Realism

Realism is the cinema's appearance of reality and the truth of the real world. The Realism term in the film industry dates back to 'Dogma 95', from the Germans. They created a strict rule book for how there films would be made for the realism portrayal. 'Festen' was the first film to apply to these rules in 1998.

Dogma 95 Rules

• Filming must be done on location.
• Only diegetic music.
• The camera must be a hand-held camera.
• The film must be in colour.
• Optical work and filters are forbidden.
• The film must not contain superficial action.
• Temporal and geographical alienation are forbidden.
• Genre movies are not acceptable.
• The film format must be Academy 35mm.
• The director must not be credited.

BBC,2012.'Dinnerladies'.Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/dinnerladies/

Realism in film and TV is largely debated on how Realism is shown in a film or Programme. some could argue that almost nearly all films have realism within them. Such as, Harry Potter is not set in a completely real world yet the characters come from a realism world which is as viewers can relate to. Therefore, many elements of film can make realism, such as the subject. Many British realism films show the working class and gritty side of Britain and the characters we would walk past daily within particular regions. Examples of these films are, This is England and Wasp. Another element that can contribute to realism is the form and style of the film, in which some argue that if there is any type of non-diegetic music, special effects or even non-continuity edits, then the film is not a portrayal of realism. Many contemporary films would not portray realism if we were to base it on the style and form, as many films, even with a realism approach in the Subject, have a lot of green screens and special effects to save money. A British realism programme that is realistic in both style and form and subjects, is 'Dinnerladies', about a staff group who work in a canteen. Each episode concentrates on a few days continuity edited together and we are in one room throughout the whole series, with realistic characters. Another programme with the same approach is 'The Royle Family', as we feel like we are sitting on the sofas with them, with long scenes and quite natural lighting.


In this video, TV shows and films, Including 'Episodes', are shown without the backdrops that look very realist.



IMDb,2012.'Pride and Prejudice'.
Available at: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112130/

Downton Abbey and Pride and Prejudice are examples of film that don't have a Realism in the style and form, with set-up cameras and lighting ect, yet the subjects and costumes are realistic to that time period, such as the old-fashioned English costumes and narrative events such as the titanic and the war.




Festen



'Festen'.Available at:
http://www.movieberry.com/festen/

With Festen being the first film with the Dogma 95 rules attached, when watching it, I understood how the rules make the film be portrayed to a high extent as Realistic. The hand-held camera technique made the audience feel as if we were in the room and the edit was extremely continuity edited, with no extreme cuts in time, when the scenes were cut. For example, When the main character is beating his father up, there is no quick cuts from different angles. In fact, as most contemporary films edit fight scene very different to this, I found it un-comforting seeing the scene in such a different approach. However, I think short British film, 'Wasp', has a very similar realism approach with the hand-held camera and same approach to the fight scene. Also they both have a very documentary technique approach about them, with the plot showing parts of the narrative that aren't most important, such as making their way from the house to the pub in Wasp and the bath scene in Festen with the sister laying in the bath and then talking to the man with her, telling him to try it out. Unnecessary to the main storyline but allows the audience to make a relationship with the characters and portrays the realism.



Dispino,2011.'''Wasp'' stings the heart',March 1st.
Available at:http://blsciblogs.baruch.cuny.edu/writingculture/page/23/



Halflants.L.'Festen de Thomas Vinterberg'.
Available at: http://obscuracinema.wordpress.com
/2011/10/18/festen-de-thomas-vinterberg/

Another form of realism is psychological realism which shows an honest narration of the narrative, with a complex opinion on the characters. They are not just good or bad. In Festen, we know that the actions of the father were most certainly wrong yet we do have a slight sympathy for him towards the end, as he is genuinely upset about his actions and we witness this as well as the main characters views. Also with the honest side of the story, we have to see the sex scenes as without it, it's not portraying the honesty of the storyline. Even the lighting of the film is all natural or simply just the room's natural lighting, going back to the documentary techniques and honesty of the films approach.



The Mirror, 2008. 'Is the family's Emily britain's vilest teenager' Sept 19th.
Available at: http://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-

 news/exclusive-is-the-familys-emily-britains-vilest-339392

In TV, Realism has lead to reality TV. However, reality TV doesn't necessary follow realism rules as almost all reality programmes can manipulate the reality and honesty of the actions through edits. One of my favourite reality programmes was Channel 4's, 'The Family', with set up cameras around one family's house, giving the viewer a window into the regular family household which we could easily relate to. However, this still manipulated time and narrative as we didn't have the time to see all the footage captured, just the highlights which the director would then follow up on, making the event a step-by-step story, including interviews with the family to drive the story on.



IMDb,2010.'The only way is Essex'.
Available at: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1737565/

Reality TV also has many different Genres, such as game shows and entertainment, as well as reality soaps, such as 'The only way is Essex', in which they state that some of what the characters do are set up purely for our entertainment. Whereas Game shows, such as 'Big Brother' are manipulated by the tasks set up for them to do, causing them to react in particular ways.


The Guardian,2007.'Is anyone still watching Big Brother?'Aug 13th.
 Available at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/tvandradioblog/
2007/aug/13/isanyonestillwatchingbigb