Characteristics

• Handheld Cameras In French New Wave films, the camera moves a great deal, panning and tracking to follow characters. Portable equipments such as hand held camera is preferred to make mobile shots. In The 400 Blows, the camera explores a cramped apartment and rides a carnival centrifuge.

In Breathless, the cinematographer held the camera while seated in a wheelchair to follow the hero's winding path through a travel agency (11.32). This kind of camera style made some scene look like shaky and unstable but at the same time, it create a more spontaneous or realistic film style.

The making of Breathless 1960 with handheld camera.


 • Long Takes In this “long take”, the camera keep shooting a scene for long time. In long takes there is little or no camera movement to shoot a scene with no mistakes. For instance in Breathless 1960, the film goes from having two or three second shots with police and secondary character reactions to having seventeen or even fifty second intervals of Michel running. Instead of cutting to the end of the chase, Godard decided to prolong Michel’s running scene and let his audience feel the exhaustion the protagonist feels. This scene, shows the desire of French New Wave filmmakers to break with tradition and hone in on the aspects of film that can make the story feel real to their audience. The scene is look natural and realistic for the audience.

 Example of long takes in Breathless 1960.
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbmiRCh_OeQ

 • Jump Cuts French New Wave films do not practice continuity editing but use free editing style such as jump cuts. Jump cut is an abrupt cut between two shots that calls attention to itself because it does not match the shot seamlessly. The narrative is transposed from one time and space to another without any explaination such as a shot or voice-over.

The directors of French New Wave often drew attention from audiences by discontinuity, reminding them that they are watching a movie.

For example, in Breathless 1960, they used many jump cuts. Example of jump cuts in the video below.
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=diNUplP7GZ8

 • Location Shooting & Available Light The main feature of a French New Wave films is their casual look. Shooting on location became the norm. The directors choose put their settings in actual location compared to shooting in studio. The sound in French New Wave film is live recorded which was unusual during this era. The sound of some scene in Breathless (1960) is louder and some is softer. The glossy studio lighting was replaced by available light and simple supplemental sources. For example in Paris Belongs to Us, the setting was in dim apartment and grimy corridors.

 Michel and Patricia talking to each other at crowded street.

Retrieved from http://www.criterion.com/current/posts/2462-sight-sound-poll-2012-breathless

 • Improvised plot & Dialog The storyline of a French New Wave films is planned in a very short time and not planned well. Directors of French New Wave films often allow the actors to improvise dialogue and even to make changes in the plot. Actors were also encouraged to talk over each other to get a natural sense in the movie.The ending of the French New Wave films is usually ends ambiguously. For example, in the movie Breathless, 1960, the storyline was very casual as its planned on the shooting time but not during the pre-production.