaut,
Jean-Luc Godard, Claude Chabrol, Jacques Rivette and Eric Rohmer together with
other French directors including Agnés Varda and Louis Malle, became associated
with the French New Wave movement. “Never doubt that a small group of
thoughtful, committed citizens can change
the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.” (Mead, 1982)
In the 1950s
when film subsidies were bought in by the Gaullist government, this group of
directors put their theories into practice. They initially collaborated and
assisted each other driving the development of a common and prominent use of
form, style and narrative making a clear signature of their work thus making it
instantly recognizable.
France was
an occupied country in contrary to England or the United States and the
experience of austerity and internal tensions due to two different parties;
part of the population sided with the Nazis and part of it resisted – left a
mark on the countries conscious and mentality. The philosophy that evolved
distinctively in France in the post war years was existentialism. “They wanted to make films in which social
and political issues could be explored – films that felt ‘raw’ and new. Taking
matters into their own hands (and a dash of inspiration from the Italian
Neo-Realist movement), Truffaut, Godard and several others set about changing cinema
forever. The New Wave was born.” (Evans, 2009)
In conjunction to our film tribute, we
integrated these following elements to portray our understanding towards French
New Wave. Our story is basically about a queer male who subjugates himself to
live in the perception of the society of a male character up to one point where
he faced rejection in career just because of who he is. He then decides to live
authentically and be true to his inner self. The characters in these films are
often disregarded by society, young anti-heroes and loners with absolutely no
family ties. In terms of behavior they are often spontaneous, immoral and
deemed commonly as anti-authoritarian. In Godard’s first feature-length film A Bout de Souffle (1959) the protagonist
murdered a policeman after stealing a car yet he shows no remorse towards his
actions. Our protagonist, the queer male is seen acting spontaneously in terms
of how he left the office in a fury of rage followed by his sudden and extreme
change of self-presentation. He is also immoral (in society’s eye) as he
divulge himself in homosexuality. Most of all he carries no remorse in his
actions such as stomping out on the person who rejected him AND also the person
who accepted him.
Figure 1. Michel Poiccard committing murder A Bout de Souffle
Taking advantage of the new technology that was
available in the late 1950s that enabled the French New Wave directors to work
off set they use lightweight hand-held cameras that was initially developed by
the Éclair Company for use in documentaries and faster film stocks that
requires less light and light-weight sound including lighting equipment. Subsequently
one of the key element of a French New Wave film consist of raw sound and
lighting to allow the films to be shot quickly and cheaply with such portable
and flexible equipment, giving the directors more artistic freedom over their
work. A natural and casual look is painted on the film due to location filming.
Available lights and sounds are preferred in contrary to studio lighting and
extensive dubbing. Camera was very mobile with a great deal of panning and
tracking resulting in some shaky shots and only one camera was used in new
inventive ways. In A Bout de Souffle (1959),
Raoul Coutard the cinematographer, was pushed around in a wheelchair so he
could follow the characters as they walk down the street and entered buildings.
So in our video it is observable that we used natural light that was available
on the spot and we also utilize the raw recorded sound without editing it.
There were also scene in which we panned the camera for example the robber
stalking his victim.
Figure 2. A cafe scene in A Bout de Souffle
The fact that French New Wave films had a free
editing style instead of following editing rules of Hollywood films draws
attention to itself. By being discontinuous, reminding the audience that they
were watching a film, for example the usage of jump cuts or insertion of
materials that are considered extra to the story. One of the director that
favored the use of jump cut was Godard. “Two
shots of the same subject are cut together with a noticeable jump on the
screen. In a Hollywood film this would be avoided by either using a
shot/reverse shot edit or cutting to a shot from a camera in a position over 30
º from the preceding shot.” (Nottingham, 2001) For example, in A Bout de Souffle jump cuts are used
during the long conversation in the room and in a scene in a car driving around
Paris. In our video, after the protagonist slams his hand to express his anger
the scene cuts to him exiting and throwing his papers and taking his shoes off.
The effect is extremely extra and irrelevant especially the part where he takes
off his shoes. In was supposed to express how he is stripping himself off his
outer shell but the throwing was paper was enough thus the scene where he takes
off his shoes and walked off were completely extraneous.
Figure 3. Riding around Paris A Bout de Souffle
Figure 4. Antoine Doinel looking at the camera in a freeze-frame in Les Quatre Cent Coups
Another profound element was that the actors
were encouraged to improvise their lines or talk over each other as if it is a
real life conversation. In opposition to staged speeches of the usual
traditional film acting, lengthy scenes of dialogues that carries no
consequences were shown in A Bout de
Souffle. Women were also given strong parts often in conjunction of the
archetypal roles seen in most Hollywood cinema in which the hero and the strong
role are usually cast towards male for example Corrine Marchand in Varda’s Cleo de 5 a 7 – a woman who proceeded to
live freely after finding out she has cancer. Thus choosing our protagonist in
our short film to release his inner feminism and yet be in full control was for
injecting this element. For example the scene where he overpowered the robber.
During the interview and the bar scene the conversations were also improvised
by the actor themselves.
