Jean-Luc Godard is one of the most controversial and prolific film- makers in history. Born in France in 1930 to a wealthy family from Switzerland, Godard lived in his parent's native country during World War II. In the late 1940's he returned to study ethnology at the Sorbonne in Paris. During this time he became friends with a group of young film-makers. These directors, Claude Chabrol, Francois Truffaut, Eric Rohmer and Jacques Rivette, along with Godard, explored new possibilities in cinema. Because of Godard radical views of film and his obsessions with cinema, his parents cut off his allowance. .
Forced to support himself by committing petty thefts, Godard used his experiences in his films about small time crooks. An example of this is his film Breathless (1959), where he also used many well-known New Wave techniques that made him one of the most influential directors in history. Some of the techniques Godard implemented include the use of jump cuts, handheld cameras and portable tape machines.
In 1959, Jean-Luc Godard released his first feature film Breathless. In this film, he used several technical characteristics of the New Wave. Probably the most noticeable of these was the use of jump cuts in the rough style of editing. Jump cuts were used to break the continuity of the audience's experience while viewing the film. .
One example of a jump cut is shown in the opening scene, which shows Michel, the main character, stealing a car and driving down the road. In one shot the audience sees what looks like a big truck driving down the road, then it cuts to show two hitchhikers walking along side the road, then another edit shows Michel meeting two policemen. .
Another scene that uses jump cuts shows Michel and his American girlfriend driving through the streets of Paris. In this long scene the camera never moves as it stays focused on the female character. Since the background of the scene is moving, with every edit there is a jump cut.
JEAN-LUC GODARD Jean-Luc Godard was born in Paris on December 3, 1930. ... Godard attended school in Nyon, Switzerland. ... Godard was forced to stealing food in order to survive (Godard Experience, 1). ... Godard went on to direct numerous movies. ... Godard wanted it to be the real world. ...
With Breathless, Godard, at 29, broke from cinematic tradition, creating a film that could be understood in the same way that one understands a book. Godard's manipulation of film reveals insights about the characters and their tight spots the same way an author's words reveal the characters to the reader. In so doing, Godard developed the notion of film auteurship and thus established the dominance of the director over the story. ... Into this story, Godard imbeds many American film cliches, taken from his favorite American movies, and narrates a running commentary over them. ... ...
Many of the filmmakers involved in the French new wave movement had at one time worked for a film critics magazine called 'Cahiers du Cinema'.These included Claude Chabrol, Eric Rohmer, Francois Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard, all of whom became trail-blazing film-makers. Jean-Luc Godard for example went on to make Breathless (A Bout de Souffle) in 1959 which even though it seemed to be a tribute to 40's gangstar flicks it was hugely innovative in that the thin, conventional storyline is swept along by the imaginative, urgent style with its then innovative jump cuts, overlapping d...
Since the 1920's, the film industry has been constantly progressing through uses of different shots, lighting, and cameras. Through America's past time, we are able to understand how certain events through decades have influenced the way film is made. From the roaring twenties, through the great depression to World Wars, film has always attempted to embody the mood and feelings that the entire country was facing at the time. After World War II however, "Hollywood between 1950 and 1969 can be understood as a response to anticommunist hysteria and the blacklist on the one hand and to...
The literature of the period by authors such as Pynchon, Barthes, and Nabokov blended genres so as to avoid traditional classification, and the movement was also seen in Warhol's pop art, the musical compositions of John Cage, and the films of Jean-Luc Godard. ...
Obviously there are many aspects that influence film and its development. The history of movies/film, although only a century old, is rich and complex. This essay tries to bring light into the roots of film by focusing on two main movements that have very much helped shape the techniques of contemporary film making. - German Expressionism and Formalism, both of which occurred in the 1910's and mainly in the 1920's. Both these movements resulted in influential developments in film theory and a distinctive body of films that are still considered important by nowadays film makers. E...
Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho and its Influence on the Film Industry The 1960's marked a big change in American cinema. With the collapse of the Hollywood Studio System came a weakening of censorship laws. Sex and violence moved from the shadows to the forefront of mainstream cinema. Although it quickly became clear that a market existed for such films, the earliest attempts to venture into the world of modern cinema were met with resistance. Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho, made in 1960, was one of the first of many to show sexuality and violence in a graphic approach. ...
Quentin Tarantino was born on March 27th, 1963, in Knoxville, Tennessee. His father is Tony Tarantino, who was an actor, as well as an amateur musician. His mother was Connie McHugh, worked as an executive in the medical insurance business. Tarantino's parents separated before his birth, and he n...
