New Wave Film Evaluation

Upon Completion of my Dogme 95 text, I believe it was successful in portraying the conventions of the Dogme 95 movement, with heavy technical inspiration from Thomas Vinterberg's 'Festen' and Ake Sandgren's 'Truly Human', which is evident through the use of flash-panning (inspired by Truly Human) and through defiance of the 30 degree rule (as seen in Festen), with one cut actually having the camera not move at all. Due to the little time I had and the non-existent budget, I could not produce a stereotypically 'Dogme' narrative in the essence that it was not about a shocking, taboo subject, as seen throughout Festen through the means of child abuse, so I instead produced a text based around the ideas of paranoia and isolation, and how these can cause a frantic, erratic lifestyle, and I believe the style of filming and editing within the Dogme 95 movement portrays this message quite clearly. The slow shutter speed causes a lot of motion blur within the film, which is something I was looking for when producing the film, as this can be seen throughout Dogme texts, as when shooting with 35mm there is often quite a bit of motion blur. Unfortunately I was not able to use a 35mm camera as I was limited to the equipment I had at hand and had no budget, so therefore used a DSLR and adjusted the settings to allow for the best Dogme look I could gain. As I was creating a text based on the Dogme 95 movement, I could not experiment with lighting or add any colour to the scene, as this would be subverting the rules of the manifesto, so all lighting in the text had to be natural, therefore certain scenes are under-exposed due to lack of lighting. I also decided to produce the title sequence through just writing down the name of the film. I also decided to incorporate rolling dice into the film to add an element of randomness and luck, so I decided to produce the 'Dogme certification number' through rolling dice. Unfortunately, the  actual Dogme movement ended over 10 years ago, therefore I was not able to gain actual certification, but this would have severely added time to the pre-production, as I would have to wait for the film to be certified before filming. All sound and imagery was produced from the camera itself, as I did not use any professional recording equipment, however the microphone on the Canon 700D is significantly better than the base microphone on any camera I have experienced before, as there is very little that the microphone was unable to pick up. overall, I am very pleased with my text, because in my opinion it perfectly displays the rules of the Dogme movement.

New Wave Film

Little Brother

Freud- Structure of the Personality

Sigmund Freud's psychoanalytical work is renowned worldwide as influential, most commonly the idea that everyone's personalities consist of 3 distinct parts: the Id; the ego, and the superego.

The Id:
This is the element of the psyche built on irrational desires, containing the libido, natural instincts and even aggression. This pat of the mind is unconscious, therefore we have no control over it.

The Ego:
This element represents the conscious mind, and the choice between rationality and irrationality, between control and the uncontrollable. The Ego represents the balance between right and wrong, and the balance between choosing between what is best for us and what we want to do

The Superego:
This part of the psyche is also unconscious, but this is the representation of moral authority, of a conscience. This is our grounding with the real world, and is often developed based on what a child's parents tell them what is right and wrong.

In terms of in film, these elements can be seen throughout narrative cinema, often with characters in a film representing elements of the psyche. Often a film's protagonist will represent the Ego, and there will be a reckless character which often gets them into trouble, representing the Id, and a parent figure will often represent the Superego, as they often bring the character back to earth. This is clearly displayed in David Fincher's 'Fight Club', with The Narrator representing the Ego, Tyler Durden representing the Id, and at first the self help groups representing the Superego, as they give The Narrator a sense of security and allow him to sleep at night, with this Superego later developing into the various Fight Clubs. Another text which displays the theory of the Id, Ego and Superego is Ferris Bueller's Day Off. In this film there are 3 main characters, Ferris, Cameron and Sloane. Ferris represents the id, as he skips school and convince Cameron to borrow his dad's car, clearly showing the reckless traits of an Id. In contrast, Cameron represents the Superego, as he is shown to constantly be worried that their actions will get them into trouble and is constantly in fear of his clearly abusive father. Sloane therefore represents the ego, as she constantly bring the two together and comforts Cameron. A third text which displays Freud's theory is Enemy, in which a man finds his double whilst watching a film, so tracks him down, but the double turns out to be him, and he has created another personality in order to cheat on his wife. His alternate personality of Adam Bell is arguably the Ego, as he is a fairly timid character with not much real say in his own life, however this persona is used to cheat on his wife, whereas Anthony Claire represents the Id, because at the beginning of the film we see this persona go to a strip club, which could have been the start of his alternate personality forming, and he has a desire to sleep with 'Adam's' girlfriend. The women in his life, such as his wife and his mother are the Superego, as these people bring him back to earth, and his mother tells him to 'give up his dream of acting'

Lacan- The Mirror Stage

Jacques Lacan formulated his idea on the mirror stage in 1966, stating that when infants see themselves in the mirror, their mind goes through stages. Firstly, believing the image is superior to themselves, and accept it as their ideal, sometimes leading to narcissistic tendencies. They then strive to be like the Ideal, due to them believing they are imperfect, which can cause self-loathing.

The mirror stage can similarly be viewed in terms of cinema. Females often see attractive women on-screen, and therefore this is rooted in their minds as being the ideal, so they look to transform into the superior beings that they see on screen, causing a state of simulacra, where the constructed media (vague reflection of reality) alters someone's perception of reality so they strive to be more like what they see on screen, therefore becoming this vague reflection of themselves. This can also be seen in males with violence, as they see violent males on screen getting women, and therefore become more violent as they believe this will attract more women. In females, however, this can cause body dysmorphia, or eating disorders such as anorexia, because they are striving to become more like their 'ideal', which therefore reinforces Mulvey's idea of the male gaze.

In terms of in cinema, this could relate to a film where someone's identity has been stolen or they look in the mirror and see someone other than themselves staring back at them, such as in Source Code, where Jake Gyllenhaal's character wakes up on a train and checks his ID and looks in the mirror to find someone other than himself. In Unknown, Liam Neeson's character comes out of a coma and his wife doesn't know who he is, but someone else has stolen his identity and his entire life.

