Topic 3

Lecture: Alphaville and New Wave Cinema
Alphaville is a film which was directed by Jean-Luc Godard in 1965, right in the middle of the french new wave era. It is unconventional (both now and when it was released); a strange combination of science fiction and film noir (no special effects were used) and set in the future on a distant planet which ironically looks exactly like 1965 Paris. This is precisely the reason why it is considered an important contribution to french new wave cinema. Although it didn't appeal to me or keep me entertained, I can see why it works and how it was groundbreaking for it's time.

Tutorial: My Experience with Communication Technologies
During this week's tutorial we were asked to make a link list of other people's blogs on our own blog. We were also asked to make a post about how we use new communication technologies to communicate with friends and family. For me, I use myspace daily to communicate with the majority of my friends and I use email occasionally to write to my uncle whom I rarely see. I also use my mobile to talk to a few of my friends, although it is usually through text messaging. Even at work, if I need to contact my boss or someone that I work with it is almost always through text messages.

Reading: Alphaville and New Wave Cinema
We had numerous readings which were required of us this week, including various essays on french new wave cinema, Jean-Luc Godard and Alphaville. The readings were given to us to assist in our understanding of the film Alphaville which was viewed in this week's lecture. They all highlighted the fact that the film was distinctly groundbreaking and impressive for it's time. I feel in reading these essays I have obtained a better understanding of this particular genre of film and without reading them I think I would have had a much more difficult time understanding what was going on in Alphaville.