Shaky camera

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Photograph of a tree, sun, and grass while deliberately shaking the camera

Shaky camera,

electronic news-gathering, or documentary film feel. It suggests unprepared, unrehearsed filming of reality, and can provide a sense of dynamics, immersion, instability or nervousness.[4] The technique can be used to give a pseudo-documentary or cinéma vérité appearance to a film.[5]

Too much shaky camera motion can make some viewers feel distracted, dizzy or sick.[6][7]

History

Main article: History of film

Traditionally, still and motion

Varieté and Abel Gance's Napoléon.[4]

Hand-held camera movements became more prominent in some

The Battle of Algiers and Dr. Strangelove.[4] The Japanese filmmaker Kinji Fukasaku was known for using shaky hand-held camera shots as a trademark in many of his films, most notably 1970s yakuza films such as Battles Without Honor and Humanity[9] as well as in Battle Royale
.

In 1981, the "shaky cam" style was named, and given new energy.

grips hold it and run down a city block, bumping over fallen bodies, following a female character, after which the camera was swung roughly around to go the other way.[2] Another shaky camera effect invented on that film was one the crew called "Blank-O-Cam", where the cameraman would lie on a blanket and be carried in it by four grips, the camera pointed forward near ground level to track people's feet.[2] Further shaky cam techniques were employed by Raimi on his subsequent films including Crimewave in 1985.[10]

In 1984, the

Dramamine was required to prevent motion sickness.[5] Allen and Di Palma continued to use the technique but with more finesse and restraint[5] on Manhattan Murder Mystery and subsequent films throughout the 1990s to save time spent on principal photography, and to stay within budget.[11]

The 1993's police drama NYPD Blue is recognized by many[who?] as the first television show to use shaky and swooping shots for most of its camera work. In 1994, the TV series ER employed shaky camera techniques, as did the 1996 disaster film Twister.[12] Danish director Lars von Trier used shaky camera, called 'free camera', in his movies. The Dogme 95 movement he co-created in 1995 was partly based on the technique.[4] Trier's 2000 film Dancer in the Dark was criticized for having too much shaky camera motion.[4]

documentary camera footage. In 2009, the Dutch movie Winter in Wartime (film) (released in the US in 2010) made use of the shaky cam. The 2007 films The Bourne Ultimatum and The Kingdom and the 2009 films Rampage and Darfur
make much use of the shaky camera.

Reactions

Sign at an AMC theater warning customers about side effects relating to motion sickness due to the shaky camera technique being used in Cloverfield.

Several films have been criticized for excessive shaky camera technique. The

average shot length and a decision to incompletely frame the action.[4]

The films Friday Night Lights (2004),[14] Cloverfield (2008)[7] and American Honey (2016)[citation needed] have been described as making viewers nauseated or sick.

Director Christopher McQuarrie has criticized the technique as a gimmick used to try and hide the lack of real energy in a scene.[15]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c Mekas, Jonas. "A Note on the Shaky Camera." Film Culture, issues 24-27, 1962.
  2. ^
    ISBN 1-55783-607-8
  3. ^ "Queasy-cam face-off". www.theaustralian.com.au. 2011-09-09. Retrieved 2019-08-20.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Bordwell, David; Kristin Thompson. "Unsteadicam chronicles." Observations on film art, August 17, 2007. Retrieved on October 2, 2009.
  5. ^
    ISBN 0-8131-9041-X
  6. ^ a b c Ebert, Roger. "The Shaky-Queasy-Utimatum." RogerEbert.com, August 22, 2007. Retrieved on October 2, 2009.
  7. ^ a b Dellorto, Danielle. "Scary movie making viewers sick". www.cnn.com. Retrieved 2018-01-03.
  8. ^ "The End of the Shaky Camera". Videomaker.com. Retrieved 2018-01-03.
  9. ISBN 978-1-84150-335-6
    .
  10. ^ a b Von Busack, Richard. "Fresh 'Blood': The re-release of 'Blood Simple' shows the Coen brothers learning the ropes." Metroactive.com Movies. July 13–19, 2000. Retrieved on October 2, 2009.
  11. ^
    ISBN 0-684-83374-3
  12. ^ Burke-Weiner, Larry. How the Masters Move: Creative Camera Play, Videomaker.com. July 1997. Retrieved on October 2, 2009.
  13. ^ Nix. "Saving Private Ryan (1998) Movie Review." Archived 2008-09-19 at the Wayback Machine BeyondHollywood.com, May 25, 2002. Retrieved on October 2, 2009.
  14. ^ "Film Monthly.com – Friday Night Lights (2004)". www.filmmonthly.com. Retrieved 2018-01-03.
  15. ^ "Interview: Christopher McQuarrie". Film Comment. 2015-07-30. Retrieved 2019-08-20.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Shaky_camera&oldid=1189972642"