French New Wave (Georgia)

French New Wave Video Essay - Breaking the Rules 

 The French New Wave

The French New Wave, spanning from the years 1958 to late 1960s, was a major cinematic movement which afforded itself to breaking the rigid structures of conventional Hollywood Cinema. Through an experimental, often self-conscious and way of film making (including the use of jump-cuts, location-shooting, hand held cameras, improvisation and disregard for continuity) many French New Wave directors manipulated their medium as a form of social protest.

Origins:

The movement first came to light under the French magazine Cahiers du Cinema (1951), in which critics such as Francois Truffaut laid out a groundwork of revolutionary cinematic concepts (most notably the Auteur Theory) on which the French New Wave was built. The first considered films of the movement were Hiroshima Mon Amour (Alain Resnais, 1959) and A Bout de Souffle or Breathless (Jean Luc Godard, 1960).

Prominent Figures:

·        Jean Luc Godard

·        Francois Truffaut

·        Claude Chabrol

·        Jacques Rivette

·        Agnès Varda

Prominent Films:

·        Breathless (Jean Luc Godard, 1960)

·        The 400 Blows (François Truffaut, 1959)

·        Jules and Jim (François Truffaut, 1962)

·        Cleo from 5 to 7 (Agnès Varda, 1962)

·        Band of Outsiders (Jean Luc Godard, 1964)

L'Age d'Or (Ross)

L'Age d'Or

L'Age d'Or is a French surrealist film directed by Luis Buñuel that explores themes like desire and the sexual mores of bourgeois society as well as the religious system of the Roman Catholic Church. 

Themes 

The themes of the film follow the concerns of Un Chien Andalou:

• frustrated love 
• societies oppression of sexuality
• the constancy of physical violence 
• opens up as a documentary 
• ends with snow and blowing wind

Un Chien Andalou follows the same themes, ideology and represent the same beliefs of the original surrealists. An example of this is at the end of the film, there is a crucifix which has hair on it. This scene is the final scene of the film and shows the religious iconology and the surrealists disbelief in religion as a whole.

Another reoccurring theme in both films is violence. In L'Age d'Or at the very beginning of the film there is a close up shot of scorpions, this represents violence as they as known as being dangerous and have the power to kill. Un Chien Andalou also explores this theme, as at the very start of the film there is an eye cutting sequence which is incredibly graphic and vulgar to watch. The surrealists where intrigued by Sigmund Freud and the idea of psychoanalysis. This is where Freud believed that people could be cured by making conscious their unconscious thoughts and motivations, therefore gaining insight.

Being John Malkovich (Rosie)

Being John Malkovich 
Link to trailer 
Malkovich inside Malkovich scene 

Plot Summary 
Unemployed New York City puppeteer Craig Schwartz reluctantly takes a temp job as a filing clerk for the eccentric Dr. Lester. While at work, Craig discovers a portal that leads into the mind of renowned actor John Malkovich. When he lets his attractive co-worker Maxine in on the secret, they begin both an unusual business scheme and an odd relationship that involves Craig's restless wife, Lotte.

Auteur theory (James)

Auteur theory 

Auteur theory - The theory of filmmaking in which the director is viewed as the major creative force in a motion picture

Notable auteurs

Wes Anderson

When it comes to distinctive style, there’s probably no better modern example than Wes Anderson, the director of Moonrise Kingdom, The Royal Tenenbaums, and last year’s The Grand Budapest Hotel. The writer-director is one of the best examples of a modern auteur, with a whimsical visual style all his own and narrative tendencies that remain consistent across his body of work.

Chances are that if you know of Anderson and his past films, you can spot whether a movie is directed by him within five seconds of watching one his works or viewing a trailer for an upcoming film. With a distinct colour palette that links everything from a the production design to the outfits, Anderson adheres to a meticulous set of visual flourishes that give the director’s films the specific fantastical feeling that all Anderson films have.

When it comes to framing, Anderson is known to keep his camera mostly stationary, preferring to shoot scenes in straight-on fashion — something most directors avoid because it prevents the scene from taking on a three-dimensional feel. This is what Anderson prefers, and the net result is a series of a shots that often feel as if they are part of a painting rather than a three-dimensional, moving image.