Contextual study evaluation

The first stage of studying the Dogme 95 movement was to gather information from a variety of sources so that I could begin to develop my overall understanding of the Dogme movement, firstly by uncovering who the directors were behind the initial concept of the Dogme movement. After this, the next logical step was to look into the rules that these directors would have to follow in order to abide to the Dogme manifesto, and looking into what exactly 'the vow of chastity' entailed. After my knowledge of the new wave had been vastly improved, I proceeded to view texts within the movement, and analyse the texts whilst having the 'ten commandments' of the Dogme manifesto in mind, in order to see if the directors followed every rule to the letter, often finding that directors would bend the rules to their full potential, or break one or two rules but still manage to produce a text that has an overall Dogme feel, such as with 'Truly Human', as Åke Sandgren subverted the rule that 'The sound must never be produced apart from the image or vice-versa', as in some scenes there is non-diegetic sound. Most of the research I acquired was from books and online in order to study different people's interpretations of the text whilst I had my own opinion. Whilst studying these books, I was careful not to stray into anything that was not relevant to the essay I was producing, as with the essay I was not able to stray from the subject at hand as there was very little leeway to "colour outside the lines" so to speak. I believe that after my study of the Dogme 95 movement, I have developed an in-depth opinion of the new wave, and I will be able to produce a piece following the majority of the conventions of Dogme 95.

New Wave Film Planning

When shooting, I will use only natural lighting, in order to abide to the rules of the Dogme 95 movement. I plan on shooting all of the footage on location, as to obey the Vow of chastity that I have sworn to follow. This vow of chastity also states that I cannot use and non-diegetic sound, so I cannot use any soundtracks or sound effects. I will also not be able to credit myself as the director, the film cannot contain any action that is deemed superficial, it must be handheld and there cannot be any optical effects or filters, so no overplayed titles or credits. The film must also take place in the here and now, so it cannot be set in New York in 1957 for example. The only rule I cannot follow is that it must be in Academy 35mm, so to compensate for this I plan on adjusting the ratio on the camera to get squarer footage and to shoot with a low shutter speed so that it is grainier.

I plan on producing a text based on the subject of isolation and paranoia, based loosely on my own life, with the frantic nature of my life being portrayed in the film through the use of quick edits and sped-up footage. I also plan on writing out the titles and credits to follow the rule that there can be no optical effects. In terms of editing, I want the cuts to seem jarring, with at least one cut not following the 30 degree rule, as inspired by Vinterberg's 'Festen', and I also plan on producing quick panning cuts, as seen in Sandgren's 'Truly Human'. I plan on the narrative of the film to be very loose, with some improvised footage and little, if any, dialogue. I intend for an audience to gain their own reading from the text, so two people could gain completely different interpretations.

Laura Mulvey- The Male Gaze

The Male Gaze is a theory first published by Laura Mulvey in her paper 'Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema' in 1975. The theory states that as an audience, we view texts from the perspective of a heterosexual male. In modern mainstream media, most protagonists are seen to be male, with only 12% of protagonists in 2014 being female. Much of the texts that contain a male protagonist contain fragmented shots of female bodies, with the sexualised parts of their bodies often being captured in extreme close ups, which can almost make an audience feel as if women are objects to be desired. Throughout narrative cinema, women are often only known for their marital status or their relationship to the character, for example in Alfred Hitchcock's 'Vertigo' (1958), the lead female role of Madeleine is the wife of an acquaintance of the protagonist, Scottie, and later becomes involved with Scottie. Most males, however, are seen in an active working role or are known for a job, such as in this text, with Scottie being an ex-detective, whereas we have no inclination that Madeleine has a job, so as an audience we just assume she is reliant on her rich bureaucrat husband, a typical stereotype for women in film. Women are often just displayed as just something to look at in media, with them often being used for voyeuristic and scopophilic tendencies. Throughout the classic British spy film series, James Bond, women are often used by James for sex, or for him to manipulate them into doing his bidding. Often, before Bond has even encountered these women face to face, we are shown shots of him watching them through binoculars or even stalking them, as often throughout the texts women are either working for the villain, or play no real part in the narrative and are just placed in the text for men to gawk at them. In 'Drive', Nicholas Winding Refn's 2011 film, there is a scene in which The Driver is torturing a man in the back room of a strip club, and in the background of this scene we are shown many topless women. A question that comes to mind is 'why did Winding Refn decide to shoot this scene in a strip club?' well the answer is obviously not for any real purpose in the narrative, but for male audiences to be appealed by the almost naked women surrounding the action.

However, there are other types of gaze we have to consider here, The Female Gaze, and The Queer Gaze. This type of gaze can quite clearly be seen in Magic Mike, with an array of fragmented shots of male bodies, and in 'The Place Beyond The Pines', the opening sequence is entirely fragmented shots of Ryan Gosling's bare torso as he works on his bike, shots that seem to be inspired by Kenneth Anger's 'Scorpio Rising', a short experimental film which clearly uses the Queer Gaze, due to the fact that this film was intended for Anger to express his homosexuality, but to also defy religion and democracy.

New Wave Film Brief

After studying various film New Waves and analysing the Dogme 95 movement, it is apparent that there is a theme of rebellion against mainstream cinema in each different movement, with each of them containing significant stylistic technical conventions, for example in Dogme 95 with the use of handheld camera, natural lighting etc. and also the breaking of the fourth wall in the French New Wave. New Waves also tend to deal with subjects that most mainstream cinema doesn't tend to touch on or didn't at the time, such as in the American New Wave with the subject of drug culture, or with Dogme 95 and the dark subjects paedophilia, kidnapping, abortion etc.

