1950’s Britain was an important decade for British films as a protest occurred against the mainstream cinema scene. Britain’s free cinema’s mostly played short films that were black & white with similar conventions to documentaries and reality TV. The British free cinema was funded by the BFI (British Film Institute) however this movement caught on in France as they had cinemas that were free and played short films as well, one cinema in particularly was called ‘Cinema verité’.
“Cinéma vérité” followed the British documentary/reality TV style of filmmaking, with the use of experimental naturalistic techniques with editing and camerawork, they also tried to use of the camera to provoke subjects/issues. In French the term‘Cinema verité’ means "truthful cinema".
Within the 1950’s working class people were treated unfairly as they were regarded as criminals and low lives. The release of the film “We are the Lambeth Boys” changed this stereotype as it focused on the working class people that no other film had done before. Karel Reisz was a founder member of the free cinema documentary film movement. His film “We Are The Lambeth Boys” was made in 1958 and was created due to the influence of protest cinema, itwas a naturalistic depiction of the working class people, it was unusual as it showed the leisure life of working-class teenagers in the 1950’s. The success of film allowed the BBC to make two follow-up films about the same people; these follow-ups were broadcasted in 1985.
When Producing these types of short films the production crew which were usually unpaid used 16mm bolex cameras, these cameras are the same cameras used to create “Meshes in the Afternoon” (1940’s) This shows little technology progression for filmmakers between the 1940’s – 1950’s.
Referencing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANb3l-jRfh0&feature=PlayList&p=4C6C47EB2D1CB79A&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=2
No comments:
Post a Comment