Week 6: Dogville... What the?

This week's lecture was about production design,including sets, props, locations, costumes, etc. and it also determines the feel of the movie. We watched Fat Albert, which used elaborate production design through costuming and set to help tell the story, and in contrast, Dogville, a "Dogme 95" film which used one set and minimal props.

Logging onto the Dogme 95 website (http://www.dogme95.dk) one is confronted with an eyeball implanted into a pigs arse.... Hmmmm, interseting. This is what the website had to say:

"The Dogme95 rules were conceived in the beginning of 1995. Lars von Trier had the rough idea of some sort of new manifest and called Thomas Vinterberg to ask him if he “wanted to start a new wave with him?” He accepted and according to Thomas it took 45 minutes to formulate the rules. They were presented at the Odéon - Théatre de L’Europe in Paris on the 20th of March 1995, where Lars was invited to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of film." Make sense? Didn't think so...

Here's the idiots guide:
Apparently, back in '95, to dudes (Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg) created a genre void of any "good taste and aesthetics". No extra lighting, minimal props, hand held cameras, no additional sound or music. Unvieled in Paris at the 100th anniversary of cinema, Dogme 95 was a hit.

I guess the genre allows for a completely objective view of a story, with no interference by special effects and the like. My take on it is that it is basically theatre on film.

Intriguing...