I intend to replicate the technical conventions of Dogme 95, with the intentions of following the Vow of Chastity as closely as I can, however not conforming to the rule of shooting in 35mm, as it will be filmed with a DSLR. I may also subvert the rule of having no temporal alienation by having the narrative non-linear as opposed to the conventional Dogme film's linear narrative, however the film will take place in the here and now, just in a non-linear format. I intend to show prominent use of handheld camera, with cuts inspired by Åke Sandgren's 'Truly Human', which often contain quick movement of the camera from one place to another, making the cut seem as if it didn't happen and with a significant fluidity unlike any film of it's kind.  The use of only diegetic sound, natural lighting and on-location shooting will replicate the intentions of the Dogme movement, to re-integrate realism into cinema and take away the 'illusion of emotion' and show the real emotions within the character. I intend to borrow a 50mm lens from college to get a lower aperture and therefore a shallower depth of field which will add to the element of isolation within the narrative, a convention that I tend to heavily explore within the film. I also plan on using a fairly high ISO to add graininess into the footage, but not too high that it becomes too dark. I plan on using quite a low shutter speed to add a shaky, jerky nature to the narrative, however not so low that the fluidity of certain shots is lost.

The narrative of the film will follow one main character struggling to follow societal norms and being isolated from the mainstream culture, so therefore exploring the counter-culture aspect most often associated with the American New Wave.

How was the Dogme 95 movement influenced and how has it since influenced directors?

The new wave of Dogme 95 was created in order to re-introduce realism into cinema, as they believed that cinema was becoming 'illusions via which emotions can be communicated'[1]. Dogme 95 is a new wave first introduced by Lars Von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg, two Danish directors who wanted to bring realism back into modern cinema, so came up with a manifesto that directors must follow if they want to be considered part of the 'Dogme Brotherhood', a sect of 4 directors, Von Trier, Vinterberg, Soren Kragh-Jacobsen and Kristian Levring. There are 10 rules a director must follow if he intends to make a Dogme film, and these rules are as follows: 1- A director must not be credited 2- All camera work must be handheld 3- All shooting must be done on location, no sets or props are permitted 4- All sound must be Diegetic(come from the film) 5-no superficial action is allowed(no guns, murders etc) 6- the film must be in colour, no special lighting is allowed 7-No optical effects or filters are allowed 8- no temporal or geographical alienation is allowed (must take place in the here and now) 9-Genre movies are unacceptable 10- the film must be in academy 35mm ratio. A key aspect of the Dogme 95 manifesto is that they believe that Auteur theory is Borgeois romanticism and is false, and when a director agrees to the rules they are no longer an artist, they are part of a collective, hence the rule that Directors must not be credited, as they must 'refrain from personal taste'[9]. The three films within this movement that I will be studying are Dogme 1: Festen, or The Celebration(1998)[2], Dogme 2: The Idiots(1998)[3] and Dogme 18: Truly Human(2001)[4], with reference to the US Dogme film, Dogme 6: Julien Donkey-Boy(1999)[5] to see how the style differs from the 'traditional' European Dogme films.





Festen was the first film to use the Dogme 95 manifesto, and even then at times it would not follow all of the rules laid out, as in the speech scene there is a Non-Diegetic score added to build tension for Christian's speech and Vinterberg also admitted to covering a window in one scene and even using special lighting, therefore going against at least 3 of the rules that Vinterberg himself and Von Trier had presented at the Cannes film festival in 1995. Åke Sandgren's 2001 film, 'Truly Human', also breaks one of the rules of Dogme 95 in the scene at the beginning of the film where Lisa is talking to her imaginary older brother P(or Ahmed) behind her wallpaper and we see a shot from his 'perspective' where everything is in negative, which subverts the rule that 'No optical effects or filters are allowed', which is also broken later on in the narrative when P becomes a real human and imagines he sees Lisa, and she is superimposed into the frame. Truly Human also breaks the rule that 'All sound must be Diegetic', as in the scene after Ahmed becomes real and is walking backwards through traffic and there is the non-diegetic sound of a child's music box playing, which shows the childlike state of Ahmed's mind. In 'The Name of This Film is Dogme 95'[6], a documentary narrated by Richard Kelly, there is an interview with Harmony Korine in which they discuss the fact that he had to use a prop when Chloe Sevigny got pregnant in the narrative and at this point Korine and Sevigny were romantically involved so Korine says 'I tried to get her pregnant, I wouldn't call it a sin cuts I really tried but I was just firing blanks' after Thomas Vinterberg criticised him saying 'There was one thing that definitely wasn't Dogme, the fact that she wasn't pregnant'. When von Trier was questioned in an interview regarding how he 'disregards the rules and makes new ones', he stated that 'I come from a family of communist nudists. I was allowed to do or not do what I liked. My parents were not interested in whether I went to school or got drunk on white wine. After a childhood like that, you search for restrictions in your own life.' and that 'I look for boundaries which restrict my range of activity and aesthetic freedom. Then I can concentrate all my energy in this small space. It's very simple: when you're in a prison, you're in a better position to think about freedom.'[8] Von Trier also stated in an interview 'if you have some limitations when you work... then you are forced to use your imagination' 'you either take control or give it away, these rules are designed for me giving away control'[10]


After the release of the Dogme manifesto, there have been a number of distinct phases throughout the movement, the first of which was apparent from 1995-98, when it was dismissed as a silly attention grabbing stunt, and due to this the Danish Film Institute decided to not supply the brotherhood block funding for the first 4 Dogme films. The second phase became apparent in 1998 with the release of Festen and The Idiots, which clearly established that abidance by the Vow of Chastity’s rules could result in genuinely innovative and worthwhile cinematic works. The third phase was introduced in 1999, when there was an increasingly global circulation of the Dogme concept, and in this phase, the Dogme brotherhood decided 'the director himself is solemnly to declare his adherence to the Dogme manifesto', which happened after they had to decide if Julien Donkey-Boy adhered to the Vow of Chastity[9]. Phase 4 overlaps with the third, seeing Dogme's rule based manifesto extended to other forms of creative expression, such as dance. Lars Von Trier added to this phase by releasing 9 rules of 'documentary', to subvert the non-realistic style of documentaries at the time. 6 Scandinavian directors have made documentaries following this code. By 2001, a fifth phase was apparent, where the term 'Dogme' had become a 'virtue term', used to signify opposition to oppression. By 2002, Dogme had become a 'well-established brand' [9].



