On CINEMATIC DIRECT ADDRESS - Part One: Mapping the Field

CINEMATIC DIRECT ADDRESS Part One: Mapping the Field - Video by Catherine Grant

This entry has been superseded by the following, later FSFF entry so why don't you head over there straightaway?

On Friday March 1, 2013, Film Studies For Free's author had the very great pleasure of interviewing Tom Brown, Lecturer in Film Studies at Kings College, London, on the subject of direct address in the cinema, a topic he knows a huge amount about as author of the only book completely dedicated to it: Breaking the Fourth Wall: Direct Address in the Cinema (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2012) [It's up already - you can find it here].  You can read the preface to Tom's book online here (PDF), check out another article he uploaded about it here, and visit his wonderfully illustrated Tumblr on the topic here.

The recorded interview will be presented in two parts here at FSFF: part one is above and part two -- "YOU LOOKING AT ME? On Buñuel's LOS OLVIDADOS" -- will follow soon in a separate entry accompanied, as is this blog's wont, by a full compendium of links to further online scholarly studies of this (of course not exclusively) cinematic phenomenon.

In the period of time between recording this interview and completing the editing of it for this blog, Leigh Singer's great video 'supercut' on breaking the fourth wall (see below) was published, to merited acclaim, at PressPlay. Singer's essay -- which uses examples from a number of the same films as FSFF's video, is a hugely witty, skillful, and highly thought-provoking accompaniment to it. If you know of any further videographic studies of cinematic direct address, or indeed any other good resources, please let FSFF know about them via the comments.

Thanks! Yes! You there!

Breaking the 4th Wall Movie Supercut by Leigh Singer

A compilation of scenes and moments from films that all "break the fourth wall" - that is, acknowledge (usually directly to the camera, and therefore the audience) that they're part of a movie. The term comes from the imaginary "wall" at the front of the stage in a traditional three-walled box set in a proscenium theatre, through which the audience sees the action in the world of the play.

The montage includes 54 different films (some used more than once) from perhaps the very first example of breaking the fourth wall right up to today. There were so many other great examples I couldn't find room for (sadly, The Dude and The Big Lebowski's narrator don't abide here), I'd love to hear which 4th wall breakers you'd also include. Email me on leigh@singer-leisinger.com, or @Leigh_Singer on Twitter. Look forward to hearing your comments!

Articles from the New Review of Film and Television Studies

Images from The Story of Adèle H. (François Truffaut, 1975) and The Piano (Jane Campion, 1993) - two films referred to in Agustín Zarzosa's article 'Jane Campion's The Piano: melodrama as mode of exchange'

Film Studies For Free was very happy to hear that the excellent journal New Review of Film and Television Studies is now offering free access to a great selection of essays, including a recent offering by Thomas Elsaesser on Avatar, and translations from Christian Metz's book Impersonal Enunciation.

As well as the marvellous aforementioned items, FSFF also highly recommends the articles by Mette Kramer and Agustín Zarzosa.

All freely accessible material is linked to below. 

• Cinema and the two cultures: Robert Lepage's La face cachée de la lune by Sylvie Bissonnette

• Introduction to Christian Metz's Impersonal Enunciation, or the Place of Film by Cormac Deane

• James Cameron's Avatar: access for all by Thomas Elsaesser

• The embrace of Mother Nature: appraisal processes and the regulation of affect in attachment genres by Mette Kramer

• Impersonal Enunciation, or the Place of Film (extracts) by Christian Metz and Translated by Cormac Deane

• A lightning-image of the kaleidoscope: a review of Päsi Valiaho's Mapping the Moving Image by Imola Mikó

• The narrative structuring and interactive narrative logic of televised professional wrestling by Aaron J. Petten

• Review of Jeremy G. Butler, Television Style by Barry Salt

• Jane Campion's The Piano: melodrama as mode of exchange by Agustin Zarzosa

On Godard and Philosophy

Trailer for Deux de la Vague/Two in the Wave, an in-depth analysis of the relationship between French New Wave pioneers François Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard, as seen through rare archival footage, interviews, and film excerpts — written by former Cahiers du Cinéma editor Antoine de Baecque and directed by Emmanuel Laurent. Read more about this film here.

Thanks to the very wonderful Girish Shambu, Film Studies For Free was lucky enough to hear of a special issue of the Journal of French and Francophone Philosophy on Jean-Luc Godard. The table of contents, with direct links to all items, is given below.

For more reading (and viewing) on Godard, do please check out FSFF's last post on this filmmaker in December 2010.

Journal of French and Francophone Philosophy, Vol 18, No 2 (2008-2010) 

Special issue on Godard and Philosophy, co-edited by Burlin Barr and John E. Drabinski 

Table of Contents

• 'Philosophy as a Kind of Cinema: Introducing Godard and Philosophy' by John E. Drabinski

• 'Schizoanalyzing Souls: Godard, Deleuze, and the Mystical Line of Flight' by David Sterritt
  

• 'Happiness is Not Fun: Godard, the 20th Century, and Badiou' by Michael Walsh

• 'The Audible Life of the Image' by David Wills

• 'Shot and Counter-shot: Presence, Obscurity, and the Breakdown of Discourse in Godard’s Notre Musique' by Burlin Barr

• 'Pedagogy of the Written Image' by Jonathan Lahey Dronsfield

• 'Modernism as a Misnomer: Godard's Archeology of the Image' by Gabriel Rockhill

• Notes on Contributors

Coup de foudre: François Truffaut links

Antoine et Colette (François Truffaut, 1962) also see here and here

Film Studies For Free's human avatar watched François Truffaut's Antoine et Colette (1962) at the weekend and it was love at first sight, that is to say, cinephilic déjà vu, like the first experience of watching Les Mistons (1957), or even Les Quatre cent coups (1959), all over again...

