Jean-Luc Godard's ' Breathless' (À bout de souffle) (1960), Billy Wilder's ' Sunset Blvd' (1950)

I really didn't get Breathless that much but I did like a few things about it. When Michel steals the car at the beginning of the movie i like how the camera jump cuts to show the passing of time as he drives with out us having to watch it all in its entirety. The one thing that got me on this though is that i swear that there's a random radio cut in the opening scenes as the music either continues without noticing the cut or cuts with the edit point or a bit after it. The thing is too that Godard actually makes Michel address the camera man or the audience and i think from memory that this only happens once which is a weird occurance. As well as this the thing i liked about this movie other than the other Hollywood movies when they film in a car is that for this movie they actually filmed the actor in the car on the road as well as out of the car as he drove by rather than just sticking the car in front of a rear projection screen and filming it that way. This film was also weird in the way it cut randomly or where you would think its not supposed to cut as well as cut to a close up of random objects without giving you any background information. The other thing about this movie it is like the editor did not know what he was supposed to be doing as for one shot the camera is static then begins to move then gets cut after it moves slightly, i thought that in professional circles that this was not supposed to happen. Other errors include the fact that there is little or no continuity what so ever, that dramatic music cuts in for no particular reason especially when its not dramatic at all and that actors are talking then its almost if more than half their lines are cut or we move forward 2 minutes for no particular reason. Lastly the thing i thought was funny is that in one scene the camera man runs into a plant accidently.

Sunset Blvd was a much better movie in terms of pretty much everything. Although we only saw snippets of this movie you could tell that this was much better made. I did like the use of camera flashes and 3 point lighting to create mood in this film as well as the use of a light holder that had four light bulbs in it to light Norma as she descends the stairs. The film is designed in a much better film than the previous one, the fact that the sets are intricately full of props add to its design values. The film also used camera techniques like pull focus and zooming to help create an elaborate narrative. I also liked although it was probbley not done on purpose the use of illusion to create colour in a black and white film. This is done by using small lines that when viewed from a distance the eye places smudges of colour into the white areas. Lastly i liked the beginning of the film the way that they do the credits on the footpath then pan up to cars approaching and manage to pan just as the car passes and then follow the car of into the distance. Because that this is one shot i think it would have been extremely difficult to get the timing right so the camera pans with the car.