Characteristics of French New Wave

Budgetary Restrictions

France experienced a worldwide economic downturn after World War 2. This had eventually become a challenge to film production during that time. However, there were many young and passionate filmmakers decided to produce films without much investments, hence they created a new wave in France. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, many low-budgets and black-and-white images of movies were produced such as Breathless (1960) and Le Petit Soldat (1963). 

Le Petit Soldat (1963): Black-and-white movie
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Breathless (1960): Black and white film
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Black-and-white allowed many New Wave directors to shoot on location with low budgets. This was because colour doubled the cost production and it inhibited spontaneous shooting on location as it required extensive set-ups and lighting. For aesthetic reason too, the New Wave directors tend to film in black-and-white because they did not  see the need of having colour to fit their needs or desires. According to Francois Truffaut (1950), “The proliferation of color has pushed backwards the average quality of images, making our perception of films simpler and less spellbinding.” Therefore, despite budgetary restrictions, the New Wave directors were able to express their essence of artistic value through black-and-white image. Since the limitation in budgets hence became one of the characteristics in French New Wave films, some of the directors then shot their films in their friends’ apartment, using their friends as the crews or even the casts. For example, in Breathless (1960) by director Jean Luc Godard, the apartment where Michel Poiccard was talking to his girlfriend, Patricia was actually an apartment that belongs to Godard’s friends. Another example to reduce budgets in the film production was that both of the main characters, Patricia and Michel in this movie were unknown actors.

Breathless (1960): Apartment scene: behind the scene that shows the simple shooting due to budget restrictions
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Breathless (1960): Apartment scene where Michel asked Patricia to have sex with him
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Editing

Continuity editing is a way to assure the audience to engage in film world and it does not draw attention to itself which subconsciously provide a form of escapism to the audience. However, the editing and filming techniques of French New Wave films rejected continuity editing. This was because the New Wave filmmakers emphasize more on the fact that art is not just about entertainment and audiences should be jolted into awareness. According to David Mamet (2004), “The audience is only going to look at the most overriding thing in the frame. You must direct their attention”. This can be done by inserting jump cut in film editing. This type of editing intentionally manipulates the smooth continuity in space or time by inserting an abrupt transition from one scene to another. One of the examples of this kind of editing was in Jean Luc Godard’s Breathless (1960) whereby jump cut was first used extensively. This type of cinematic expression was very different from the Hollywood films that emphasized on Escapism, telling audiences to put themselves in the characters’ shoes and to imagine that they are the characters. In contrast, French New Wave films applied jump cuts to inform the audiences of the fractured nature of their films by removing the continuity in time and space between shots. It constantly reminded the audiences that they were watching a film and it was not a reality. In brief, French New Wave films rejected montage aesthetics and continuity editing yet favored elliptical editing and jump cuts.

Breathless (1960): Jump Cuts
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Shoot On Location & Natural Sound

Shoot on location means the shooting take place at the real place or actual place that audience are familiar with. By the inspiration of Neorealism, the French New Wave directors preferred to shoot on location instead of studio filming in order to make the films authentic and natural. Another reason to the opposition of studio filming is the budgetary restrictions. One of the benefits for shooting on location was that the lighting of the films can utilize the natural light from the location without spending more to set up the lighting. By shooting on location, the directors can create the feeling of realistic. In other words, the natural lighting as a prominent feature in French New Wave films was meant to highlight the notion of realism and naturalism. For example, the famous location shot was the opening scene of The 400 Blows (Francois Truffaut, 1959). The opening scene showed a traveling down a Paris Street. 

The 400 Blows (Francois Truffaut, 1959): Opening scene of Antoine Doinel and his friend traveling down Paris Street is filmed in actual Paris
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In addition, directors of French New Wave did the sound recording during shooting. They used the raw recorded sound and did not do any post production on the sound regardless of the background sound. It was often to hear sounds of ambulances and planes, conversations of pedestrians throughout French New Wave films. Instead, sometimes the use of these natural diagetic sounds can create a sense of chaotic atmosphere and hence enhance the feeling of realism to the films. Taking Breathless 

(1960) as an example, the airport scene where they interview Mr Parvulesco, the noises of planes are clearly heard.

Breathless (1960): Airport scene where interview of Mr Parvulesco takes place, the noises of planes which are the natural sound are recorded
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Handheld Camera

In the late 1950s, Enclair Company developed the light-weighted handheld camera or sneaky camera. Some of the scenes of French New Wave films were shaky and not stable because directors of French New wave utilized this new technology for shooting. Shooting with handheld camera facilitated the process of shooting because it was portable and easier to shoot when on location as it saved the steps of setting up. It was also one of the means for representation of realism or some claimed that it is a form of cinema vente.  It reduced the levels of obtrusiveness and reactivity in observation fascinating by performing realism and freedom aesthetic (J.  Hassard, 1998). Directors could shot their films quickly and low-cost with the flexible equipment. 

Breathless (1960): Godard shoots the film using handheld camera
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Besides, using handheld camera for shooting was more convenient when the shooting takes place in a small-scaled location such as a small room as shown in Breathless (1960) where Michel and Patricia had conversation. Besides, in the film My Life to Live or known as Vivre Sa Vie (1962), there was a café scene which utilized the handheld camera where the camera panned to the left and back to show the point of view of Nana. It established a feeling of curiosity to the audiences as they followed the camera to watch and wander what was happening.

Vivre Sa Vie (1962): Cafe scene where hand held camera pans according to point of view of Nana
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Improvised plot and dialogue

In French New Wave films, dialogues were improvised as one of the oppositions to the classical film making process. There was basically no prior planning or preparation in terms of scriptwriting before shooting. Dialogues were spoken spontaneously In other words; the films were all based on the natural performance of the actors during the shooting. There were times when the dialogue seemed irrelevant to the storyline. As a result, the plot might have to undergone changes due to the spontaneous performances of the characters. It later leaded to the climax that was not wrapped up tidily. This characteristic was a reflection of the loose structure of French New Wave films in their plots and storylines. Again, this characteristic encouraged and strengthened the naturalism and realism in the films. As an example, in The 400 Blows by Francois Truffaut (1959), improvised dialogue took place in the interview session between Antoine and the psychiatrist interviewer.

The 400 blows (1959): Scene where Antoine was interviewed, he improvised his own dialogue
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Anti-authoritarian Protagonist

Protagonist in French New Wave films were often portrayed as young anti-heroes. They were not the typical heroes of perfectionism. They were neither rich, super good-looking, had powerful and influential statuses in their lives. Instead, they were always marginalised with immoral characteristics. They lived without family ties and restrictions of rules and regulations. They were not goal-oriented as they merely seemed to have positive attitudes toward lives. They, too often behaved spontaneously. Sometimes, they were just being portrayed as alienated loners. Some said that protagonists in French New Wave films were just sane men in lunatic asylum as they were all trapped in a system. For instance, Michel in Breathless (1960) was a car thief who killed policemen, seduced his girlfriend Patricia for sex, stole money from Patricia and constantly escaped from legal treatment. The ambiguous anti-authoritarian protagonist characters had come to a point to question the reality of traditional films which often portrayed perfect protagonists. 

Breathless (1960): Michel is a car thief and murderer
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