Jake Butterbrodt - Final Project

The Visual Style of New Hollywood

The end of the 1960s marks a distinct change in filmmaking style in Hollywood. Many films of this period borrowed freely from distinctly different artistic modes than the traditional Hollywood movie. More experimental visuals were used, and many techniques were taken from the European art film model. One film that uses such art film techniques was 1967’s Bonnie and Clyde. Especially during the opening sequence that introduces Bonnie, the lighting and cinematography brilliantly show the influence of European technique.



I have attempted to recreate the overall aesthetic of the first minute of the film with these photographs. The shots in the opening of the film feature very bold cinematography, and stark high contrast lighting, both of these elements attracted me to choose this as my visual project. I enjoy working with lighting to create highly contrasted images that are emotive and experimenting with strange camera angles or interesting composition choices. For those reasons, this seemed like a great project to undertake.

What really interests me about Bonnie and Clyde is how it meshes the European art cinema techniques with the established tropes of the classical Hollywood mode of filmmaking. The way the camera follows her throughout the first portion of the scene is also reminiscent of Hollywood filmmaking. However, when she reaches her bed the compositions change dramatically, the close up on her eyes in particular is more in line with European art films than Hollywood. The lighting used in the scene is very stark, and highly contrasted; again, this is something that is utilized in European films. These are the elements in the scene I really wanted to capture with my photographs; some element of the lighting technique, and the camera angles used throughout, both the more traditional ones and the more art film stylized ones.

Bonnie and Clyde was a highly influential film for many reasons. Visually speaking, the film marked a transition in American filmmaking towards using more elements from a European mode. I find it interesting and inspiring that the filmmakers of this generation looked outside what was happening in America to make a change and created a particular niche for themselves in American filmmaking. For me Bonnie and Clyde is one of those films that is particularly inspiring.


Bibliography:

Cook, David A. Lost Illusions: American Cinema in the Shadow of Watergate and Vietnam. University of California Press, Ltd: London England, 2000

“Bonnie and Clyde.” Internet Movie Database. 8 Dec. 2007. Keywords: Bonnie and Clyde
Bonnie and Clyde. Dir. Arthur Penn. Writ. David Newman & Robert Benton. Perf. Warren Beatty, Faye Dunaway