Many, if not all of the films that follow the Dogme 95 manifesto cover dark subjects, such as seen in 'Truly Human', which deals with paedophilia as Ahmed/P's only interpretation of real life comes from the mind of a little girl, therefore from P's point of view we understand why later on his childlike mind is often confused for him being a paedophile or mentally handicapped in some way, as he barely speaks in any language and he plays with children because in his mind he is a child, but characters in the film often confuse this with a sexual desire for children, which gets him fired from his job, kicked out of the swimming baths, arrested and even kidnapped and brutally assaulted by a group of men who live in the same block of flats as him. The film also deals with the extremely disturbing topic of a young girl dying, as Lisa dies towards the start of the film, which causes P to become a real human. Not long before the death of Lisa, her parents Charlotte and Walther Thomsen discuss with friends at a dinner party that they had an abortion, and this is why Lisa believes she has an older brother. When Lisa leaves the room, they talk about how they would have been happier without ever having children, which the young girl overhears, and could be the reason she decides to sit in the front seat and is subsequently suffocated by the passenger seat air bag. After the house is demolished and P is brought into Lisa's parent's lives, we see their relationship breaking down as the parents are engaged in affairs and are barely seen together after the car crash, except for the unfortunate incident when they are both supposed to be dating their respective partners but end up being place on the same table by the confused waiter due to them having booked with the same surname. After P is placed in a refugee camp by Walther, he learns some of the basics of being a human, learns some Danish and even gives himself the name 'Ahmed', the refugee camp allocates him with a job at Mr. Stromboli's shoe shop and he is moved into the same block of flats as Charlotte and Walther, which causes some controversy at first but eventually they accept him and begin to confide in him. Ahmed manages to bring out the realisation in each of them how much they miss and love Lisa, which ultimately causes the film to reset to the car crash and this time Lisa survives, but not until after he is investigated by the police as a suspected paedophile (although he doesn't understand sex, as we know from the scene where Tanja comes to his flat and they shower together naked but take the relationship no further) and is then assaulted by a group of men who live in the flat who spray paint the letter 'P' on his back, leaving him on a roadside, after which he goes to a building site and hides in the wall, saying 'Lisa, I don't have to be a real human being anymore', the opposite of his catchphrase throughout the film 'I want to be a real human being'. In the book Purity and Provocation, the authors talk about how 'Sandgren manages to get the viewer to accept and even be intrigued by these rather dramatic ontological shifts in whiten what is otherwise a universe governed by the laws of everyday reality'[7]


Paedophilia and rape is also the topic of Christian's speech in Vinterberg's 'Festen', where he reveals on his father's 60th birthday that his father Helge used to rape him and his twin sister. In this scene when Christian first gives the speech, no one believes him and thinks he is crazy, and Vinterberg states in 'The Name of This Film is Dogme 95' that none of the other characters knew that Christian was going to give this speech, because he wanted them to actually be shocked and react in a normal way, which is essentially the goal of the Dogme movement, to subvert the 'illusion of emotion'. the party continues, but later Christian continues his toast with 'to the man that murdered my sister'. After Helge threatens Christian, they go back and act normally, but during the mother Else's speech, where she calls Christian over imaginative, he interrupts, asking why she never stopped him, recounting an incident where she walked into the study, then goes on to call her a 'cunt'. This incident is seen as the last straw, and Michael and 2 other guests violently escort him from the premises, beating him unconscious and tying him to a tree in the woods. The cinematography within Festen mirrors this dark narrative, as the use of natural lighting gives the film a very dark tone. The mise-en-scene within the film also adds toward this, as all of the characters are wearing black suits, which almost makes the birthday party seem like a funeral, which it essentially is because at the end of the film the family is in such turmoil that the father may as well be dead to the rest of them, especially his children. Festen also deals with the dark subject of adultery, abuse and abortion, as Michael, the youngest son, had in the past had an affair with one of the waitresses. When she talks to him about it she reveals she was pregnant, but 'got rid of it', implying that she had an abortion and you can easily just get rid of an unwanted pregnancy. She tells him 'you're as crazy as your Father' and he beats her unconscious and exclaims 'don't diss my family'. Michael is also the cause of another controversial topic, as he is shown to be racist towards Helene's black boyfriend Gbatokai, as when he turns up in a cab (with a cameo from Thomas Vinterberg as the cab driver) Michael tries to get him to leave, telling him it's a 'private party'. Later in the film, after the two have a quarrel, Michael starts singing the Danish children's song 'Jeg har set en rigtig negermand', or 'I have seen a real negro man' in a racist way to try and offend him, inviting all of the party guests to join him. Yet another dark topic is discussed in Festen in the form of suicide, as Christian's twin sister Linde had recently committed suicide in the family-run hotel where the film takes place by drowning herself in the bath, leaving a note that reveals that she killed herself because the memories of her father's rape had come back to haunt her, which Helene reads towards the end of the film, confirming that Christian's speech was true. After this, a drunken Michael attacks Helge, telling him he will never see his three grandchildren again, confirming that the family is well and truly 'kaput' in Michaels words.


Lars Von Trier's 'The Idiots' also deals with the fairly taboo subject of people 'releasing the inner idiot' or 'spazzing', something which is deemed socially unacceptable, also the topic of public nudity, and people wanting to give the characters homemade 'electro-shock therapy' to cure them of their idiocy by connecting their heads to a car battery.Von Trier has since said that 'After making Breaking The Waves, everyone wants to see number 2 but I can't do that anymore and I don't want to do that because I want to grow up. That's why it's important for me to make a film like The Idiots now and if people don't like it, well, I don't care'[10]



