I believe cinema to be an art form, reasonably modern and an incredibly popular atmosphere to watch moving image, or ‘film’. It has developed into a very mainstream business, with films constantly being churned out to the masses, however there are opportunities to watch some of the old greats that have been released; ‘Une Femme Est Une Femme’ is one of them.

Directed by Jean-Luc Godard, and filmed in Paris, France, it is a highly successful Comedy/Drama, and, despite there being no songs throughout the film, it is also regarded as a Musical. Coming in at just under 90 minutes long, starlet of the film ‘Angela’ seduces and engages us; ‘Angela’ is a Parisian stripper who wants a baby immediately, however her boyfriend ‘Émile’ isn’t quite so keen on the idea. Throughout all the bickering, Angela decides if she’s not going to get this baby from Émile, then she’ll have to try his best friend Alfred Lubitsch instead.

The characters put before us become very loveable one by one; Angela being our favourite purely for her beauty and the way she dances before us. She charms the entire audience, looking deeply into the lens, winking and letting out a cheeky smile upon every opportunity. Émile and Alfred are both admired more-so for their convincing friendship, providing us with incredibly humorous jokes and looks to the camera. This being said, as Humans we are all exceptionally open to voyeurism; watching people go about their daily lives and their interactions with other people comes as immensely interesting to us, so just overlooking the characters relationships keeps us absolutely engrossed.

Godard has also done an exceptional job at directing these characters. The positioning, the setting, the costumes, and the exact moments chosen in which the characters interact with the camera have all been thought-out and all blend together to form a perfect, and for it’s time, modern piece of film. The actual filming itself also contains some cinematic techniques, such as wide camera pans from side to side, varieties of shot/musical edit, and ofcourse that voyeuristic touch to make the film that little bit more of a personal insight into the characters lives. ‘Une Femme Est Une Femme’ is Godards first colour film, and contains that inspirational quality to make you want to go out and begin making films too.

I, as a young artist, look to this movie for inspiration and ideas; I now want to especially focus on my orientation of images, and how I could position some of my drawings or paintings in an eye-catching format. It’s also made me realize how much I love the 60s Parisian culture; it’s incredibly free-spirited and 'ideal'.

           

‘Une Femme Est Une Femme’ is a beautiful piece of cinema, and leaves you with a feelings of exploration, intrepidness and happiness; it lifts all negativity, despite longing to live a life like that of Angela, which sadly I don’t think is as possible or atleast as easy these days. 

It's been a long time since last posting; in my last week of being at college, i wasn't so much at college but instead working on the christmas project from my flat, and doing all sorts of pre-christmassy things, such as meeting up with friends and celebrating. I also had Leo up for a short while which was really really lovely, we went christmas shopping together and just overall had a lovely time snuggled in the warmth :o)
Christmas holidays were mint, despite the absolute mass of hours i had to spend in my first week at Waitrose. Was nice to serve the old customers i used to see many times, but nonetheless were the days far too draggy. Plus i got a filthy flu off some fucker which hit me on the 27th.
Christmas day was spent with the family, basically everyday thereafter was spent with my darling, including New Years, in which he decided to lowe all plans and stay in and look after me. :o)


Back in London from the 5th. It took about a week to actually sort my life out and get back into some sort of routine. Being back at work is no fun but it'll be nice to get some money in again. Also being back at college has been lovely, as much as i didn't really touch any form of work over christmas, it's nice to get creating again and getting back into the habit of just drawing and making. I ended up choosing the figurative project, and worked on images of my friends i had previously taken;

New project now, entitled 'Noise'. The brief suggests we look into different cultural magazines and such to do painting/drawing studies from. I have chosen 'Heat', merely for it's take on celebrating celebrity culture. I feel this will probably lead me into some sort of project focusing on socialites and different pieces of media which may interest me and inspire me to create more. As much as i haven't done so much to begin with, i'm sure the rest of the project will motivate me into getting plenty of work done and i could create some really interesting pieces.


The past couple of Wednesdays have also been cinema days in which CCW meet to watch some artsy fartsy films. This week was 'The Long Goodbye' and the previous week was 'Slacker'; out of the two, my favourite being 'Slacker' due to some of the topics and issues raised in conversation; it was interesting to listen to but not something i'd necessarily choose to re-watch. This next week, we also have a gallery visit after to attend which could be interesting. I'll post more about each film and my thoughts after then, as well as an update as to how this project is going. It's sunday and i'm too sleepy to really even think...


my sleeping pattern needs to sort it's fucking life out.