French New Wave Research

http://www.newwavefilm.com/new-wave-cinema-guide/nouvelle-vague-where-to-start.shtml

The directors associated with the Nouvelle Vague, including Francois Truffaut, Jean-Luc Godard, Claude Chabrol, Eric Rohmer, Jacques Rivette, Louis Malle, Alain Resnais, Agnes Varda and Jacques Demy have made, between them, films numbering in the many hundreds.

It has now been more than half a century since the directors of the New Wave (in French, "Nouvelle Vague") electrified the international film scene with their revolutionary new way of telling stories on film. The New Wave itself may no longer be "new", but the directors and their films are still important. They are the progenitors of what we have come to think of as alternative cinema today, and they had, and continue to have, a profound influence on cinema and popular culture throughout the world. Without the Nouvelle Vague there may not have been any Scorsese, Soderbergh, or Tarantino (or Wenders, or Oshima, or Bertolucci), and music, fashion and advertising would be without a major point of reference.

The directors of the Nouvelle Vague, and those of their like-minded contemporaries in other countries, created a new cinematic style, using breakthrough techniques and a fresh approach to storytelling that could express complex ideas while still being both direct and emotionally engaging. Crucially, these filmmakers also proved that they didn't need the mainstream studios to produce successful films on their own terms. By emphasizing the personal and artistic vision of film over its worth as a commercial product, the Nouvelle Vague set an example that inspired others across the world. In every sense they were the true founders of modern independent film and to watch them for the first time is to rediscover cinema. 

http://www.theblackandblue.com/2010/03/29/the-french-new-wave-a-cinematic-revolution/

The ideas of the new wave had been festering for sometime in the minds of the critics and editors of Cahiers, as well as writings of film critic Alexandre Astruc, particularly on his concept of camera-stylo (Cook 441). However, it is said that the New Wave movement exploded in 1959 with the release of three films – Truffaut’s Les Quatre des Coups (The 400 Blows), Alain Renais’ Hiroshima, Mon Amour and Godard’s A bout de Souffle (Breathless) (Lanzoni 213). Although Renais was of an older generation of directors, his style and influence on the New Wave was apparent enough in Hiroshima, which also won the International Critics Award at Cannes Film Festival in 1959 (Lanzoni 213). Resnais wasn’t the only one to walk away with an award at the ’59 Cannes Festival; Truffaut was awarded Best Director for Les Quatre des Coups (Lanzoni 213).

What audiences saw in these three films was a departure of what Truffaut referred to as “cinema du papa,” or grandad’s cinema (Roberts and Wallis 95). More commonly referred to as the “tradition of quality,” Truffaut was speaking of the post-war French cinema that was buried in literature as well as elaborate dialogue and plots (Cook 442). The French new wave was essentially the opposite of this, stressing the importance of mise-en-scene and “la politique des auteur,” or the policy of the author. It was an idea that sprung out of Astruc’s ideas on camera-stylo, which saw the director using film as means to convey a message or vision, basically “the author ‘writing’ with a camera” (Lanzoni 206).

A History of the French New Wave Cinema

 By Richard Neuper , Univ of Wisconsin Press, 20 Apr 2007  https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=OIp7bDHNDs8C&printsec=frontcover&dq=french+new+wave&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CCYQ6AEwAWoVChMI76-KldmRyAIVoiDbCh0vHgMT#v=onepage&q=french%20new%20wave&f=false

The French New Wave: A New Look, Naomi Green, Wallflower press, 2007

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=hLpoAAAAMAAJ&q=french+new+wave&dq=french+new+wave&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CD4Q6wEwBWoVChMIrfGsu9uRyAIVZ3DbCh1-cQ6A

French New Wave, Chris Wiegand, 2012

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=BI3KvMwUn-sC&printsec=frontcover&dq=french+new+wave&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CEoQ6AEwCGoVChMIrfGsu9uRyAIVZ3DbCh1-cQ6A#v=onepage&q=french%20new%20wave&f=false

For my study on the French New Wave I shall be looking in detail at the two directors, Godard and Truffaut. I will be creating a video essay in which I will study their films and make point out not only the differences between them, but also how they contributed to the French New Wave and the effect that they would cause for the film industry and how strong that effect is in today's film industry.