The Editing style of the Dogme 95 movement is often jarring, as can be seen in Festen, as there are often points when there is a cut and the camera completely disregards the 30 degree rule, sometimes even keeping the camera in the exact same place as before the cut. Also, at times there is a cut to a shot with someone/something directly in front of the camera, such as during the dinner scene where there is a cut to one of the waitresses blocking the whole shot. Also, much of the Dialogue contained within this scene is superfluous, as in it gives no insight into the narrative, such as when some of the family members are discussing what kind of soup it is they are eating, with someone saying it is lobster and someone else saying it is tomato. This kind of superfluous dialogue is kept in the film because it shows the realism in the scene, as it shows a real life conversation as much of the dialogue is improvised. The handheld nature of the camera allows the camera to follow a subject, rather than in mainstream cinema where the subject follows the camera. The use of handheld camera is exceptionally prominent in 'Truly Human', as many cuts are done by simply moving the camera quickly into place, so a 'Shot-reverse-shot' will be done by spinning the camera 180 degrees, often breaking the 180 degree rule. Dogme 95 films have a certain fluidity to the camerawork unlike that of any other film movement, as the handheld camera style is utilised so well in the movement. Other, more mainstream films that employ handheld camera are often found to be shaky and jarring, however Dogme 95 has a completely different feel, although some shots are shaky (often action scenes like the fights in Festen) this style is not over used, as well choreographed shots such as fluid cuts like those seen in Truly Human give the film a much more artistic feel than that of mainstream cinema, as a cut sometimes takes place whilst the camera is moving quickly, making seem as if the cut didn't happen at all, which significantly differs to the style of 'Festen', therefore showing the technical style differences between the first/second phase of the wave and the fifth phase that came to be in 2001 the year Truly Human was released, a film which heavily plays with the idea of 'opposition to oppressive realities'[9].




Since the Dogme movement was first introduced, a number of the films have received critical acclaim, such as Festen being nominated for 'best film in a foreign language' at the Golden Globes in 1999 and the BAFTA awards in 2000, winning the Amanda Award for the best Nordic feature film in 1998 and winning a series of Robert awards in 1999[11]. The Idiots was also awarded with a Robert award in 1999 for Best Actress (Bodil Jørgensen), also winning 3 Bodil awards in 1999 for acting, and winning a FIPRESCI prize at the London Film Festival in 1998 'for its attempt to rethink film language and social rules from scratch and willingness to accept the limitations of both its method and cultural assumptions'[12]. Truly Human was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the AFI film festival in 2001, in 2002 it was awarded the Golden Key for best direction at the Art Film Festival, also winning a special mention. Nikolaj Lie Kaas also won a Robert award for best actor in 2002 and the film went on to receive multiple awards at foreign film festivals. The Dogme movement is often regarded as 'low-budget', however the Dogme manifesto does not stipulate anything about budgets, and the budget for Festen is estimated at around $1.3million, proving that because something is Dogme does not necessarily mean it is low-budget[14]. In 1998, when both Festen and The Idiots were released, both Dogme films were selected for the main competition at the Cannes Film Festival, so the popularity of the Dogme movement could stem from this double exposure. In 1998-99, the Dogme brotherhood invited many established directors, including Spielberg, to join the movement and create a Dogme film, but all of them declined[14]. It could be perceived that the Dogme movement inspired many indie films, most notably of all the Blair Witch Project (1999) which clearly adopted the convention of only using handheld camera, natural lighting and on location shooting, and is even shot in the same format and aspect ratio as traditional Dogme films. The most notable aspect that the Dogme movement brought with it was the recognition of Danish technical prowess and skill, with Danish films now being recognised throughout the globe, with Von Trier even stating in an interview that Danish advertising companies were coming to him and his brotherhood saying that 'it had to be Dogme'[6] and that they believed following the Dogme manifesto would sell their product, with Lars stating that the purpose behind Dogme had just been overlooked, as it was meant to bring realism back to fiction film, not for monetary gain.

It is clear that the Dogme 95 movement had a significant impact when it comes to subverting the typical conventions of mainstream film and questioning the social conventions of reality, such as can be seen in Festen through the subject of an abusive, molesting father, in The Idiots with the topic of normal people acting as if they are mentally handicapped and also in Truly Human through the character of P coming to life, something which could never happen in reality, but in Dogme they make it seem like this is a feasible topic through the use of the 'natural' technical conventions. The realism in Dogme films make these unrealistic, unspoken and explicit topics seem as if they are natural conversation and the movement almost added an element of taboo into mainstream culture, as modern cinema seems to have expanded into a more accepting medium where anything can be talked about, as long as it doesn't affect the real world of human existence where people can live their normal lives and be unaffected by these topics because they are not contained within their day to day routine.

1-Dogme 95(2008) The Manifesto [online] Available from: http://www.dogme95.dk/dogma-95/ 

2- Festen (1998) Film. Directed by- Thomas Vinterberg

3- The Idiots (1998) Film. Directed by- Lars von Trier

4- Truly Human (2001) Film. Directed by- Åke Sandgren

5- Julien Donkey-Boy (1999)Film. Directed by- Harmony Korine

6- The Name of This Film is Dogme 95 (2005) Documentary. Directed by- Saul Metztein

7- Hjort, M
    MacKenzie, S (2003)
    Purity and Provocation: Dogma 95
8-  Nicodemus, K (2005)
     Lars von Trier: 'I am an American Woman'
9- Livingston, P
    Plantinga, C (2009)
    The Rutledge Companion to Philosophy and Film  -Chapter 44, Dogme 95.

10- Lars from 1-10 (1998)Interview. Directed by- Sophie Fiennes and Shari Roman
11-IMDB Festen Awards [online] Available from: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0154420/awards
12-IMDB The Idiots Awards [online] Available from: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0154421/awards
13-IMDB Truly Human Awards [online] Available from:http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0273326/awards
14-Schepelern, P (2013) After The Celebration: The Effect of Dogme on Danish Cinema. Kosmorama. [online] Available from: http://www.kosmorama.org/Artikler/After-The-Celebration.aspx

Health and Safety

- When using a tripod with a camera, you have to make sure it has been set up correctly and everything is tightened up properly, otherwise it could fall and the camera could break. Also, you need to make sure not to trip over the legs of the tripod, as they can sometimes get in the way when filming. Also, if you are using a Boom/shotgun microphone, you have to make sure that any cables are in a place where any actors/crew won't trip over them or accidentally dislodge them from the recording device, otherwise no sound will be recorded and the shot will have to be re-taken.

