Italian Neorealism & French New Wave: Impact on Film Industry - Essay Sample

Introduction

The Italian Neorealism and French New Wave are the most significant movements in the filmmaking industry in the early 1940s and late 1950s. The neorealism movement was first incorporated into the filmmaking industry of the Italian critics in the 1940s. Thus, Italian Neorealism is the foundation of neorealism in filmmaking. Italian Neorealism had a significant impact on the whole of Europe. It particularly influenced and motivated young producers in France leading to the birth of the French New Wave. Therefore, the new wave is the movement in the filmmaking that was born as a result of the motivation and aspiration of young filmmakers in France. The paper examines how the two changes compare and contrast as well as discussing the significant role they played in the development of filmmaking.

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The Italian Neorealism movement in the filmmaking employed real characters in the production of the films. Rossellini, who was one of the pioneer producers of the action, introduced the use of real-life characters in the filming as opposed to the traditional filmmaking that relied upon professional actors (Bordwell, 477). For example, he uses a factory worker in the film "The Bicycle Thief." The real-life characters were an essential component of the movement since they gave a clear connection between the film characters and the real social and political aspects of life.

The neorealism was mainly known for its high sound quality developed through sound dubbing. Sound dubbing enables the filmmakers to explore real-life filmmaking practices like shooting real-life events rather than working studio films. As a result, the filmmakers were able to pull actions of various characters depending on their economic, social and political lives in the real setting. However, neorealism had a unique approach to developing its story. Neorealism employed intrusion scenes in the storytelling (Bordwell, 479). The story never seems to end and was always leaving viewers with uncertainty and speculations.

The neorealism movement had a production and artistic appeal that opened up the film industry for more creativity. Filmmakers realized the necessity to use not only professional actors in their films but also to use non-actors and letting characters act in reality settings. They also adopted the natural lighting in the movie. These were the same approach to the lighting systems used by the neorealism movement as opposed to the studio setting and lighting. The neorealism also introduced accidents and digressions which other filmmakers incorporated into their screenplay. The move of leaving the story unresolved for views to ponder on possible outcomes was particularly useful to developing filmmakers.

Towards the end of 1949, there was a lot of censorship and pressure from the government that led to the beginning of the end of the neorealism movement. Nevertheless, there was a development in the film industry in Italia that shifted filmmaking in Italia. There was large-scale film production in Italia that hindered the ability of the neorealist to survive in the film production.

The French New Wave movement was created by a group of French young filmmakers and producers in France in 1959 (Gazetas, 202). Unlike the Italian Neorealism, the wave movement focused on short films with unique goals and objectives. The movement introduced acting, directing, and scriptwriting techniques that were from documentary films. The French New Wave grew from critics and attacks that these filmmakers made on the existing traditional French filmmakers and directors. The neorealist had a significant impact on the French filmmakers who admired and implemented several techniques such as shooting practice and actors' selection. Due to the innovation and youthful strength of these producers, they made significant changes in the filmmaking practice. As a result, they were known as the new wave.

There is a close correspondence between the production techniques of the neorealist and the new wave since the latest wave admired the production works of the Neorealist (Cook, 365). The new wave borrowed the real setting shooting practice of the neorealist in their filmmaking rather than the traditional studio shooting (Gazetas, 204). Thus, both of the movements opposed studio filmmaking and employed actual settings in their hunting. They both used available lighting sources as opposed to the bright studio lighting when shooting the films.

However, the French New Wave used handheld cameras that were cheap and effective for capturing moving shots. Eclair developed these cameras to make documentary films (Cook, 360). Therefore, the on-location shooting, handheld cameras, and small crews that were made up of non-professional actors were significant features of the French New Wave movement. They created short films and exploited the real-life characters. Thus, the French New Wave borrowed the practice from the documentary film shooting and incorporated it in the filmmaking practice. Unlike the neorealism, the new wave employed casual humor and constant references from other Hollywood films.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the Italian Neorealism focused on approaches that concentrated on authenticity and inner social and political reality of actors in their films. They wanted to draw real-life experience into the film. Therefore, filmmaking would be a real-life encounter rather than a mere illusion created in studios. The French New Wave closely follows the same approach. They employ two doctrines in the filmmaking process. First, they use long takes that relied on time and space rather than the montage. They also used the camera as a means of personal expression and a reflection of life experiences in education and communication. Therefore, the two movements explore the moral and social aspects of life through the real characters in their filmmaking.

Works Cited

Bordwell, David. On the history of film style. Harvard University Press, 1997.

Cook, David A. A history of narrative film. WW Norton & Company, 2016.

Gazetas, Aristides. An introduction to world cinema. McFarland, 2008.