Read the article I handed out in class. Choose a 5 minute scene in Breathless and respond to the following quote. Be sure to write at least 2 paragraphs. Respond to each others' posts. Here's the quote:
"This basic sequence of events is the minimal thread of continuity that holds the filmic narrative together. However, causal development and character motivation in the traditional sense are relatively loose. While the film does not reject narrative conventions as a whole, it goes a long way towards weakening the tight-knit structure and explanatory mechanisms affiliated with dominant narrative. The film's visual construction works even more aggressively against conventional film style. It systematically departs from the aesthetic guidelines and rules defined by continuity editing, relying variously on long-take sequences (often shot with hand-held camera) and jump cutting."
Jump cuts were the first thing I noticed when watching Breathless. A jump cut is an interesting work of film editing magic that makes it appear as if you are jumping forward in time. There is no real other hidden meaning to jump cuts other than the appearance of time change and to do so in a more abrupt and less seamless way than what we had seen prior to the era of such films as Breathless. If asked to define a jump cut I would say that it is when you have one shot and you cut to a new shot that varies slightly but just enough to disorient the audience. Another unique aspect of Breathless is the lack of a tight narrative. I'm the type of person that typically enjoys a film with a straight story that's easy to understand, but still interesting, so when I watched Breathless I was a little bit lost. I just believe that Godard tried a little bit too hard to be unique with Breathless.
ReplyDeleteOne instance in which I really liked the use of jump cuts was the scene where we saw Michel lecturing Patricia in the car and throughout the scene we always saw the same shot orientation (backseat of the car handheld shot of the back of Patricia's head) but the background of the shot was changing about every 2 seconds as Michel rifled off quip after quip. I liked the use of jump cuts in this instance because while it still disoriented me it maintained my understanding of what was going on unlike other times due to the balance behind maintaining the location in the backseat of the car. At a certain point in the scene Patricia begins to ignore Michel and so after every sentence Michel says there is a jump cut to another shot of Patricia ignoring him and looking at herself in the mirror for example. This is interesting because Godard manages to use jump cuts while also maintaining an attempt to continue the narrative by showing the changes in the relationship between Michel and Patricia. I particularly liked the end of the scene when we cease to hear Patricia and Michel talk while we just hear music as they drive throughout scenic Paris, it provided a slightly rough and thus unique transition into the next scene of the film.
this movie is known for its jump cuts. the jump cuts in this film happen between just minimal seconds unlike what it usually does. the definition of a jump cut is “an abrupt break in the continuity of a film scene created by editing out part of a shot or scene”. in films it usually jumps between longer times but in Breathless its quick. i was used to seeing jump cuts as they usually are so when i watched breathless i thought it was really weird and i also thought it was wrong. I thought why would they possibly do this its ruining the film, but as i kept watching it it seemed cool kinda natural. it got points across a lot faster because there were no long pauses between talking it was just quick cuts to get to the next sentence making what would be a long conversation shorter.
ReplyDeletei think a scene most noticed was the car scene when Michael is driving Patricia around the city. the camera only stayed on her but we knew Michael was driving. But Patricia kept asking questions and doing her hair or doing her makeup. but between all these this there was a cut. Patricia stayed in the same place but her surroundings were different. so we as a viewer knew that she didn't do this things simultaneously but took her a while to do it seeing that every location was different. if there wasnt these jump cuts we would probably watch a 20 minute car ride but because of it we see one and a half minutes and the points get across just the same. its only more noticeable because she stayed in the same position and so did the camera. we would give little thought to it if i just cut from the car to her arriving at her destination.
Jump cuts are extremely prominent in Breathless. They are used frequently to move action along in a quick and interesting way, a tactic that at first appears bumpy and rough, by midway through the film becomes very pleasant and captivating. Jump cuts function as an extremely handy tool for Godard, livening up what could be a boring scene, such as when Michel and Patricia are in the car together and he's angry at her, but she is ignoring him, fixing her hair in the mirrors and doing her own thing. This scene had potential to be very boring, but the jump cuts from location to location, maintaining the same setup in the car attracted any focus back to the film that could have been distracted during a slow point. The same is true at the beginning when Michel is alone in the car.
ReplyDeleteA very interesting scene for its jump cuts is the bedroom scene. Michel and Patricia go from the bed to the bathroom, back to the bed, over to the corner of the room, basically everywhere in the room imaginable through jump cuts. One interesting use of a jump cut in this scene is when Michel tells Patricia that he will stare at her until she looks away and then she says that she will do the same. This puts them in a sticky situation because one of them will have to look away first, but Godard solves this issue through a jump cut to the two kissing. This same technique is used many times throughout the scene and the entire film in order to end a conversation or a sequence to speed the narrative along while still having enough digression to keep the film from becoming too intense or too boring. Jump cuts can be very cool to watch and Godard does them very well.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteJean Luc Godard challenged conventional filmmaking with his masterpiece, Breathless. Breathless contains many aspects of film technique that Godard used to make it appear unconventional and new. The most readily apparent aspect is the loose narrative. However, the story, or lack thereof, is not the only aspect of the film that goes against mainstream cinema. The other aspects lie in cinematic strategies that Godard used throughout the movie. Discontinuity editing plays a big role in the film as well as open framed shots throughout the entirety of the film. Throughout the movie there is a, “minimal thread of continuity that holds the filmic narrative together. However, causal development and character motivation in the traditional sense are relatively loose.”
ReplyDeleteThe way Godard achieved such editing was with the abundant use of jump cuts throughout the film. There is one scene in particular that uses such shots. This is when Michel and Patricia are riding in the car, one of many times such a sequence occurs. The characters are in slightly different positions in the foreground and the background has changed completely after a jump cut. Also, the camera angle changes during a jump cut. The viewer is aware that this is still the same scene because the characters are not repositioned drastically. In the case of the jump cuts in the car, the location the characters are driving in changes completely as well as the camera angle, but, the character placement and the car both remain the same. This type of cut indicates a brief “jump” forward in time and the disorienting nature of the cut tells the viewer that little time has passed and that they have not missed anything significant.
It is true that the basic sequence of events drives the loose plot of Breathless from the very beginning. Unlike many films, Breathless does not start with a bang in the normal sense but instead begins to characterize Michel and create conflict. We as viewers are almost eased into the conflict and brought to side with Michel’s way of life through this. By using jump cuts, which create a fast and upbeat tempo and also show a lot of cinematic space, the narrative is moved on more quickly. In the opening of the film we see Michel, cut to a girl, his accomplice, an off duty police officer; part of the main conflict, and then Michel steals his car. We see characterization and conflict right away.
ReplyDeleteDriving with Michel is another way that we are able to essentially bond with him as a character. There is happy music playing, he is singing, and jump cuts once again provide us with feeling as though he has been driving for quite a while by cutting to different locations in the same shot through the front window of the car. Also Michel speaks directly into the camera which is in the passenger seat which is meant to make the viewer feel perhaps as if they are right there with him. This once again sets up the conflict by almost creating a friendship and an appreciation of Michel which we find many times throughout the loose events of the story to be frustrating. Why won’t Patricia love him? Why does he have to die? These are things that are built upon our opinion that he is a nice guy, perhaps misunderstood but we know he is funny and witty which is something built from the first scene and propagated by the following events.