Enough with the handheld cameras. (Shaky cam)

By the time I finished Dancer in the Dark, I had symptoms simillar to sea sickness.

Hey Lars, use a tripod the next time.

This is just one example among countless others.

What are these directors trying to achieve?

Are they attempting to make it look like a documentary film?

Or is the camera suppose to represent a third person?

A voyeur?

Even if enjoy the subject of the movie, I can't get pass the camera technique.

Better put, lack of technique.

I think films from this period look silly and dated.

Just like the late sixties-early seventies movies with the irritating multiple image format.

Enough with the shaky cam.

Lars Von Trier is a director who is part of the Dogma 95 movement. I dont know enough to tell you about it properly but it is basically a set of rules that directors follow to achieve a particular type of effect. One of the rules is to use a handheld camera, no tripods or anything else. It adds a realism to the picture. Theres other rules too, such as only using props that are on the set you are filming and not bring any others in. I could be getting this totally wrong but im sure im nearly correct. Its all very interesting but im being a lazy git and cant be bothered to give you a link about it. Silver Bullet could probably enlighten you with this....if he wants to that is.

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Pumpkins scream in the DEAD of night!

The originator of it, you mean.

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"Today, war is too important to be left to politicians. They have neither the time, the training, nor the inclination for strategic thought. I can no longer sit back and allow Communist infiltration, Communist indoctrination, Communist subversion and the international Communist conspiracy to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids."

I had a feeling he might have been the originator of the movement but i didnt want to write that incase i was wrong, so instead i wrote he was part of it...which he is

I may be wrong too, but I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that he spearheaded the whole movement.

I thought so too, but i thought i better check my internet-head before chipping in...

http://www.citybeat.com/2000-04-20/film3.shtml

Seems he was. With others. With "The Idiots". Amongst others.

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Virtual Reality chatter on a movie site? Got endless amounts of it here. Reviews over here

I think you can say that von Trier is one of the originators. I saw a documentary about four of them which I think were the first four, and thus the originators. Vinterberg's The Celebration was the first film though, and in my opinion the best Dogme 95 film as well.

I will have to agree with Loner about Dancer In the Dark, even if I think handheld camera can be as good as anything else when it's the right occasion. But in this particular film I think von Trier seems to be more interested in staying faithful to the Dogme rules and positioning himself as the leader of the movement rather than seeing to what's best for the film. I don't think the point of handheld camera should be to say "HEY, CHECK IT OUT! WE'RE USING HANDHELD CAMERAS!!" but to increase the realism. In this film I think it works the opposite way and it's one of (only a few) reasons to why I sometimes find Dancer In the Dark a bit annoying.

The Celebration on the other hand is a true modern masterpiece. Here the handheld camera works incredibly effective and suits the story in an excellent way. It's like someone among the dinner guests is filming the whole thing and it gives it an eerie feel of realism.

Have you guys seen The Celebration? It would be interesting to get your views on it.

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The novelist does not long to see the lion eat grass. He realizes that one and the same God created the wolf and the lamb, then smiled, "seeing that his work was good".

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They had temporarily escaped the factories, the warehouses, the slaughterhouses, the car washes - they'd be back in captivity the next day but now they were out - they were wild with freedom. They weren't thinking about the slavery of poverty. Or the slavery of welfare and food stamps. The rest of us would be all right until the poor learned how to make atom bombs in their basements.

Yeah, I was trying to make a post last night [this site is having some real database issues right now] to say that Dogme 95 was founded by von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg.

Those two are ultimately its "parents".

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www.esotericrabbit.com

Thanks for the knowledge, and Piddy, I've placed a hold on The Celebration. I can't wait.

Good info, but I don't care what their motivation is.

I just don't like the finished product.

It's unfortunate to me that Lars Von Trier choses to limit himself.

I really enjoyed Europa.


I'll try to check it out.

A review would be nice.

Get back to us with your opinion on it.

I consider Traffic to be one of the best films to come out in years, and I watched 28 days later and felt the hand cam only added to the film (which was just pretty good overall, but I still liked the feel of the photography).

I am a big fan of this technique...\

_S

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