Enough impenetrable solipsism, already: let's get back to FSFF's regular stock in trade.

Below are links to some great, scholarly Truffaut resources - mostly essays, freely available to all online. Merci de clicquer!

Please do be sure, also, to check out the magnificent events and screenings which form part of 'The Nouvelle Vague - 50 Years on', organised by University of London Screen Studies Group and the AHRC-supported French Cinema in Britain Research Project at the University of Southampton, to be held at the Institut français/Ciné Lumière in London later this week (conference programme HERE).

• Acquarello, 'Death in France: Liebestod and The Green Room', Senses of Cinema, June 2000
• Dudley Andrew, 'Jules and Jim', International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers, Vol. 1: Films, 3rd ed. (Detroit: St. James Press, 1997)
• Howard S. Berger and Kevin Marr, 'The Bride Wore Black (François Truffaut, 1967)', Destructible Man, November 20, 2007
• John Conomos, 'Truffaut's The Four Hundred Blows, or the Sea, Antoine, the Sea', Senses of Cinema, June 2000
• Jonathan Dawson, 'Mississippi Mermaid', Senses of Cinema, 2008
• Georges Delerue on his musical scores for Truffaut's films
• Georges Delerue on his friendship with Truffaut
• Bruce Eder, 'Two English Girls', Criterion Collections Film Essays
• Danny Fairfax, 'Illusion 24 frames per second: François Truffaut's La Nuit Américaine', Senses of Cinema, 2005
• Daria Galateria, 'Jules and Jim: An Amorous Cyclone', Bright Lights Film Journal, Issue 23, December 1998 (trans. AK Bierman; originally published in La Repubblica, 9 July 1997)
• Juan Carlos González A., 'François Truffaut- Profile', Senses of Cinema, January 2003 (trans. Tristan Vasquez; originally published in Spanish in the Revista Universidad de Antioquia No. 269 (Medellín, Colombia, July–September 2002)
• Rhys Graham, 'Because of Tenderness: Thoughts on the Performance of Jean-Pierre Léaud', Senses of Cinema, 2000
• Dan Harper, 'La Peau douce, Senses of Cinema, March 2004
• Richard Harrison, 'The Adventures of Antoine Doinel, Dir: Francois Truffaut, France, 1959, 1962, 1968, 1970 and 1979', Scope, November 2004
• John Hess, 'La Politique des Auteurs', Jump Cut, no. 1, May-June 1974
• John Hess, 'La Politique des Auteurs Part 2', Jump Cut, no. 2, July-August 1974
• The Alfred Hitchcock/François Truffaut Interview tapes, numbered 1-25, at If Charlie Parker Was a Gunslinger,There'd Be a Whole Lot of Dead Copycats (gathered and posted by Tom Sutpen)
• Diane Holmes and Robert Ingram, François Truffaut, (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1998) limited preview via Google Books
• Annette Insdorf, 'The 400 Blows', Criterion Collection Film Essays
• Kent Jones, 'Antoine and Colette', Criterion Collections Film Essays
• Maximilian Le Cain, 'Love in Flight: Francois Truffaut's La Peau Douce', Senses of Cinema, June 2004
• Kevin B Lee, 'Les deux anglaises et le continent / Two English Girls (1971, Francois Truffaut)', Shooting Down Pictures, 24 Jun 2008
• David Melville, 'Duet for Three: Les Deux Anglaises et le Continent', Senses of Cinema, 2008
• Richard Raskin, 'A Note on Closure in Truffaut's Les 400 Coups', P.O.V, Number 2, November 1996
• Mike Robins, 'Baisers volés/Stolen Kisses, Senses of Cinema, March 2004
• Marjorie Rosen, 'Truffaut’s trifle in Day for Night', Jump Cut, no. 1, 1974, p. 13
• Charles Thomas Samuels, 'François Truffaut (Interview)', originally published as "Encountering Directors", Paris, September 1 and 3, 1970, Euroscreenwriters added March 10
• Charles Taylor, 'Tout Truffaut', Salon.com, April 2004
• François Truffaut, 'A Certain Tendency of French Cinema', originally published in
  Cahiers du Cinéma, no. 1, January 1954
• Bob Wake, 'Review of Truffaut by Antoine de Baecque and Serge Toubiana [1999]', Cambridge Book Review, Issue #4, Winter 1999-2000
• David Walsh, 'The films of François Truffaut', World Socialist Web Site, 25 October 1999
• Fredrik von Zweigbergk, 'Fifteen Years Gone By: A Review of François Truffaut by Diane Holmes and Robert Ingram', Film-Philosophy, vol. 4 no. 2, January 2000

Also see:

• 'François Truffaut: A Bibliography of Materials in the UC Berkeley Library'
• The Official François Truffaut website
• François Truffaut videos at YouTube
• Catherine Grant, 'Film directing in La Nuit américaine/Day for Night: agency within constraints', Directing Cinema, 10 September 2008