-When filming on location, you must make sure there are no trip hazards or sharp objects littered around, aesthete could cause damage to crew, actors and even equipment if you are not careful, so try and make sure to clear the are of dangerous objects or anything that will obstruct your path if filming a tracking or dolly shot, as you might walk into something, trip and break the camera.

-When filming in R block, you need to make sure to clear any cluttered art student's work out of the way so it doesn't become a trip hazard, as if you trip whilst filming you could potentially completely destroy the camera.

- When filming in the studio, you need to be careful not to trip over any cables connecting to the lights, and you also need to be careful not to walk into the lights as you could injure yourself. You also need to be careful not to damage the lights by overheating or accidental physical damage, as the lights are very expensive to replace.

The Effect of Shutter Speed on Moving Image

This shot was produced in a low Shutter Speed of 1/30 frames per second

This shot was made using a slightly higher Shutter Speed of 1/80

This shot was produced at a Shutter Speed of 1/200

I shot this at a high Shutter Speed of 1/1000 frames per second.

Process: To create the above shots I replicated the same shot of me spinning around on a computer chair and increased the Shutter Speed each time to show the effect, I.E. the difference in motion blur between the shots.
Problem Solving: The main problem I encountered was getting the shot correctly exposed, but I fixed this problem by decreasing the f stop of the Aperture when I increased the Shutter Speed.
Justification: I chose to shoot these in the room where my HNC class is located when not in timetabled lesson time as it was empty at the time of filming and it is readily available to me.
Recommendations: If I were to re-shoot these shots I would make sure they were all in focus and correctly exposed, as I believe some of them were just slightly off the correct exposure and a little blurry.

Lighting Techniques

Process: for the footage above we used one studio light with a soft-box to create Low Key lighting.
Problem Solving: The main problem we came up against was getting the light set to the right level to create high contrast, which we got right with trial and error.
Justification: We chose to shoot this in the studio at college as it is easy to manipulate lighting to the desired effect.
Recommendations: If I were to re-shoot this I would replace the softbox with an umbrella diffuser to create harsher light so there would be higher contrast between the light and dark.
Below is an image of the setup we used:

Process: To create High Key lighting we used 2 studio lights with soft box diffusers on them and angled them to try and create the desired effect.
Problem Solving: The main problem we encountered was setting the light to the right level to achieve low contrast and create a warm feel, but we succeeded this after a couple of attempts.
Justification: We chose to shoot this in the studio at college as it is easy to manipulate lighting to the desired effect.
Recommendations: If I were to re-shoot this shot, I would have also used a third light source to eliminate shadows n the background

Below is an image of the setup we used:

Process: We used 2 studio lights and an LED flashlight to create this effect.
Problem Solving: The main problem we had was angling the lights correctly, but with trial and error this problem was easily overcome.
Justification: We chose to shoot this in the studio at college as it is easy to manipulate lighting to the desired effect.
Recommendations: If I were to re-shoot this I would have used a warmer diffuser on the LED light.

Here we tried to create a 3-point lighting setup. Below is an image of what we used and how we used it.

Process: For this footage we used one studio light placed at a 90 degree angle to create a 'triangle' under the subjec'ts eye from the shadow of his nose.
Problem Solving: We initially struggled to angle the light correctly for the desired effect but through trial and error got what we were looking for.
Justification: We chose to shoot this in the studio at college as it is easy to manipulate lighting to the desired effect.
Recommendations: If we were to re-shoot this I wouldn't change anything as I think we successfully achieved what we wanted.

Here we tried to create Rembrandt lighting. There is an image of the setup below:

Process: This effect is created using one studio light placed slightly further than in the previous shot.
Problem Solving: the main problem we faced was angling the light correctly, but we managed to overcome this eventually.
Justification: We chose to shoot this in the studio at college as it is easy to manipulate lighting to the desired effect.
Recommendations: If I were to re-shoot this I would try to angle the light further behind the subject to just illuminate the edge of his face.

Here we created Edge lighting. Below is an image of how it was created in the studio:

Process: We had to place one studio light directly above the subject to create this effect.
Problem Solving: This was considerably more difficult than the previous shots, as it was hard to create the 'butterfly' under the subject's nose, as the light could not be held higher. I also had to be careful not to bang my head on the light when filming as it was very close to the camera, but this was fairly easy to avoid.
Justification: We chose to shoot this in the studio at college as it is easy to manipulate lighting to the desired effect.
Recommendations: If I were to re-shoot this I would spend more time trying to alter the light so it created the right effect without being a health and safety hazard.

Here we attempted Butterfly lighting with the setup we used below:

Process: Here we used an LED light and a reflector to illuminate the subject.
Problem Solving: The main problem we had was getting the effect right, so we used an LED light rather than a studio light.
Justification: We chose to shoot this in the studio at college as it is easy to manipulate lighting to the desired effect.
Recommendations: If I were to shoot this again I would try other ways of using a reflector.
In this video we used a reflector to achieve the lighting. The setup we used can be seen below:

Process: For this we used the LED light and got the subject to hold it under his face.
Problem Solving: There were no real problems with this setup and we managed to get it right first time.
Justification: We chose to shoot this in the studio at college as it is easy to manipulate lighting to the desired effect.
Recommendations: I would not change the way we did this in any way as we got the effect we wanted.

In this video, we were experimenting with creating shadows, so used one LED light source placed below the subject, as you can see below:

A brief introduction to Dogme 95

How Did Dogme 95 influence the cinema industry?

