Dir. Arthur Penn
John Schlesinger
Dir. Martin Scorsese
The 'American New Wave' or 'New Hollywood' was a period of time from the mid 60's to the early 80's when the prominent film studios fell into obscurity and a wave of new, mostly young filmmakers come to prominence. These film makers had heavy influence over the way films were made and also the types of issues and themes that they tackled. The films were often low budget B films as the directors didn't have the huge budgets from studios to back them, and a lot of characteristics of American New Wave style is born out of this lack of funding. Examples of this are the use of regular people (non actors), handheld camera shots, and shooting on location rather than the big purpose made studios previously filmed at.
Dubbed the "New Hollywood" by the press, their films were mostly financed by the major studios, but they introduced subject matter and styles that set them apart from studio tradition. They re-worked and re-imagined some of Hollywood’s classic genres – such as the crime film, the war film and the western – and by so doing, presented a more critical view of America past and present.
The films that came out in this era were not perfect: experimentation and mistakes were common and plentiful, and this new mindset and approach to creating films is something that largely inspired the new young film makers of the current generation. Before World War II, the French new wave directors looked up to American film makers and were influenced by them, and then they were actually able to make movies which led to the French new wave. After this, the studio system collapsed and the new American directors were in turn influenced by the French, and although a few of their techniques carried over, it was mostly the approach and the freedom to express taboo subject matter that infiltrated the new films.
Dubbed the "New Hollywood" by the press, their films were mostly financed by the major studios, but they introduced subject matter and styles that set them apart from studio tradition. They re-worked and re-imagined some of Hollywood’s classic genres – such as the crime film, the war film and the western – and by so doing, presented a more critical view of America past and present.
The films that came out in this era were not perfect: experimentation and mistakes were common and plentiful, and this new mindset and approach to creating films is something that largely inspired the new young film makers of the current generation. Before World War II, the French new wave directors looked up to American film makers and were influenced by them, and then they were actually able to make movies which led to the French new wave. After this, the studio system collapsed and the new American directors were in turn influenced by the French, and although a few of their techniques carried over, it was mostly the approach and the freedom to express taboo subject matter that infiltrated the new films.
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