The Lars von Trier Conversations – Volume One

About the Art of Filmmaking, Editing, Sound Design, and Costume Design Conversations with Molly Malene Stensgaard, Per Streit, and Manon Rasmussen

Georg Tiefenbach

• Publisher: Königshausen u. Neumann
• Year: 2025
• eBook ISBN:
  9783826090400
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Index: Social Sciences

»This book was born out of my curiosity about filmmaking and filmmakers.« In 2004, Georg Tiefenbach met editor Molly Malene Stensgaard, sound designer Per Streit, and costume designer Manon Rasmussen to talk about their work with writer and director Lars von Trier. It all began with a shared interest in exchanging ideas and led to comprehensive discussions about film as an art form and a technical medium: How are films made? What effect do they have on the audience? What understanding do filmmakers have of their own art and work? Lars von Trier has significantly developed contemporary film further since the 1980s. One of Trier's special skills is to attract exceptional people to his team with whom he has enjoyed working again and again, with some of them even on all of his films. These conversations provide a deep insight into the collaborative work and personal relationships between Lars von Trier and his inner circle of filmmaking. The focus is on the discussion of Trier's films from Breaking the Waves to Dogville. It is about the development from the naturalistic style of the Dogma films to the use of a studio stage with a narrator as voice-over. It is about the fundamental understanding of cinematic language and artistic creation. Making a film is a great collective effort where many different personalities come together to work towards a common goal that is shaped by everyone involved.

Table of contents

• Frontmatter
• CONVERSATION WITH EDITOR MOLLY MALENE STENSGAARD
• New Developments in Filmmaking and Digital Media. About Manderlay
• Favorite Scenes, Montage and Non-Montage
• Creating Ambivalent Characters. Directing and Editing
• Subjective Perception of Violence in Dogville, the Final Sequence, and Grotesque Humor
• Non-Linear Perspectives, Literary and Scenic Perspectives
• Music, Time-Lapse, and Parallel Montage
• Establishing Shots, Cinemascope, and Dissolve
• Film and Theater. Abstract Stage, Naturalistic Costumes, and Sound Design
• Dogville. About the Essence of the Story. Film and Literature
• Expectations, Clichés, and Stereotypes. Emotions in the Story and on the Screen
• The Finale of Dancer in the Dark
• Realism in the Musical. About Suspense and Rhythm
• Dancer in the Dark. Editing Intimate Scenes. Panning, Zooming, and Cutting
• The Idiots. Handheld Camera and Characters
• Storytelling from Script to Filming to Editing
• The Idiots. Editing Dogma Films and Working with Rules
• About The Kingdom and Acting
• The Direct Look into the Camera Lens
• Editing Scenes with a Narrator
• About Rhythm, Pace, and Mood. Digital Editing
• Emotional Cut & Time Cut
• Aesthetic Ideas, Practical Work, and Working Processes
• About Becoming a Film Editor, Meeting Lars von Trier, and Empathy
• CONVERSATION WITH SOUND DESIGNER PER STREIT
• First Conversation, September 1 and 16, 2004
• Second Conversation, September 23 and October 10, 2004
• CONVERSATION WITH COSTUME DESIGNER MANON RASMUSSEN
• First Conversation, November 10, 2004
• Second Conversation, November 19, 2004