Martin Scorsese

Martin Scorsese is one of the most prolific American film directors ever. While Scorsese’s career has been marked by a concerted effort to make films in varying genres — even if the crime genre seems to be his favourite — there have been several stylistic flourishes that are associated with the director. 

When it comes to Scorsese’s visual style, the three things that immediately come to mind are his frequent use of slow motion, long tracking shots, and the use of popular music. Beginning with his first film, Who’s That Knocking at My Door (1967), slow motion has often been used as a way to heighten a moment, particularly during scenes of psychological duress. Tracking shots, on the other hand, are often used for the opposite reason: to ground a moment or scene in reality — such as the long, extended shots in Taxi Driver and Goodfellas.

Music, too, has been a consistent factor in Scorsese’s directing career, with his use of The Rolling Stone’s Jumpin’ Jack Flash in Mean Streets becoming one of the most famous scenes in his career. And Gimme Shelter, another song by the Stones, has appeared in three of Scorsese’s films: Goodfellas, Casino, and The Departed.

Surrealism - general and influence (Hannah)

Surrealism - general and influence

The surrealists were a group of people that wanted to go against the bourgeouis. Their intentions were to shock people through their bizarre and illogical works on religion, gender and other social taboos. They didn't want to be defined. Surrealism was created by Andre Breton in the 1920's. It originally stemmed from the avant garde movement Dada.

Surrealism is everything that breaks tradition. It isn't real, normal but does question realistic expectations. Surrealism aimed at expressing imaginative dreams and visions free from conscious rational control. 

Man on Wire (Eleanor)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIawNRm9NWM

Man on Wire is a documentary about Philippe Petit's shocking wire walking stunts that gained worldwide recognition, directed by James Marsh. It was released in theatres August 1st 2008 by Magnolia Pictures and earned £2,600,296 at the box office. 

On August 7th, 1974, a young Frenchman named Philippe Petit stepped out on a wire illegally rigged between the New York World Trade Centre's twin towers. After dancing for nearly an hour on the wire, he was arrested, taken for psychological evaluation, and brought to jail before he was finally released.

The documentary contains real footage, re-enactments and interviews with the key people involved in these events (such as Jean Francois Heckel and Jean-Louis Blondeau). It follows a timeline of events and Philippe's stunts as they happened, showing his battle of overcoming his greatest obstacles in order to achieve his dreams.

Specific techniques are used in Man on Wire to make it more appealing and entertaining to the audience. The layout is carefully structured in the best way to capture and consume the spectator's constant attention throughout. Suspense is a key aspect of this as it is manipulated at heights in the story to further heighten the spectator's interest.

There appears to be a lot of focus on the mise-en-scene, especially the use of diagetic and non-diagetic sound. The music heavily contributes to the success of the documentary in subtle ways. For example when something exciting/dangerous is happening, the music will change to something fast beat and up paced to create tension.

Chaplin (Emma & Jade)

Chaplin


Charlie Chaplin was born on the 16 April 1889 to 25 December 1977. He was an English comedic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent era. Chaplin became a worldwide icon with his Tramp character and is considered one of the most important figures in the history of the film industry. His career spanned more than 75 years, from childhood in the Victorian era until a year before his death in 1977

Charlie chaplains life in London was difficult as it was full of poverty, his mum struggled financially and Charlie had to work in the workhouse and worked there twice before he was nine. When his mum got taken to a mental asylum, Charlie started to work in music halls at an early age and started working as a stage actor and comedian. 

When he was 19 he was signed to Fred Karno company and was taken to america. Chaplin was then scouted for the film industry and began appearing in Keystone Studios. This is when the Tramp character was established. His first appearance Kid auto races in Venice.

in 1919, Chaplin co-founded the distribution company, Untied Artists. This gave him complete control over his films. His first feature-length was TheKid(1921). Chaplin wrote, directed, produced, edited, starred in and composed the music for most of his films.

un chien andalou (lucie)

                                                un chien andalou
   




   co-written by Luis bundle and Salvador Dali, this silent film was made completely according to surrealist principles and includes some of the most searing and memorable images ever filmed.

