Production Goodbye to Language

scenes film shot on nyon lake front off of lake geneva.

godard first announced plans film during 2010 cannes film festival, when said title adieu au langage. in november 2010 interview, joked wanted cast humphrey bogart , ava gardner, , said s man , wife no longer speak same language. dog take on walks intervenes , speaks. revealed interest in 3d , possibility of using own dog in film. godard wanted cast major stars in lead roles , asked sophie marceau , vincent cassel play couple. cassel refused , godard decided use unknown actors instead. year godard had contemplated retirement, according longtime cinematographer fabrice aragno cannot live without making films.

filming took place in switzerland, including @ nyon near lake geneva , @ godard s home in rolle. godard worked minimal equipment , small crew, including aragno, godard s assistant jean-paul battaggia , young man ensures actors , props don t go missing , no passersby wander frame. equipment fit single van , included 2 3d cameras, handheld camera godard operated, sound recorder , umbrella. godard said prefers working small crews instead of larger ones there american films allowed have forty people. because, if there fewer of them, feel lonely. film s footage shot on four-year period.

godard wrote detailed script film included both text , storyboards; however, instead of traditional script, scenario consisted of series of written prose pieces jottings , ideas. kamel abdeli said had google references in script understand it, stating, couldn t read scenario – feel , @ it. actor daniel ludwig wrote alongside sibylline texts , master s own handmade collages , images, screenplay wildly, chaotically, wonderfully suggestive, artwork.

both female lead (héloïse godet , zoé bruneau) , male lead (kamel abdeli , richard chevallier) intentionally cast physically resemble each other. scenes bruneau , chevallier shot in summer, while scenes godet , abdeli shot in winter. actors waited 2 , half years begin shooting after first being cast due constant delays. after rehearsing 2 years, abdelli travelled paris rolle first day of shooting, discover godard had changed mind. bruneau s 2014 memoir waiting godard chronicles making of film. godard re-wrote scenes night before filming , allowed no improvisation on set, aside minor screen blocking. 1 such improvisation involved actress sitting in front of lamp, resulting in lens flare aragno called magic in 3d. godet said godard s direction precise , gentle, clear , no discussion it. there little rehearsal time actors, aragno took lot of time set each shot. french film historian florence colombani asked travel godard s home , act in film, discovered wanted film hands drawing cross of lorraine while spoke dialogue.

aragno said , godard did not want use 3d typical special effect or gimmick. instead, wished use express new things. several cameras used, majority shot on canon 5d , canon 1dc. other cameras included gopros , lumixes. aragno used leica lenses on canons because canon lenses perfect ... how can fall in love digitally perfect person? err human! leica lenses have involuntary imperfections. canon cameras allowed them shoot of film using natural or available light sources. godard intentionally framed shots 3d images, such when character s shadows in 2d sidewalk in 3d. dog in film godard s own pet roxy miéville, whom godard film whenever took him walk. godard used consumer cameras fujifilm , sony these shots. aragno shot footage independently before production officially began, including shots of 2 children running around olive trees.

aragno recorded sound during production , later sound mixer during post-production. godard edited 2d rough cut of film before , aragno worked on 3d final cut. godard edited first cut alone on hdcam. aragno said that:

when wants insert something, overlaps images ... jean-luc separates images s editing editing console. arranges screen perpendicular console there s nothing between him , image. has turn away make edit. decides edits quickly. after s seen footage, uses small thumbnails photocopied or printed images of each scene, , makes books, gluing each image page.

aragno used godard s first cut manually synchronize left , right images first 3d cut, said took time! godard disappointed cut, had mono sound , little color correction. on 18 march aragno arranged screening of 3d cut stereo soundtrack godard @ paris movie theater. aragno said edited 2d version of film layers 2 images double exposure , godard thought may version screened @ cannes film festival. godard had not seen 3d footage of film until screening , happy final result.

the editing of final cut took 2 weeks @ godard s home, nicknamed chez les anglais . godard , aragno set 3 synchronized computers, pro tools surround sound mix, da vinci resolve color correction , 3-d managing, , final cut play rendered davinci synched protools sound mix. idea mix, color correct, , edit @ same time in hd 3-d. edited 2 minutes session.

3d innovations


—erin whitney of huffington post describing first experimental separation shot of film.

shortly after finishing film socialism (and after success of american 3d film avatar) godard asked aragno shoot test footage in 3d. assistance battaggia , cinematographer paul grivas (godard s nephew), aragno researched , experimented 3d techniques , built own custom camera rigs. began using expensive panasonic camera had built-in 3-d , unimpressed results. in experiments arango concluded standard rules 3d cinematography ( can t more 6 centimeters between 2 cameras. if background , foreground far away, cannot good. ) not interesting. aragno built rig out of wood 2 canon 5ds, said more rough , expressive. in two-camera 3-d, cameras close minimize parallax. rig built, 2 5ds 5 centimeters apart, producing harder 3-d image. in rig, 1 of cameras upside down register sensors in same angle-of-view perfect or imperfect 3d, avoiding parallax , best effect both cameras. there no computers involved in calibration. hammer , chisel. artisan filmmaking.

aragno built rig 2 flip mino cameras allowed 1 of cameras pan. in test 2 children, aragno said he:

asked boy go kitchen on right, , right camera followed him , left stayed, 3d broke. girl in left eyes , boy on right. when in kitchen, brain didn t know how watch. hurts watch little, interesting, , when boy comes girl, 2 cameras again in classic 3d. showed jean-luc , decided use film.

aragno experimented distance between 2 cameras, moving them closer or farther away industry standard of 6 centimeters. aragno later told huffington post, began thinking making in 3d can in 3d ... 3d means 2 images, 1 left , 1 right, , both can together, can make 1 image different other.

this technique of separating 3d image has been called new shot in filmmaking, although partially comparable shots in first 3d feature film power of love. calum marsh of dissolve said vocabulary of cinema has been enriched. there new tool available filmmakers: new technique, jump cut before , , in previous films godard has been searching way unify ideas—to join disparate images create new one. shot realization. erin whitney of huffington post wrote moment innovative , unusual godard , cinematographer, fabrice aragno, didn t have name (aragno has referred shot separation, lack of better term). david ehrlich of dissolve has described technique choose own adventure shot , wrote rendering disparate images separate simultaneous, godard has found way viewers compare separate images @ moment see them. goodbye language argues every cut porous, , seeing looking, if s distracted memory. amy taubin of film comment called shot mindboggling, eyeball-dislocating, narratively profound sequence , reported after shot concluded audience erupted applause @ film s premiere during cannes film festival. jonathan romney of film comment said s in-camera magic of méliès vintage: piece of cheap trickery, brilliantly , carried off, finding hitherto unsuspected delight in simple improper use of 3-d.

aragno experimented 3d images in post-production. these included tests overlapping , combining 2-d , 3-d images. wanted encrust different images , work on different planes in space , mixing different 2d images create double exposure 3d images. godard later used of these tests in short film les trois désastres, included in 2013 omnibus film 3x3d.