The two Godard films I will be studying are:

-Breathless (1960) ("À bout de souffle" original title)  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053472/

-Vivre Sa Vie (1962) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056663/

The two Truffaut films I will be studying are:

-Jules Et Jim (1962) http://www.newwavefilm.com/french-new-wave-encyclopedia/jules-and-jim.shtml

-Shoot the piano player - TIREZ SUR LE PIANISTE (1960) http://www.newwavefilm.com/french-new-wave-encyclopedia/shoot-the-piano-player.shtml

Unit 30- ISO

 

The following shot has been shot at ISO 1600. I shot at this level due to the lack of light that was in the area. Therefore by increasing the ISO the shot will become lighter however the quality will deteriorate.

This Shot was taken with ISO 800. There was no nearby light source, just purely the lights from the car. I was generally pleased with this shot due to the lights that were generated by the car, especially the lens flare generated.

Experimenting with different mics

This is a recording from the camera's microphone only.

This is the audio from using the Zoom Mic, as you can tell it is a lot clearer than relying on the mic built into the canon.

This is by far the clearest audio and it is from a shotgun mic being held above the speaker via a boom.

My review on my camera shots

Zolly
For me I definitely found the 'Zolly' shot the hardest. Due to myself not being familiar with an SLR camera it took a while to get used to the manual zoom, and I found it difficult to get the hang of smooth zooming, without any stiffness. However the concept for this shot is to zoom out whilst the camera is moving towards an object, which should create a nice display and visual effect.
In this clip at 2.00 minutes, a zolly shot is used in 'Jaws, 1975, Steven Spielberg'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rW23RsUTb2Y

Close up
This particular shot enables the viewer to focus solely on the facial expression of an individual. For this shot I had to ensure the camera was in perfect focus, enabling a high quality shot which was intended to capture the details of the individual's facial expression.

Extreme Close Up
This shot focuses on one particular part of the subject which is being filmed/shot. For this shot I decided to focus on the eye as when it is focused on, it can be very visually effective.
In the link below, a ECU can be found at 2:42 from the film 'The Grey, 2011, Joe Carnahan'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvZTPfPMYNA

Mid Shot
The MS enables the viewer to concentrate on the subject's facial expression and body language. This creates a much more detailed perspective on the subject, and therefore the viewer takes gains more information.
'The Guvnors, 2014, Gabe Turner' - Throughout this clip there are several mid shots used.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DXsi7bzp2Q

Long Shot
Similarly to the MS, the LS allows the viewer to focus on the body language mainly but also the facial expression of the subject in the shot; However in the long shot, the subject is surrounded by Mise-en-scene and whatever is in the shot, is extra information that can be absorbed by the viewer.

Extreme long shot
The ELS focuses not only on the participants in the shot, but also their surroundings and mise-en-scene, the shot is constructed to generate meaning and purpose and leaves the viewer with information to obtain from it.

Pan
The pan shot is used to rotate the camera left or right horizontally, with this shot you can follow any object with the camera remaining stationary, although it can also be used to generate the image of the scenery in a shot. For my 'Pan shot' I panned into someone sitting on a bench whilst they remained still, I ensured I remained in focus and captured the bright woodland background behind the bench.
In this clip, at 0.27 an example of a Pan shot can be found from 'The Big Bang Theory, 2007, Mark Cendrowski'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MUY3hLC8JQ

Zoom
The zoom shot allows you to magnify the shot you are focusing on and therefore goes from a long shot into a much closer shot capturing more detail for the viewer. For this shot I again focused on an individual sitting on a bench whilst he was holding a bottle

Tilt Shot
For this shot, the camera pans vertically instead of horizontally like you would for a normal pan shot. This is used often to objectify or show a certain object that would not be seen in a shots such as close ups/ mid shots. In the link below, an example can be found from 'Drive, 2011, Nicolas Winding Refn.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6UMbyvi_bA

Over the shoulder shot
An over the shoulder shot allows the viewer to view the subject from over another individuals shoulder, often showing them engaging in conversation.
From 0:13 onwards, an over the shoulder shot is used to show two individuals in conversation in 'The Worlds End, 2013, Edgar Wright'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVcpasQyRHY

Experimenting with the DSLR - Pull Focus

For this shot I was shooting at 1600 ISO in a dark environment. I made sure I was in Manual focus mode whilst shooting so I ensured that the model was completely focused upon. The aperture was set at 5.6 in order to get the right lighting. I also shot this footage with shutter speed at 1/50, enabling a realistic film look.