• It shocked conventional audience who are used to normality.
• It was not intended to make sense.
• It takes us into the sub-conscious by it telling us that we must see the film through a different eye however, despite the film asking us to see it through a different eye as a spectator, we are trying to analyse it with our logical eye which goes against what the film wants us to do .
• He sharpens the knife and cuts her eye and she accepts it without putting up a fight - this supports Floyd's opinion on gender.
• The film doesn't conform to gender norms (monogamy).
• It is anti establishment and anti clinical. this is shown through him holding his sins on his shoulder which could  imply that religion is a burden.
• The conventional heterosexual couple buried in the sand could imply that marriage is dead (didn't conform to monogamy)
• The films situation was exaggerated and the imagery is out of context by the randomness of the placement of objects making it illogical e.g hand in the road.  
• It was intended to be humorous.
• What we find funny comes from the e.d, its not humour that we're used to so it has a more sinister edge to it.
•  It doesn't need to make sense to have a meaning.
• It plays on your personal response by finding different things to be shocked about each time you watch it,
• Themes are more prevalent e.g when he got shot, the rich people carried on walking.
• The creator wanted to offend the bourgeoisie.
• It goes against classical forms of film making,
• It doesn't give you time to select shocking elements and instead move on to the next one.
• Its montage of separate narratives rather than one coherent narrative triggers enigmatic code to put the spectator in a active position. 
• The questions that are raised are never fully explored or answered.
• Henry miller describes un chien andalou as a "job of spirit in the face of art". this means that surrealists disrespect traditional artists by going against rules and regulations.

John Grierson (Tom)

John Grierson

John Grierson coined the term documentary in 1926 and was seen as one of the most influential film makers, commonly known as the father of British and Canadian documentary.

Grierson served as a mine sweeper during WW1, after the war ended he went on to graduate from Glasgow University, he then went on to Hollywood where he developed an interest in mass communications

Grierson started his career as a film critic in New York, with a far more abstract view of films he focused on aesthetics and audience responses to films, through this career he developed strong links with directors, and began to scrutinising the film industry of other countries.
Grierson with his expert knowledge of films took his first step into film making, Grierson planned to make a documentary about the great depression to build national morale and national consensus.
Grierson returned to England and was employed on a temporary basis by the Empire Marketing Board to help promote British documentary and it was this promotion that kick started the documentary.
In 1929 Grierson and his camera man Basil Emmott completed his first film Drifters, which he wrote, produced and directed, it follows the north sea fisherman which was radically different to anything being made by the British or American film industry, the reason it was so bold was due to the camera work, by taking and leaving the camera in rugged places, this was a required so that none of the footage would be staged.

After the success of his documentary Grierson decided to move away from film production and worked for the EMB, where he recruited young film makers, in which they formed what we would call modern day British documentary.

Shortly after his career at the EMB, Grierson began to grow tired of the budget confines of the government sponsorship he received, in response he sought getting a private industry that would sponsor his film production, British Gas chose to sponsor his film program more generously, he focused on housing issues in his documentary with the money he received.

In 1938 Grierson was invited to study Canada's film program, he suggested that they make a national coordinating body for the production of films, this would later become the national film board of Canada, Grierson was the first commissioner on the board. When Canada entered WW2 the NFB was tasked with creating propaganda, many of which Grierson directed himself, the NFB today is recognised as making quality film, having received many awards.

In 1957-67 Grierson hosted a Scottish show called Its a Wonderful World that show cased high quality documentary's, the show received a Canadian film award.

Grierson received the following awards.

• Best Documentary on a Contemporary Issue
• Best Documentary on the Arts
• Best Historical Documentary
• Best Documentary on Science or the Natural World
• The Frontier Post Award for Most Entertaining Documentary
• Best Drama Documentary
• Best International Cinema Documentary
• Best Newcomer
• Trustees' Award

Gold Rush (jade)

Gold Rush:

Trailer

The Gold Rush is a silent film, originally made in  1925 and remastered in 1942, where he added  his voice over to narrate and cut out the final scene, due to it not connecting with the way the "tramp" character had been portrayed. It was a comedy film produced, written and directed by Auteur Charlie Chaplin. Its based on the narrative themes of mainly hunger, poverty and survival and chaplin uses the character of the "Tramp" to portray them.
Chaplin was inspired by the horrible events that happened to the Donner party, he turns the horrific events into a form of comedy, an example of this is when he eats his shoe. He was also inspired a lot by his own life and his personal experiences growing up in London. 

