American New Wave research

The term American New Wave has been used to refer to at least three generations of American filmmakers. The first, emerging in the 1950's in New York, were concerned with realism and a truthful depiction of American society at the time. The second, often called the New Hollywood generation, rose to prominence in the late 1960's, bringing a new set of values representative of the counter-culture, and an aesthetic influenced by the French New Wave. More recently, in the late 1980's and 1990's, a new generation of filmmakers.
American New Wave is also referred to as New Hollywood or post-classical Hollywood. This refers to the time from the late 1960's (Bonnie and Clyde, The Graduate) to the early 1980's (Heaven's Gate, One from the Heart) when a new generation of young filmmakers came to prominence in America, influencing the types of films produced, their production, marketing and the way major studios approached filmmaking. The director in New Hollywood films took on a key authorial role. They introduced subject matter and styles that set them apart from the studio traditions that an earlier generation had established during the 1920's-1950's. New Hollywood has also been defined as a broader filmmaking movement influenced by this period, which has been called the Hollywood renaissance.

Notable films of American New Wave:

Bonnie and Clyde (1967)

The Graduate (1967)

Planet of the Apes (1969)

Easy Rider (1969)

Midnight Cowboy (1969)

A Clockwork Orange (1971)

Paper Moon (1973)

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)

Taxi Driver (1976)

Jaws (1975)

Major figures of American New Wave:

Martin Scorsese

Stanley Kubrick

Peter Bogdanovich

Miloš Forman

Dennis Hopper

George Lucas

Terrence Malick

Mike Nichols

Roman Polanski

Sydney Pollack

Ridley Scott

Steven Spielberg

Notable actors of American New Wave:

Woody Allen

Robert De Niro

Danny DeVito

Faye Dunaway

Jane Fonda

Jodie Foster

Richard Gere

Goldie Hawn

Dustin Hoffman

Steve McQueen

Jack Nicholson

Al Pacino

Christopher Reeve

Susan Sarandon

Roy Scheider

Sissy Spacek

Donald Sutherland

Christopher Walken

Gene Wilder

Techniques of American New Wave:

Trippy dream sequences.

Rapid-fire editing.

Camera angle changes less than 30 degrees, having a disorientating effect on the viewer.

Sudden/jarring cuts.

Public locations.

Natural light.

Improvised plot.

Improvised dialogue.

Diegetic sound, including mistakes and intrusions.

Long tracking shots.

Handheld camera.

Here is an extract from the documentary Cutting Edge, focusing on the rules of editing in the American New Wave, featuring Bonnie and Clyde and Easy Rider.