1960 Jean-Luc Godard ~ Breathless

I'll cut to the chase, I didn't find the film very interesting. I appreciate the fact it was made on a $50,000 bugdet and the Parisan street scenes were filmed by a man in a wheelchair who was pushed around by Godard. It was a subtitled film which I didn't find a problem, I have only ever watched one other subtitled film, Amelie. Due to the time period that the film was produced in they didn't have the facilities available that directors have today. I can't say I've watched many 1960's films due to the fact I prefer films in colour as I feel I am getting the full experience of film watching. However,  I like the fact that due to the film being produced in Black & White it gives a different light on a city thats usually seen in colour. The different tones shown throughout the film also reflect the different angles at which the camera was positioned at.

The film is set in Paris and all aspects of a normal day to day life are present, getting up, going to work etc. Michael Poiccard murdered a motorcyclist and is now on the run from the police. He comes back in contact with a friend he had previously met a few weeks earlier, Patricia Franchini. She is a young, elegant and respective young woman. Poiccard face is all in the local papers so he having to be very sly in his moves. His aim is to collect a debt from an acquaintance, Franchini, and then for him and her to getaway to Italy in hope of not being caught for his prevous action. Patricia learns about Michaels previous criminal history from the police and makes a decision that will change both their lives.

I didn't appreciate the way that Michael (main character) treated Patricia. Patricia wasn't treated with respect by Michael as he constantly thought about sex and would ask her why she wasn't giving it to him and she would just simply slap him around the face and stand up for herself and her rights as a woman. I find this very disrespective and now that in todays culture and society woman are treated with equal rights to men and aren't spoken to in such disrepect as Michael did to Patricia.

Michael & Patricia ~ Breathless

Visiting Wolverhampton Art Gallery

Today after handing in my Trading Card for Visual Communications I went and visited the Art Gallery to complete the task set on Wednesday session on Intro to Art & Design in Contextual Studies. I looked at a range of work from the Georgian Period, BP Portrait Award Exhibition and the Ed Ruscha Exhibition. I find that particularly liked the work by Ruscha, especially his piece "I plead insanity because I'm just crazy about that little girl" Pastel on paper. This is because it's a striking piece and the text colour and background go well together in order to create a well constructed piece.

His print " Rooftop" Series #1 I found was a very professional silver/gelatin print which grabbed my attention as the text on the roof is the first thing I saw then I realised that there was a featured car in the background. The greyscale tone of this image gives a great effect and makes the print more eye-catching.