Terms

What is an 'auteur'?
- An auteur is filmmaker who has a personal style, such as gothic, and keeps thecreative control over his or her works. A good example of this is Tim Burton, who often uses the same style e.g. dark lighting, fantasy etc.

What is 'Cinema Verite'?
- Cinema verite is a movie that shows ordinary people being filmed in actual activities, without being controlled by a director. In other words, Cinema Verite is similar to reality tv/films. An example of this would be the film 'Paranormal Activity'. This is because it is a real movie, but shot in a documentary way.

What is 'avant-garde film'?
- Avant-gare film is an experimental film which descirbes a range of filmmaking styles, that are generally quite different from the practices of mainstream commercial and documentary filmmaking.

What is 'film noir'?
- Film noir is a used to describe stylish crime/thriller dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Film noir, meaning Black Film in french, gets its name from how it looks on screen, i.e. using low key lighting.
This video below is a perfect example of Film Noir.

What is 'French new wave' about?
- French new wave is a movement in French cinema in the 1960s that abandoned traditional narrative techniques in favor of greater use of symbolism and abstraction and dealt with themes of social alienation, psychopathology, and sexual love. It is of various new movements in cinema, especially one led by a group of experimental filmmakers.