Lecture - Film - French New Wave Cinema

French New Wave cinema was very literal, (whilst Italians were becoming more playful in film), driven more by art movements and realism. The were against more manufactured set ups in film, such as using studios and special effects as well as over dramatising and setting things in the past. Instead French New Wave cinema focused more on ordinary life, filming things such as the streets of Paris and avoiding too much production. Ordinary speech therefore, was preferred to artificial dialogue.


The spontanaity and disgression applied to their filming process, such as collecting realistic sounds, allowed many to be made cheaply and quickly. By using handheld, light weight cameras and set up, French New Wave cinema has a distinctive natural look, which was added to with the use of natural light sources. 

The movement seems to often break the fourth wall and is keen on the viewer being aware they are watching a film, and not becoming too absorbed in it. By breaking the rules of editing and continuity, and have such things as jump cuts this seems to be achieved.