Lars Von Trier

Thomas Vinterberg

Kristian Levring

Søren Kragh-Jacobsen

Dogme 95 Certificate for 'Festen', aka 'The Celebration'

Dogme 95 was an influential period in cinema. In 1995, Lars Von Trier, a Danish Film-maker teamed up with Thomas Vinterberg to create "The Manifesto, or "The Vow of Chastity", a list of 10 'commandments' a film-maker has to abide by to create a Dogme 95 film, a set of rules composed in order to break away from the things that Von Trier and Vinterberg hated about modern cinema. These rules are:
1- Shooting MUST be done on location, no props or sets can be brought in.
2- All sound MUST be Diegetic.
3- The camera MUST be hand-held.
4- The film MUST be in colour. No special lighting is permitted.
5- Optical filters and effects are forbidden.
6- The film MUST not contain superficial action.
7- Temporal and geographical alienation are forbidden (The film MUST take place in the here and now)
8- Genre movies are NOT acceptable.
9- The film format MUST be 35mm
10- The Director MUST not be credited.

Dogme 95 regards this as false, saying that no Dogme film is personal.

The creators of this manifest believed that in order to break away from mainstream cinema, they had to give up their identities as 'Auteurs' calling the entire theory of Auteurism 'a bourgeois romanticism from the very start', as in Dogme 95, film is not individual . They also believe that mainstream films are an illusion to convey emotions to an audience through trickery, so they wanted to create a way for the film to feel real, so to Dogme 95, film is not an illusion. I am going to study the social and contextual impact of these rules, and how the production of these films have affected producers and audiences all over the world.
An interesting subject that I discovered when watching 'The Name of This Film is Dogme 95', a documentary detailing the origins of the New Wave by Richard Kelly, is that Von Trier and Vinterberg never actually intended for Dogme to become a 'New Wave', they intended to make a couple of films as a group of friends as a way of breaking away from the mainstream, however after they produced Festen and The Idiots, every Danish commercial maker wanted their commercials to be 'Dogme like', so it became the mainstream in Danish cinema, also many other countries decided to jump on the bandwagon, so the brotherhood decided to just let film-makers classify their films as Dogme if they believed they had followed the 'Vow of Chastity'.

The Conversation (4 Hour Challenge)

Process: I think this footage was fairly successful in the end for a film that was written, shot and edited within roughly 4-6 hours. In the brief we were given, the only rule we has to abide by was that the film had to be called 'The Conversation', so one instance that we could think of where a conversation could affect someone's life is in a break-up, something that almost everyone can relate to.
Problem Solving: The main problem we had when shooting was that some of the shots that were initially taken were out of focus so had to be re-shot, such as the shot where the 'love letters' are burning. Also, we had initially planned to put a voice over over the top of the main character's internal monologue, however we had not given ourselves enough time to record this, so we had to discard some shots that didn't make sense without narration. Another problem we had was that some shots were slightly over exposed, se we had to alter aperture and shutter speed to resolve this.
Justification: We made this film because it was simple to come up with a narrative, and also could all be filmed locally, so was easy to produce.
Recommendations: If I were to remake this video, I would include a voice over, because some of the best shots we had taken were meaningless without narration, because anyone who viewed the film would be confused by these shots, but if we had included them we would have had an example of a long take and match on action. Also, I would have trimmed down some of the shots with cuts, because some of them feel as if they drag on for too long, but otherwise I believed this task was quite successful in challenging us to create a short film in a short time frame.

The Effect of Aperture on Depth of Field

This is a shot at f/2.8 showing a subject walking into focus.
Process: To create this shot, I used a lens that has it's lowest F stop at f/2.8 in order to create a shallow Depth of Field. I also used a fairly high shutter speed to clearly define the movements.
Problem Solving: The main problem I had when Filming this shot was getting the focus on the subject right. To solve this problem, I got the subject to stand in front of the camera to make sure he was in focus, then got him to move back to make sure he was out of focus when further back. After a couple of trial runs, we managed to perfect the shot.
Justification: I chose to shoot in this location as it was in college so it was available for me. I also wanted to experiment with depth of field in a less conventional way.
Recommendations: If I shot this footage again, I would make it so that when the subject comes into focus, it is clearer and there is more definition between him and the background.


This is shot at f/2.8 and clearly shows the definition between the subject and the background, as he is much more in focus than the background.
Process: To create the above shot, I used the same lens I had used to create the first shot which had the lowest f stop.
Problem Solving: The only real problem I faced when filming this shot was getting the exposure right and this was easily solved by increasing the ISO and also increasing the shutter speed.
Justification: I shot this in a location where the background was far enough away from my subject that you could clearly see the difference in focus between the subject and the background.
Recommendations: If I were to re-shoot this shot, I would make sure it is not over-exposed, as this shot is slightly too bright.


This is a shot at f/8 and has less definition between the subject and the background
Process: For this shot I used the standard kit lens that came with my camera, and set the aperture to f/8, a fairly low f stop.
Problem Solving: The main problem I had when creating this shot was making sure the background was slightly less focused than the subject, as sometimes the focus was a little bit off. This was fixed by altering the focus slightly.
Justification: I chose to shoot this in the same place as the previous shot, however I filmed it at a different angle, as the previous angle would not have clearly shown the difference in focus between the subject and the background.
Recommendations: If I were to re-shoot this shot, I would try and get a more sideways angle to clearly show the difference in focus.


This is shot at f/22 and all of the frame is in focus, so there is no difference in definition between the subject and the background.
Process: For this shot I also used a standard kit lens in order to get a fairly high aperture of f/22 to create deep focus.
Problem Solving: The main problem I encountered was getting the exposure right, as with a high aperture less light is allowed to enter the frame so I had to use a low shutter speed to counter this.
Justification: I shot this at this angle in order to clearly show how there is no difference in focus between the subject and the background.
Recommendations: If I chose to shoot this again I would try to frame the shot better to get a more straight on view of the subject.

Dogme 95 research

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

Reference List:
1- http://cinetext.philo.at/reports/dogme_ct.html
2-http://www.moviemail.com/film-shop/collection/509-A-Beginner-s-Guide-to-Dogme-95/
3-http://www.dogme95.dk/dogma-95/
4-http://www.dogme95.dk/the-vow-of-chastity/
5-The Rutledge Companion to Philosophy and Film, Paisley Livingston and Carl Plantinga- Chapter 44, Dogme 95.

