The Long Shot

 

 

 

This shot has to be one of my favorite stills from this movie.  This is a long shot of Antoine and his friend are running along the street with the typewriter that they stole.  I find some humor in this shot because these kids seem so out of place, running down the street with a typewriter and you can sense this because the shot includes the bystanders in the background.  You can see their face and the fact that they are finding the while situation odd as well.  I also like the movement that is caused by the birds.  As the children are running with this stolen item, you would think they would want to maintain a low profile.  Instead, they are running and causing this huge disruption for the birds.  As they run through the center of their gathering, all the birds take off, causing a huge commotion which does nothing but draw attention to them.  This shot gives the viewer a sense of chaos, confusion, and urgency by allowing the viewer to take in the whole surroundings of the character including the bystanders, the buildings and the birds.  There is not one specific item in this shot that is more important then another item.  Together, as a whole they form the important picture. 

 

The High Angle Shot

 

 

 

I think in general, the high angle shot is one of my favorite film techniques.  It is like the viewer is a peeping tom; sitting in a tree looking down and spying on the happenings below.  In this specific shot, the kids are trying to unload the typewriting on an individual who will pawn it for them for the cash. They are trying to act inconspicuous because this is obviously against the law.  This shot allows the viewer to be a vouyerer into the underground world of black market typewriters.  As a viewer, it seems like you are getting away with something taboo and this is a perfect sentiment to depict in this exact moment in the film. 

 

 

Some Side Notes 

 

The next set of stills are just something I came across that I felt visually explained the constant struggle for Antoine in being the adult versus the child.

 

 

In this shot, Antoine is trying to return the typewriter he stole form his father's office.  He is caught by the night watchman.  What I find really striking is that Antoine looks like the typical "tough guy" you see adult actors playing.  I immediately thought of Humphrey Bogart in all his tough guy roles.  Compared to most male leads, Bogart was on the shorter end on the height spectrum.  He entered the Navy in 1918 at the age of 18 and was listed as 5'7 & 1/2. 

 

 (Humphrey Bogart - 1942)

 

Edward G Robinson was constantly casted as the though gangster guy and he measured in at 5'5.

 

 (Edward G Robinson - Mid-Late 1930's)

 

 

 James Cagney is another cinematic tough guy who was also only 5'5.

 

 (James Cagney - 1931)

 

 Take a close look at these "tough guys" and a close look at Antoine.  This image of Antoine in the fedora is in my opinion, the directors attempt to show Antoine as the "tough guy, gangster, bad guy" adult that people were so used to seeing in American movies.  The way Antoine's hat is tilted is very similar to how all the "tough guys" wore their hats in the American films.  The look in Antoine's eye is also similar.  He is very much being depicted as the adult in this still. 

 

Now take a look at this picture.

 

 

 This is still our same Antoine who just above was looking like the tough guy adult.  here we see him not too long afterwards and even in the same hat and clothes he looks completely different.  He looks young, innocent, vulnerable and looking as if he just wants direction and love and affection.  It is as if Truffaut was explaining that in his own childhood, no matter the image he was portraying he was just a young kid, looking for love and affection. This for me was truly the point were Truffaut used the camera to express a very personal and vulnerable side of himself and his own childhood. 

 

I just loved this movie.  It was visually stunning and a bit heartbreaking. 



 



400 Blows - Art Imitates Life

Antoine is the main character in the film.  He is a young man boy roughly the age of 13.  Hus reality is that the people who should be caring for him, his mother and step-father (the only real father he has ever known), are more childish then responsible parents.  For example, we see Antoine come home from school.  He is a latchkey kid so he gets things ready for when his parents come home from their jobs.  He puts coal in the heater and sets the table for dinner.  Then he sits down to start on his homework.  Only a few minutes after starting his homework his mother comes home.  She shows no affection towards her son, but insteads ask him if he picked up the flour she asked him to get.  When Antoine says no, the mother is annoyed and asks why and where was the list she gave him.  He gives a rather typical kid response saying he lost it.  So she sends him on his way to the store to get some.  On his way back, he meets up with his father.  He is carrying a spot light.  he picked it up second hand and is going to use it for the auto club he belongs too.  It is as if the parents are the children.  They care more about their extracurricular activities like the dads auto club and the mothers affair then the child.  The mother "works late" instead of being home to help her child with his homework or have dinner ready and the father is out spending money if frivolous things like spot lights.  The money could be used to afford a bigger place so Antoine didn't have to sleep in the hall way. 

I am a stickler for black and white films.  For me, the use of contrast, highlights, lowlights, and shadow evokes feelings in a way that is very rarely achieved in color films. This was evident all through out Francois Truffaut's movie, 400 blows. 

The contrast between black and white can almost be exclusively related to the contrast of good and evil.  This is evident in both balk and white films and color.  The bad guy in the western movies always wore the black hat, the good guy wore white.  In Star Wars both Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine wore black while Princess Leia and Luke Skywalker wore white.   

There are scenes in the movie that are specific to this contrast.  One example is that there is a shift between Antoine wearing a black sweater versus a white one.  In the beginning Antoine is wearing a black sweater and we see him get caught in class passing around a pin up.  The teacher punishes him by standing in the corner and when all the other kids go out to recess, he has to stay back.  During this time he partakes in some deviant behavior and writes some nonsensical verse on the wall.  This upsets the teacher even more so he gives Antoine even more homework. 

Antoine never gets around to finishing his homework.  The next day he and his friend skip school.  He needs an excuse in order to be allowed back in to class the following day.  When the teacher confronts him about why he was not in school Antoine states his mother died.  The teacher is shocked and gives him a pass. A classmates rats Antoine out to his parents and they show up in class to see if he is still there.  His father slaps him in front of his classmates.  After class Antoine tells his friend that he no longer feels he can live at home.  He decides to run away.  His friend sets him up in his uncles printing press and gives him some clothes.  This is where we see Antoine for the first time put on a white sweater.  It is as if he has a guilty conscience for what he has done and the white represents that innocence and guilt. 

Antoine jacket is a mix of dark gray and lighter gray.  This seems to represent the struggle that Antoine faces; he can be good and lack any attention or affection from his parents, or, he can be bad and at least get some sort off acknowledgement, even if it is negative like a beating it is something.

Another point in the movie where the contrast of light and dark happens not short after this shot.  People arrive at the printing press so Antoine leaves out in the night out of fear of being caught.  He is walking around trying to keep warm.  He comes across the milk delivery guy.  he delivers three cases of milk to a business.  Antoine steals a bottle.  He runs into a dark alley and hides out in a corner.  He pulls the milk out of his jacket.  The milk is extremely white against his jacket.  For me, milk is the first thing we get from out mothers.  When a mother feeds her baby, be it from the breast or the bottle, it is supposed to be a very intense bonding moment between mother and child.  This bond appears to be missing for Antoine.  The only time you really see his mother take interest is when he catches her kissing another man while he was skipping school.  This is the happiest you see Antoine.  When his mother talks to him and opens up a little bit about herself, and later, when they all go to the movie as a family. 

The theme of innocence was very prevalent for me all through out the movie.  This is largely due to the fact that there is a theme of lost innocence with the role reversal that takes place between Antoine's parents and himself.  It kind of made me sad to think that at such a young age that his one true time of feeling free, alive, with a world of possibilities laid before him was when he escaped the juvenile home and ended up at the ocean.  Only then did it seem that he was free to be who he wanted to be.  Sad to realize it took him being completely alone and vulnerable at such a young age to come to an understanding that this could be a fresh starting point for him to re-establish himself.