PULL FOCUS

For this short shot I was experimenting with the technique to Rack pulling (Pull Focus) in which I initially focused on the objects in the background and then I adjusted the focus manually to capture the object extremely close to me.

Reflection:

I am still getting to grips with using a DSLR. I am slowly learning new features which will enable my footage to look clear and 'Film like'. Today I learnt how to alter the ISO on the camera which changes the sensitivity of the image sensor in the camera; changing the ISO also affects the noise in the image, the higher the ISO the more 'Noise' the image will contain. Which is shown in the image below.

How effective were my videos?
I felt in particular that my pull focus video was effective due to how focused the shot is. I also feel as though I got the exposure just right and therefore the shot has been captured in good lighting.

With my first video, the tilt shot, you can definitely tell that it has been shot in 1600 ISO due to the grain and the lines that appear. This is because it was shot in a dark room, because of this, as I increased the ISO the quality of the shot deteriorated.

Strengths 
In my pull focus shot I managed to smoothly adjust the focus.

With my Tilt Shot I was not completely pleased with the end result, however I felt I was able to catch a clear image in a dark environment by altering the ISO.

Weakness
In my Tilt Shot video, although I was using a tripod, I still found the shot quite shaky, therefore next time I would use a fluid head tripod due to them being much more sturdy creating a more professional shot.

Problem Solving 

With the tilt shot, the room was so dark I had to ensure the ISO was at a high level to increase the lighting in the shot, so therefore the quality of the shot decreased. Next time I would use a light source, such as a portable LED light.

Shot Types & Examples

Unit 31

Shot/Reverse - Two shots edited together that show alternate characters typically in conversation.

In this scene Jesse Pinkman and Hank Shrader are engaging in conversation. A camera has been placed above both of the participant's left shoulder, showing that they are both facing one another. 

180 Degree Rule - Two shots edited together that alternate people involved in conversation. Characters will often look right in one frame, and left in the next frame.

This season featuring flash backs shows the typical rule of 180 degrees which is often found in the American Sitcom, The Big Bang Theory. As a large part of the show is based on the characters sitting on the sofa watching television, the camera is often placed where the TV would be and this enables the camera to follow the 180 rule as they can still focus on the characters when they leave the sofa, which can be shown in the clip.

30 Degree Shot - The rule that the camera must move at least 30 degrees between shots of the same object in order to avoid jump cuts.

Cut In shot -A cut-in shot is a close-up shot of something visible in the main scene. A cutaway shot is a shot AWAY from the main scene.

Cross-Cutting - technique most often used in films to establish action occurring at the same time in two different locations.

Establishing Shot - A Long shot or an extreme long shot, showing the entirety of a scene of object.

This short scene from Shawshank Redemption shows an impressive establishing shot of the prison and surrounding grounds before it shows Andy the main protagonist inside the bus on his way into the prison which has just been displayed to the viewer.

Match On Action - One shot cuts to another shot portraying the action of the subject in the first shot.

Temporal Overlap - 

Kuleshov Effect -An effect demonstrated by Soviet filmmaker Lev Kuleshov in the 1910s and 1920s. It is a mental phenomenon by which viewers derive more meaning from the interaction of two sequential shots than from a single shot in isolation.

Einstein Montage - 

Eisenstein believed that film montage could create ideas or have an impact beyond the individual images. Two or more images edited together create a "tertium quid" (third thing) that makes the whole greater than the sum of its individual parts. Reference- http://moodle.kinged6nun.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=19, www.youtube.com

HNC Enrolment Task Part 2

HNC Enrolment Task- How lighting affects camera techniques for moving image.

Light can change Subtly during the day or dramatically from location to location. This is why white balances are so important to preserving true colour. Understanding the warmth and coolness in degrees kelvin of different light sources will help you not only to correct light, but to correct it for exactly the right mood.

The Complete Guide To Digital Video- Controlling Light- Ed Gaskell- 2003

The Complete Guide To Digital Video- 3 Point Lighting- Ed Gaskell- 2003