a cultural/artistic movement in French cinema in the 1950-60s
an explosion of young individualistic directors who saw cinema as art and philosophy
began as a group of film critics and writers who focused on the philosophical and theoretical aspects of cinema.
They established the Cahiers du Cinema magazine to publish their thoughts and theories, in particularly the 'auteur theory'
'Auteur theory' - the belief that the director is the author of the film, and therefore should bear his/her personal individualistic characteristics and expressions in his/her films.
Techniques
a rejection of classical Hollywood-style montage filmmaking
the director's style overshadows the actual subject matter of the film. It's about 'how it was filmed' rather than 'what was filmed'.
compared to Hollywood, the FNW films tend to have longer cuts, slower pace of editing, use of digression, and strong authorial voice, allowing much room for reflections of the characters' internal emotions
less dependent on professional actors and editors
less dependent on a pre-planned script or storyboard, thus allowing more flexibility, turning the production into an improvised performance rather than an act-out of the script
shoot on location rather than studio -- realism
blurring the line between professional and amateur filmmaking, as well as fiction and documentary
some FNW films take advantage of the handheld camera to create a natural, documentary-like feel. Many films deliberately use natural lighting
famous for use of discontinuity editing (in contrast to Hollywood) esp. jump cuts
Legacy
offered an alternative to Hollywood-styled cinema
inspired new cinematic styles overseas e.g. Japan, Czechoslovakia, Britain, Thailand, Brazil
offered a theoretical basis of all Film Studies to this day, esp 'auteur theory' and the intellectual analysis of film as an art form
