The Drunk Cameraman

[Matt]

I have to rant because this problem is not just in movies anymore, it is in documentaries and TV...all over the place.

This is the swooping, always moving camera angles that seem to be so popular these days. It seriously makes me sick. I am susceptible to it more than most I guess, I have always had a problem with movement and can barely look away from the road for a minute if I am riding in a car.

However, Dora has no problem with it and she says that she ends up with a mild headache after watching this kind of crap. It is seriously everywhere now and I know directors have to take special care to get these shots but I just don't understand the point.

I am watching a documentary where one man is speaking to others and the camera is swooping and jerking around just like I used to see things when I was shit faced drunk as a teenager.

Anyone else have a problem with this new trend? I can barely watch anything produced in the last two years.

A great example of what I am talking about is that movie District 9 which was simply unwatchable to me because of this.

[alinda]

Is this like when say your watching COPS , and they're chasing the guy
and filming while running? That makes me dizzy. :lol:

[Sam]

It doesn't bother me at all Matt, say sorry.

[agrabin]

I'm with you on this very much Matt...it really does my head in...what exactly is the point?...are they trying to make it look more like real life?...so do you walk around shaking your head?...Real life...?...hello!!...does the big screen in front of us not give us a clue?? :onfire:

Yeah!!...on my list Matt...but since you brought it up, you can take the first pot...:shoot:

* apologies to any of you who do walk about shaking your head :rose:

[Brice]

Dramamine? It's just motion sickness, really. Either way it doesn't phase me unless I'm already feeling extremely tired or nauseous. If I take Dramamine or Phenergan the problem is solved.

I think the effect is to give it a home video camera feel.

[Matt]

I think so too and it is just useless imo.

Take The Office for instance. I love the actors, characters, story line, jokes...everything. But I can't watch it because what must be first person realism.

I feel like everyone has gone permanently Blair Witch Project on everything and it drives me insane.

This was another tired birthday thread but it really does suck bad. I can't take a pill every time I want to watch a movie. I already have to smoke and eat. :lol:

[Brice]

Well, as I said I'm not really bothered by it, but it should be used more sparingly then it is imo. Most home cameras now have some stability feature where you could almost run and the picture is fixed, so I think unless you need the camcorder feel and your film has an older time period we can do away with the seizure effect.

[Riostar]

District 9 wasn't to bad for me but when I watched Cloverfield in the theater I got super nauseous and had a pretty bad headache by the end since the whole thing was shot in shaky running camcorder feel.

[ur2ndbiggestfan]

I call it "shakey camera", and I hate it. Many potentially good movies have been ruined by this, notably the two Bourne sequels. I think this is a monkey-see, monkey-do situation, where one director started this trend (THE ART OF WAR with Wesley Snipes is the earliest movie I can recall in which this seriously bothered me), and now all the little un-original director-monkeys copy it. Locked-down cameras are much better then hand-held. When I see the swooping, always moving, always up-and-down camera I start to think the story-line and dialog are so weak they are trying to distract you from it by their digital games and movements.

[flaggwalkstheline]

when used properly, the shaky cam can be an effective tool
the best films to do this are the mexican fim REC and it's American remake Quarantine
I think that shaky cam is a bit overused these days, though I did very much enjoy distict 9

[Matt]

I call it "shakey camera", and I hate it. Many potentially good movies have been ruined by this, notably the two Bourne sequels. I think this is a monkey-see, monkey-do situation, where one director started this trend (THE ART OF WAR with Wesley Snipes is the earliest movie I can recall in which this seriously bothered me), and now all the little un-original director-monkeys copy it. Locked-down cameras are much better then hand-held. When I see the swooping, always moving, always up-and-down camera I start to think the story-line and dialog are so weak they are trying to distract you from it by their digital games and movements.

Wow! I could not have said it better myself. I really wanted to watch Cloverfield and new I wouldn't be able to.

I really hate it but I'm glad I'm not alone.

[Jon]

Aye yup. I have noticed. It doesn't really bother me as it does you but the trend is, at this point, trite.

Kinda like the auto - tune in music.

[Dagavidiab]

the best films to do this are the mexican fim REC and it's American remake Quarantine

REC is a Spanish film. Completly sure about this

[pathoftheturtle]

Well, as I said I'm not really bothered by it, but it should be used more sparingly then it is imo. Most home cameras now have some stability feature where you could almost run and the picture is fixed, so I think unless you need the camcorder feel and your film has an older time period we can do away with the seizure effect.Yeah, the irony. Stuff actually shot by the average slob now looks better than professional snobs think that theirs should. :lol:

[Bethany]

I'm with you, Matty. I get motion sickness so badly from the least little thing and medications do not help at all. Besides the shaky camera syndrome, 3D makes me sick as well. :(

[Matt]

It is seriously horrible for people like us out there Bethany. :couple:

I basically don't pay to see a movie anymore because of it.

[JRM]

It doesn't bother me at all Matt, say sorry.

I second this.:D

[Ricky]

I was fine during Cloverfield, but ironically, not during Quarantine.