Dogme95 and Pursuing Impossible
As we all can agree, in a movie sound and lighting are fundamental factors to enhance the atmosphere. Composing music that fits the theme of the movie or setting a light that fully reflects the emotion desired in a scene is already one of the hardest parts of this job and requires real talent. What if we say that there is a filmmaking movement in which none of these will be important and this filmmaking movement always pursues naturalness? This is Dogme95.
The filmmaking movement of Dogme95 is rooted in an article which was written by François Truffaut in 1954. The founders are Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg which are Danish directors. The manifest of Dogme95 contains really strict rules such as “The sound must never be produced apart from the images or vice versa.” or “The film must be in color. Special lighting is not acceptable.”.
But what is the purpose of Dogme95? The most accepted answer for this question is the founders think all of the studios and studio effects killing the soul of the cinema, and all the movies becoming more and more illusion thus the audience loses the perception of reality. Another problem is movies are becoming producers’ and studio’s work and the worthiness of director are decreasing day by day. According to all, they declared the Dogme95 manifest and take the vow to implement the manifest in their works. They have broken their vows easily.
Because you cannot take a meaningful night shot with Dogme95 rules and you cannot include all the sounds in a crowded scene to film. Yet, though rules are so strict their purpose and their concerns are real and meaningful for me. Also, Dogme95 rules are great for microbudget filmmaking which is usually preferred by amateurs. Their impact on the filmmaking industry can not be ignored. I am really grateful for they tried to fight Hollywood.
Nevertheless, you can check the Dogme films from here but all of them break some rules.