BSA 106 (Screen Arts) Semester 2 Week 3 : La Jetée
La Jetée
This week we watched the short film La Jetée directed by Chris Marker and released as part of the French New Wave movement in 1962. The filmmakers did not have access to movie cameras with exception to one day of filming and because of this they opted to use still photographs instead. The addition of sound, dialogue and editing makes La Jetée feel much more like a movie than a series of photos.
Marker belonged to the Left Bank of The French New Wave, the filmmakers in this category were older than the young critics of The Right Bank (Chabrol, Truffaut, and Godard), and saw film as a medium more akin to literature and other arts. The Left Bank filmmakers were less passionate about the medium of film and this is reflected in their work, like how in La Jetée narration is very heavily used. The Left Bank was less successful and famous than their Right Bank counterparts because their experimentation was less specific to the medium of film. Still both sides became popular at the same time and appealed to the same audience, the reason we distinguish between the two is because of how different the filmmakers and their films were.
The film that was most obviously influenced by La Jetée is Terry Gilliam's Twelve Monkeys, this is what I immediately thought of when watching the conclusion unfold. 12 Monkeys is essentially a remake of La Jetée in terms of the narrative, which is interesting since it seems that everything inspired by Marker's experimental short film (which also includes multiple music videos) takes their influences from the narrative and visuals rather than the main technique - the use of still photographs.
I thought Gilliam would be the one who was directly inspired by La Jetée, since he is usually the one credited with the success of Twelve Monkeys, but upon some research I noticed that Gilliam was a director for hire on this project and that it was really the writers, David and Janet Peoples, who took their inspiration from Marker's short.
For me the most impressive part of the film was the way the director was able to tell such a large story with such a small budget. The limitations meant that the director had to opt for still photos instead of moving ones but this also meant that things can be represented without having to be directly shown. Examples of this is how the man travels back in time or the destruction of France, these are much easier to achieve with still photography.
During my viewing of the film I found myself intrigued primarily due to of the use of stills, this method of film-making is still very uncommon and was never really explored further, yet it seems to make a lot of sense if you're working on a tight budget. Editing is the most unique element of film-making and the La Jetée style is a good way of demonstrating that someone who may not have access to film-making equipment has the talent and ability to tell a coherent narrative. To me the movie showed how this director has the ability to tell his story in the medium of film. He demonstrated his ability in framing, lighting, editing and, most importantly, storytelling. There is even a sense of how the actors would move.
There are some things in the film that I didn't like, namely the narration. Given the method Marker used this made sense, but it still didn't feel very natural to me considering the medium. There are some scenes when the protagonist is being tested on that we hear the scientists whisper, as if we are in the room with them. This was something that I thought was very effective in making the movie feel more immersive, and a technique that I would have liked to see repeated. I believe that good sound design can make up for a lack of moving images.
The most powerful part of the film was of course when the woman started moving, but not simply because of the movement, but because of the fact that it is in a film that doesn't have moving images. It's similar to the use of slow motion or lack of camera movement in movies where the picture moves, it makes the audience stop, sit back and consider what the image means. This technique had a special power, and is used well during a section of the film that was becoming a bit slow.
Interesting Note: During the film, especially the opening credits sequence, I found myself imagining the movement. I've become so used to seeing images move in this kind story-telling that I began changing it in my head to better fit what I'm familiar with. The opening credits feels like something you would find in another movie, so I knew what it would look like when the planes started moving.
After seeing the film for the first time and thinking about it, I decided to look up others using the same, or similar, style. I discovered something called a "photo novel". I found some on YouTube during my research which were a lot like La Jetée but when I looked up "photo-novel" what showed up was exactly what the word sounds like - picture books.
This "photo-novel" is about a man getting trapped in a shower and his attempts to reach the key. It shares a lot with La Jetée, mainly being the technique but also the use of black and white and slow fades between pictures.
There is something lacking with the YouTube photo-novels I found though, and that is the narration. The absence of this makes the films harder to engage with as it feel slower in pace and it leaves the narrative feeling very bare-bones when compared to La Jetée.
This week we watched the short film La Jetée directed by Chris Marker and released as part of the French New Wave movement in 1962. The filmmakers did not have access to movie cameras with exception to one day of filming and because of this they opted to use still photographs instead. The addition of sound, dialogue and editing makes La Jetée feel much more like a movie than a series of photos.
Marker belonged to the Left Bank of The French New Wave, the filmmakers in this category were older than the young critics of The Right Bank (Chabrol, Truffaut, and Godard), and saw film as a medium more akin to literature and other arts. The Left Bank filmmakers were less passionate about the medium of film and this is reflected in their work, like how in La Jetée narration is very heavily used. The Left Bank was less successful and famous than their Right Bank counterparts because their experimentation was less specific to the medium of film. Still both sides became popular at the same time and appealed to the same audience, the reason we distinguish between the two is because of how different the filmmakers and their films were.
The film that was most obviously influenced by La Jetée is Terry Gilliam's Twelve Monkeys, this is what I immediately thought of when watching the conclusion unfold. 12 Monkeys is essentially a remake of La Jetée in terms of the narrative, which is interesting since it seems that everything inspired by Marker's experimental short film (which also includes multiple music videos) takes their influences from the narrative and visuals rather than the main technique - the use of still photographs.
I thought Gilliam would be the one who was directly inspired by La Jetée, since he is usually the one credited with the success of Twelve Monkeys, but upon some research I noticed that Gilliam was a director for hire on this project and that it was really the writers, David and Janet Peoples, who took their inspiration from Marker's short.
During my viewing of the film I found myself intrigued primarily due to of the use of stills, this method of film-making is still very uncommon and was never really explored further, yet it seems to make a lot of sense if you're working on a tight budget. Editing is the most unique element of film-making and the La Jetée style is a good way of demonstrating that someone who may not have access to film-making equipment has the talent and ability to tell a coherent narrative. To me the movie showed how this director has the ability to tell his story in the medium of film. He demonstrated his ability in framing, lighting, editing and, most importantly, storytelling. There is even a sense of how the actors would move.
There are some things in the film that I didn't like, namely the narration. Given the method Marker used this made sense, but it still didn't feel very natural to me considering the medium. There are some scenes when the protagonist is being tested on that we hear the scientists whisper, as if we are in the room with them. This was something that I thought was very effective in making the movie feel more immersive, and a technique that I would have liked to see repeated. I believe that good sound design can make up for a lack of moving images.
The most powerful part of the film was of course when the woman started moving, but not simply because of the movement, but because of the fact that it is in a film that doesn't have moving images. It's similar to the use of slow motion or lack of camera movement in movies where the picture moves, it makes the audience stop, sit back and consider what the image means. This technique had a special power, and is used well during a section of the film that was becoming a bit slow.
Interesting Note: During the film, especially the opening credits sequence, I found myself imagining the movement. I've become so used to seeing images move in this kind story-telling that I began changing it in my head to better fit what I'm familiar with. The opening credits feels like something you would find in another movie, so I knew what it would look like when the planes started moving.
After seeing the film for the first time and thinking about it, I decided to look up others using the same, or similar, style. I discovered something called a "photo novel". I found some on YouTube during my research which were a lot like La Jetée but when I looked up "photo-novel" what showed up was exactly what the word sounds like - picture books.
This "photo-novel" is about a man getting trapped in a shower and his attempts to reach the key. It shares a lot with La Jetée, mainly being the technique but also the use of black and white and slow fades between pictures.
There is something lacking with the YouTube photo-novels I found though, and that is the narration. The absence of this makes the films harder to engage with as it feel slower in pace and it leaves the narrative feeling very bare-bones when compared to La Jetée.
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