1. British New Wave
Aims:
1. To understand the origins of British New
Wave film
2. To recognised the codes and
conventions of British New Wave
3. To understand how British New Wave
affected future productions
Objectives
1. Learners will create a synopsis for a
British New Wave film and explain where
it adheres to the codes and conventions
of the British New Wave

2. UK in the 1950s
• Post war affluence – “British
people have never had it so good‟
• Class divisions, eroded by war
started to resurface
• Lots of musicals
• Lean towards cinema „experience‟
• Free Cinema Movement
(documentaries)
• Working class people used as a
source of humour
Karel Reisz

3. Origins
• Lindsay Anderson – Co-founded
Sequence; wrote for Sight and Sound
and The New Staesman (a liberal,
leftist publication and wrote „Stand Up!
Stand Up!‟ – The British Film Manifesto
• Karel Reisz – Co-founded Sequence;
writer for Sight and Sound
• Free Cinema Movement (Lindsay
Anderson, Karel Reisz, Tony
Richardson)
• Out of these documentaries, came
socially realistic film, known as British
New Wave films, drected and written
by the „Angry Young Men‟
• Influenced by the 1930‟s documentary
movement

4. Angry Young Men
• Gritty social realism films
• Set in the north of England, in
industrial towns
• Belching chimneys, canals
• Not an advert for British life
• Focused on problems that
„working class‟ people might
encounter
• Regional dialect
• Non-professional actors

5. Themes
• Unhappy marriages John Hill (1999):
• Drinking
• Adultery [T]he novelty of the movement
• Unplanned pregnancies was largely conceived in terms of
“contents”(subjects) – of the
• Scrapping
presentation of the working class
• Generation gaps on the screen no longer as the
• Improvised lines stock types or comic butts of
• Breaking the fourth wall “commercial” British cinema, but
• Shot on location as “real”, “fully-rounded”
• Extras were often real characters in “real” settings (the
people regions, cities, factories etc.) with
• Handheld shots “real” problems (both everyday
and of the culture/
• Black & White
freedom/restraint,
• Desire to escape purity/corruption,
tradition/modernity,
affluence/authenticity).

6. Social Realism
• Usually focus on characters not found in mainstream films
• Marginalised characters
• This usually means, working class characters
• Shown in times of social and economic change
• There must have been the intention to capture the experience
of the event depicted
• The film-maker must have a specific argument or message to
make about the social world employing realist conventions to
express this
• Early social realism has been criticised as sexist, with women
faring particularly badly in British New Wave

7. The Four Rules
Raymond Williams on Social Realism:
1. Firstly that the texts are secular, released from
mysticism and religion
2. Secondly that they are grounded in the
contemporary scene in terms of setting, characters
and social issues
3. Thirdly that they contain an element of social
extension by which previously under-represented
groupings in society become represented
4. Fourthly there is the intent of the artist which is
mostly a political one although some artists have
used the genre as route into a mainstream film-
making career

8. Politics
• News Left – skeptical about
communism
• Concern moves towards
cultural politics, or, the
importance of culture in the
formation of class and
identity
• The New Left politics grew
especially among university
students – most of the angry
young men were uni students
• Wrote for The New Statesman Lindsay Anderson

9. Legacy…
• Martin Scorsese has
arguably been influenced
by BNW techniques –
“British film is something
that was formative for me”
• Modern British Film (Dead
Man’s Shoes, This is
England)
• Northern British bands
• Saturday Night, Sunday
Morning (1962)

10. Criticism
• Too short and lacking in quantity to be considered a „new wave‟
• Failed to achieve financial success
• Guided by personal ethos
• Artistically intelligent?
• Negative view of women – Badly treated
• Adheres so stereotypical gender roles
• Little representation of non-white citizens

11. TASK!
• Write a synopsis / treatment for a British New Wave film
• Consider the following:
• Location
• Main characters
• Themes – what is the story
• Occupation
• Shooting style