Contextual Studies Evaluation

Before writing my contextual studies essay, I carried out some research into the French New Wave, 1960s France and the events that were effecting society at the time so that I could gain some knowledge of what the films I would go on to analyse were about. I also looked at new wave movements in general in order to gain an understanding of the impact that movements like the Nouvelle Vague had. I chose the French New Wave in particular because I thought it was more challenging and more exciting, being about a completely different culture than my own. I didn't already have much knowledge about 1960s France, nor any French directors, film makers or actors, so I found researching all of these things very interesting and rewarding. 

I chose to focus specifically on the works of one filmmaker, Jean-Luc Godard, who is arguably the most famous of the Nouvelle Vague. 

In regards to the methods and techniques that I used, I took a great deal of inspiration from Jean-Luc Godard. After watching his three films, I noticed that there were several techniques and methods that he used consistently throughout his work. This included jump cuts which are often thought to have been invented by Godard, who first used them in his arguably most famous film 'Breathless'. I used jump cuts in my film, most noticeably in the scene where my character is looking through the yellow telescope. I think that this is effective because it makes the film looking rough and choppy, which was the style of the new wave in a nutshell. I also used hand-held camera movement for the duration of the film rather than using a tripod because this made it look quite unplanned and spontaneous. Many new wave filmmakers, including Godard, started out with a very low budget and sometimes didn't have equipment such as tripods to hand. They also aimed to make their work look spontaneous and exciting, with Alexandre Astruc saying that 'filmmakers should make use of their equipment spontaneously, flexibly and personally, as a writer uses a pen'. The shot types I made use of included establishing shots, mid-shots, close ups and long-shots and I filmed both people and objects throughout. I wanted to make my film as interesting and visually exciting as possible, so I thought that using a variety of shot types would be beneficial. 

I also made use of as many  camera movements as I could, however, I mainly included panning shots as I felt that it made the narrative flow a lot more evenly.