Film Editing

180 Degree Rule: This is a cinematic technique where during a conversation or fight scene, the camera will not cross over an imaginary line placed between the two people, so that no matter where that camera moves to on one side of the line, the characters stay in the same position relative to the
other and the audience do not get confused. A diagram of this can be seen to the left. [1]
An example of this is in the 1999 film by David Fincher, 'Fight Club', when The Narrator and Tyler Durden first fight, and the camera doesn't cross the imaginary line, as they both have a side of the screen, with the mise-en-scene on each side reflecting their own personalities with Tyler's being far more cluttered and unorganised than The Narrator's, as Tyler is represented as much more of a chaotic person than 'Jack' who is stuck in the consumerism, conformist state of mind.


Crosscutting/Parallel Editing: This is where there is a cut away from the main scene to another scene, often showing that the two events are happening simultaneously, however this is not always the case as sometimes there is parallel editing between the present and a flashback sequence, or a flash forward. [2]
This technique can be seen in the 1991 film by Jonathan Demme, 'The Silence of the Lambs', in the scene where Buffalo Bill (the film's main antagonist) has his victim trapped in a hole dug in his basement, and the scene cuts between this and a group of FBI agents surrounding the house we believe to be Bill's, even with the doorbell being rung by an agent and the doorbell ringing in Bill's house, however when he answers the door, we see agent Clarice Starling(the film's protagonist) and not the FBI agent we just saw in the previous shot at the door, which we as a viewer now know is a very dangerous position for her to be put in, alone on the doorstep of a serial killer.

 Temporal Overlap: This is a style of editing where the rules of time and space are defied so that an audience can see that AWESOME backflip 6 more times in slow motion from different angles, just in case you missed it the first 5 times. In more formal terms, this is where a scene is shown again from a different angle directly after being shown the first time. [3]
This technique is used frequently within Kung-Fu movies, and throughout the 2005 film Ong Bak. In this scene, we see the protagonist take down several men one after the other, but when he fights one of them we see him jump up and wrap his legs around his head. when this happens, there is a cut back to when he jumps and we see this shot 3 times from different perspectives, as if the audience are taking the viewpoints of members of the crowd.

  Resource List
1- http://learnaboutfilm.com/film-language/sequence/180-degree-rule/
2- http://www.elementsofcinema.com/editing/parallel-editing/
3- Stop the Clocks! Time and Narrative in Cinema -Helen Powell -2012

Pull Focus

Pull focus is a technique used in video when focus is shifted from one item to another, often shifting from a person/item to the background. This technique is often used in films in conversations, as when you focus a subject a viewer's eyes are automatically drawn to that item, so if, for example two people are having a conversation, but only one is in focus, they are the subject of the viewer's attention and if the camera shifts focus to the other person, they become the subject of attention[1].


Process: To create the above shot, I shifted the focus from the hand in the foreground to the door in the background, so that the signs become visible. I think this video is quite effective in showing this technique.

Problem Solving: In order to solve some initial problems I had, such as defining the focus between the foreground subject and the background, I had to decrease the aperture to create a more shallow depth of field. I also zoomed in slightly so that the definition between the focus of the hand and the door becomes clearer. I also used a tripod so that the video was not shaky. It was also fairly difficult to find the right location to film this shot as in a cramped location both subjects would be in focus when I only wanted the background in focus.

Justification: I chose to shoot this shot because the corridor leading up to the door is fairly long, so it was easier to get a clearer focus between the two subjects rather than when in a smaller location. Also the door was readily available and easily accessible.

Recommendations: If I were to change anything in this shot, it would be to try it with two people in a conversation to try and shift the attention from one to another.

References:
1- http://www.mediacollege.com/video/camera/focus/pull.html

Experimenting with ISO

ISO 200 (Daytime)


Here I have set the camera to ISO 200, the lowest ISO setting on my camera, as it is a Nikon D5000, and I have shot a Close-Up of a cigarette. ISO 200 has the least light sensitivity, so allows the least amount of light to enter the frame, giving a clearer but darker image.
ISO 1600 (Daytime)


In this shot I set my camera to ISO 1600, the midway point of the ISO settings on my camera. I captured a Long Shot of trees blowing in the wind. ISO 1600 has higher light sensitivity when compared to ISO 200, so gives a slightly less clear but darker image.
ISO 3200 (Daytime)


ISO 3200 is one of the highest ISO settings on my camera, and in this shot I captured a Point of View shot of me walking. ISO 3200 allows the most light to enter the image and therefore gives a much brighter, but much grainier image.
ISO 200 (Night)


This clip has the camera set to ISO 200. I filmed cars passing on the road, but since ISO 200 is the lowest ISO setting it allows the least light to enter the lens and therefore creates a very dark but clear image.
ISO 1600 (Night)


ISO 1600 allows much more light to enter the image, and therefore creates a much brighter image. In the above Extreme Long Shot of a flat block, the image is much brighter than in ISO 200, but the resolution of the image has decreased significantly.
ISO 3200 (Night)


In this shot, I set the camera to ISO 3200 and shot the same road as in ISO 200. As you can see, the image is much brighter, however due to increasing the ISO, the video has become much grainier.


I also filmed this Low Angle shot of a street lamp in ISO 3200. Setting the ISO this high and pointing the camera directly at a light source created a lens flare which I thought was an interesting shot and decided to include it in my blog.

Process: I think these videos were effective in showing the differences in different ISOs when shot at day and at night.

Problem Solving: The main problem I encountered was getting the right exposure, so that the shot wasn't under or over exposed. I overcame this problem by increasing/decreasing the aperture to allow more light into the lens.

Justification of Decisions: I shot these in outdoor locations that were readily available to me and I frequently travel, so were easy to get to, even at night. I also used items that were easy for me to acquire, such as a cigarette. I also shot the last video purely to show the effect of lens flare at a high ISO.

Recommendations: If I were to make these videos again I would use a tripod to get steadier footage. I would also use another source of light when filming at night just to make sure that the subject is in focus.