Dogme 95

Dogme 95 is a very interesting concept for me. Being the heavy media user that I am, I have been exposed to much of the media world and often get bored with everything mainstream because I have seen it hashed and rehashed numerous times. So, when I read about Dogme 95, I was naturally intrigued.
At first, the idea seemed like an excuse to make cheap indie films an accepted artform, but at I read on, I found that it is much more than that. The idea of Dogme 95 is to revitalize the idea that storytelling is central to the art of film. Dogme 95 has several specific rules that any dogme film must maintain in order to be considered dogme. Wikipedia states that:

1. Filming must be done on location. Props and sets must not be brought in (if a particular prop is necessary for the story, a location must be chosen where this prop is to be found).
2. The sound must never be produced apart from the images or vice versa. (Music must not be used unless it occurs within the scene being filmed, i.e., diegetic).
3. The camera must be a hand-held camera. Any movement or immobility attainable in the hand is permitted. (The film must not take place where the camera is standing; filming must take place where the action takes place.)
4. The film must be in colour. Special lighting is not acceptable. (If there is too little light for exposure the scene must be cut or a single lamp be attached to the camera).
5. Optical work and filters are forbidden.
6. The film must not contain superficial action. (Murders, weapons, etc. must not occur.)
7. Temporal and geographical alienation are forbidden. (That is to say that the film takes place here and now.)
8. Genre movies are not acceptable.
9. The final picture must be transferred to the Academy 35mm film, with an aspect ratio of 4:3, that is, not widescreen. (Originally, the requirement was that the film had to be filmed on Academy 35mm film, but the rule was relaxed to allow low-budget productions.)
10. The director must not be credited.

I was able to find one of the movies on Youtube and was intrigued. Usually when I watch a Youtube video, I am looking at the time to see how much longer the movie is, but with Dogme 95, I was sucked into and pulled along by the storyline. The movie that I watched surrounded around two friends and a phone call. One friend is depressed because he cannot perform sexually and cannot get a girl (yes I know it is not Malopriate, Oh well. . . It's reality) During the conversation when the 1st character is outlining how he will commit suicide because of his sexual frustration, the other character gets a strange phone call from a girl he's never met telling him to come to a hotel room because apparently her boyfriend had just cheated on her with his (nonexistent) girlfriend.
He shows up, only to find out that the girl was just a lonely runaway that dialed a random number and tried to get someone to talk to. In the end, Friend #1 calls Friend #2 and gets him to come and meet this girl.
I was surprised how enthralling this movie way. The artificial rules imposed on this independent means of film making made this movie a good diversion from the monotonous re-hashings seen on the silver screen. I think that from now on I shall follow the new film medium called Dogme 95 much more closely. . .