The main actress of this film was meant to be Lita Grey, however they quickly embarked on an affair with her, six months into film, she discovered she was pregnant, Chaplin found himself into marriage

Genre (Emma)

Genre

A film genre is a motion picture category based on similarities in either the narrative elements or the emotional response to the film. Other popular combinations are the romantic comedy and the action comedy film.

Genre Types

Sub - genre

• Smaller category - slasher

Hybrid genre

• Both covered together - Romcom

Trans Genre 

• Features

   Generic 

    conventions 

• Technical and audio codes 
• Setting and iconography
• Characters 
• Narrative

A Bout De Souffle (Summer)

A Bout De Souffle
link for trailer

A Bout de souffle is film is a 1960 French New Wave, written and directed by Jean-Luc Godard.
Breathless was one of the earliest, most influential examples of French New Wave

The french new wave : New Wave is often referred to as one of the most influential movements in the history of cinema. The term was first used by a group of French film critics and cinephiles associated with the magazine Cahiers du cinéma in the late 1950's and 1960's.

Storyline

Michel Poiccard, an irresponsible sociopath and small-time thief, steals a car and impulsively murders the motorcycle policeman who pursues him. Now wanted by the authorities, he renews his relationship with Patricia Franchini, a hip American girl studying journalism at the Sorbonne, whom he had met in Nice a few weeks earlier. Before leaving Paris, he plans to collect a debt from an underworld acquaintance and expects her to accompany him on his planned getaway to Italy. Even with his face in the local papers and media, Poiccard seems oblivious to the dragnet that is slowly closing around him as he recklessly pursues his love of American movies and libidinous interest in the beautiful American.

Narrative Theory

(Dana)

Welcome!

 

This is the film studies resource, research and revision blog. It's a central hub where you can access everything you need for this A level course.

Film Studies OCR Syllabus

Assessment overview

Component	Marks	Duration	Weighting	insert text
Film history (01)	105	2 hours	35%
Critical approaches to film (02)*	105	2 hours	35%
Making short film (03/04)*	90	-	30%	Non-exam assessment

* Indicates inclusion of synoptic assessment.

Students must complete all components (01, 02 and 03 or 04) to be awarded the OCR A Level in Film Studies.
Students who are retaking the qualification may carry forward their result for the non-examined assessment component.

Content overview

Students study a wide range of film forms, from the silent era to the present day. They are introduced to the contexts and concepts of film-making and how they are used to create meaning, including:

• Genre
• Representation
• Narrative
• Aesthetics
• Spectatorship.

They also develop a working knowledge and understanding of the micro-elements of film form:

• Cinematography (including lighting)
• Mise-en-scène
• Editing
• Sound
• Performance.

Students:

• Develop the skills to analyse, interpret and compare films critically
• Synthesise complex areas of knowledge
• Show how knowledge of the ways in which films reflect their social, cultural, political, historical and institutional contexts informs analysis and understanding of set films.

Component 01: Film History

Students study at least three US set films from three periods

• The silent era
• 1930—1960
• 1961—1990.

Students also study set films from two major European film movements or stylistic developments:

• Experimental film (European surrealist film)
• Either
  • German expressionism, or
  • French new wave.

Component 02: critical approaches to film

Students develop knowledge and understanding of key critical approaches to film and of narrative, genre, representations and spectatorship.
They must study at least one set film from each of the following categories:

• Contemporary British
• Contemporary US
• Documentary
• Non-European non-English language
• English language (non-US)
• US Independent.

They carry out

• A comparative study of at least two set films (contemporary British and US)
• A close study of at least one set documentary
• A themed comparative study of at least three set films from the final three categories, in terms of ideologies reflected and communicated by film.

Component 03/04: Making short film

Students study one compilation of short British fiction films. They demonstrate knowledge, understanding and skills through:

• The production of a short film or a screenplay for a short film (incorporating a digitally photographed storyboard)
• An evaluative analysis of the production in relation to professionally produced set short films.