DOGME 95

Hiii guys..This time I thought of writing an article which I wanted to share with you guys for a long time..But now my blog is the platform to tell about this…This article is somewhat technical. But I will try my best to make it simple and interesting.

         First of all, what is Dogme 95? Nice name na…Way back in 1995, a group of Danish film makers decided to come up with an idea of low budget film making. While I was browsing through internet last year I came across a movie called Festen. It is a Danish movie and only by researching on that movie I found out that there is something called as Dogme 95. They say that Dogme refers to Dogma which means a Group or an organization. So what is this Dogme 95 is all about. It is like a Manifesto wherein they have a set of rules to follow to make a film. This manifesto mainly works only in Denmark among Danish films. You will be surprised to read the rules..Their main aim was to reduce the production cost for a movie mainly the post production work is avoided in the films which comes under this Dogme 95 manifesto. You will feel very sad for the director if u start reading the rules..There have been only a handful of movies based on this rules and the interesting part is that the first movie under this manifesto was Festen which was released in 1998. And it generated very positive reviews and it stands at 223^rd rank in the top 250 movies at imdb.com and it is rated 8.1. After giving the rules I will explain how these rules were implemented or followed in that movie. It was really surprising to me because after reading the rules I saw the movie and correlated each and every scene to the rules mentioned in the manifesto.

          The rules are also given in many websites like Wikipedia..Here I am giving it in ma own words. There are 10 rules for a movie to come under this manifesto. The rules are as follows. Read it carefully. You will find it very interesting..

1.       Director’s name should not be credited anywhere in the movie. Enna koduma da ithu..hehehe. Remember I told you will pity the guy??

2.       The shooting should take place in a location where all the properties required for that particular scene should be present there..No props should be hired or brought from outside to the shooting spot..This is very challenging na..This reduces a lot of Production cost. For example if there is a scene to be shot in a house and they need a dining table in that house which is not present. So, the team is not allowed to bring in the dining table from outside as it may lead to travel and other expenses..Instead their duty is to choose a location which has all props inbuilt in it.

3.       Camera should be Only Handheld. The camera man after the shooting is complete I guess he should opt for a 1 month bed rest. Hehehe..This mainly saves time.

4.       There should not be any murder or crime scenes in the movie. Also usage of Weapons should be avoided. Yipeeee...so no violence..

5.       There should not be any sound produced artificially other than the natural or the so called live sound. Whatever sound or audio captured at the shooting location for the scene should be used as it is..This is really difficult..

6.       Lighting should also be natural and there should not be any special lighting used.

7.       Special effects are not allowed. Hahahah, this rule was mainly written to challenge Hollywood film makers..

8.       The most important one is that there should not be any change in locations often. The entire story should take place in single City. Generally in movies one day the hero will be speaking to his lover in Los angles and the next day he flies off to Rome to assassinate or capture someone. The best example is Quantum of solace which was like a world tour for Daniel craig..hehehe

9.       The Film Format should be 35 mm.

10.   The cinematographer should not use any optical filters. The main purpose of using it is to eliminate unwanted light and also to bring a different lighting pattern to a particular scene.

These are the set of rules..Interesting na..Have u noticed what is the main theme of this manifesto. The purpose is not only to produce a low budget film but the film maker should concentrate more on the Script and the actors performances. They should not let the audiences to feel bored. Now I would like to tell you about the First movie which was produced under this Dogme 95 manifesto.

Movie name: Festen (The Celebration) 1998

Language: Danish

Country: Denmark.

This is the first movie which was filmed keeping in mind the rules of the manifesto. I was very much surprised while watching this movie. Starting from the first scene the Camera was handheld, there was no extra lighting used, No special effects, It was so raw and natural. Yes Of course you could check this out. The Director’s Name was not mentioned anywhere, not only in the film but also in external websites. There was violence in the film but there was not weapons used..Each one in the movie will be shouting like a hell.

           This is the only Film in the world I guess which has come out with such a daring storyline. It’s all about a family get together and the secrets of the family are revealed there by their family members. You could feel a sense of tension throughout the movie..Very daring movie..

I conclude My article by giving the link to download this movie..I hope you would have enjoyed reading this article..c ya in next article..byeeeeeee 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxLGFlyZuwk&feature=related 

Imdb Link : http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0154420/ 

Link to Download this movie : http://btjunkie.org/torrent/Festen-dvdrip-xvid-Dogme-avi/290825118ee9f2a197e5e03384431a8b318089d38551