Codes and conventions of other genres.

Although there are not many codes and conventions of French New Wave I have looked at other genres which influenced many French New Wave directors.

Film Noir:

Film Noir cinematography is often distorted, skewed and uncomfortable to look at.

• Low and high angles.
• Extreme close-ups.
• Deep focus.
• Depth of field.
• Reflections, views and faces obscured through objects.
• Use of Dutch tilts* or irregular framing shots.

*Dutch tilt, Dutch angle, oblique angle, German angle, canted angle, or Batman Angle are terms used for a cinematic tactic often used to portray the psychological uneasiness or tension in the subject being filmed. A Dutch angle is achieved by tilting the camera off to the side so that the shot is composed with the horizon at an angle to the bottom of the frame.

Film noir locations used everyday urban settings to make what was happening seem more real to the viewer. Moved from crime movies only happening at the wrong end of town and dodgy areas to everyday locations.

They used high contrasted images and dark black and white, (few greys).

Italian Neo-realism:

Before the indies and even before the French New Wave, Italian neo-realism staked out new cinematic territory. One of those blanket terms that mean all things to all people, neo-realism has few absolutes, though there are elements that set the Italian version distinctly apart. Screenwriter and poet Zavattini wrote an actual manifesto to guide these films, but their creation was just as much a result of timing, chance and fluke.

Stylistically, Italian Neorealism was:

1. an avoidance of neatly plotted stories in favor of loose, episodic structures that evolve organically
2. a documentary visual style
3. the use of actual locations--usually exteriors--rather than studio sites
4. the use of nonprofessional actors, even for principal roles
5. use of conversational speech, not literary dialogue
6. avoidance of artifice in editing, camerawork, and lighting in favor of a simple "styless" style.

Codes and conventions I found in trailers.

Many of the French New Wave's favorite conventions actually sprang not only from artistic tenets but from necessity and circumstance. These critics-turned-filmmakers knew a great deal about film history and theory but a lot less about film production. In addition, they were, especially at the start, working on low budgets. Thus, they often improvised with what schedules and materials they could afford. Out of all this came a group of conventions that were consistently used in the majority of French New Wave film including:

• No sound, apart from diagetic. (Excluding 'Made in the USA' which has no sound what-so-ever.
• Usually black and white, this will reflect how low budget and raw the film is.
• The actors are all in french.
• Long-distance shots.
• Cut edits, jump cuts.
• Lighting is natural and not manipulated.
• Long tracking shots.
• Strong narrative.
• Reflecting economic and political issues.

Many of these conventions are commonplace today, but back in the late 1950s and early 1960s, this was all very groundbreaking. Jump cuts were used as much to cover mistakes as they were an artistic convention. Godard certainly appreciated the dislocating feel a jump cut conveyed, how here was a film critic-turned-first-time director who was also using inexperienced actors and crew, and shooting, at least at first, on a shoestring budget. Therefore, as Nixon once said, mistakes were made. Today when jump cuts are used they even feel more like a pretentious artifice.