Shaky camera

Last updated
Photograph of a tree, sun, and grass while deliberately shaking the camera Dulmen, Kirchspiel, Bornste, Abstrakte Baume -- 2021 -- 8241.jpg
Photograph of a tree, sun, and grass while deliberately shaking the camera

Shaky camera, [1] shaky cam, [2] jerky camera, queasy cam, [3] run-and-gun [4] or free camera [4] is a cinematographic technique where stable-image techniques are purposely dispensed with shaking. It is a hand-held camera, or given the appearance of being hand-held, and in many cases shots are limited to what one photographer could have accomplished with one camera. Shaky cam is often employed to give a film sequence an ad hoc, 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]

Contents

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

History

Traditionally, still and motion photography have relied on firm, stable mountings for a jitter-free image. Great effort is spent to obtain a perfectly stable image. [8] However, experiments with hand-held camera began as early as 1925 with Ewald André Dupont's Varieté and Abel Gance's Napoléon . [4]

Hand-held camera movements became more prominent in some feature films of the 1960s, including a number of John Cassavetes-directed films. Jonas Mekas named and defended the "shaky camera" work of avant-garde filmmakers, writing in Film Culture in 1962 that he was "sick and tired of the guardians of Cinema Art" accusing the new cinematographers of poor camera skills. [1] Mekas saw it as an inexpensive improvisational technique, one that allowed for greater artistic and financial freedom. [1] Other examples of 1960s hand-held usage include The Miracle Worker , Seven Days in May , 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. [2] In the film The Evil Dead , director Sam Raimi ordered Tim Philo, his cinematographer, to bolt a camera to a two-by-four-inch piece of lumber, 22 inches long, and have two strong 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 Coen brothers and their cinematographer Barry Sonnenfeld used shaky cam techniques in Blood Simple , then again in 1987's Raising Arizona . [10] Woody Allen's improvisational style of filmmaking was matched with hand-held camera techniques in Husbands and Wives , shot by Carlo Di Palma in 1991 and 1992. [11] The film's opening scene uses the hand-held style to achieve a sense of "free-floating anxiety and terminal loss of moorings." [5] Reviewers joked that 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]

Janusz Kamiński, cinematographer for Steven Spielberg on 1998's Saving Private Ryan , used a traditionally shot scene of a modern-day cemetery to open the film. For the initial action sequence, he used the hand-held camera technique to depict the gritty intensity and brutality of the 1944 Normandy beach assault on D-Day, from the boat to the beach and beyond. [13] The 1999 film The Blair Witch Project made extensive use of shaky cam to make the film look like recovered 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. Cloverfieldwarning.jpg
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 second and third installments of the Bourne action film franchise directed by Paul Greengrass were described by film critic Roger Ebert as using both shaky cam and fast editing techniques. [6] Ebert did not mind it but many of his readers complained—one calling it "Queasicam". [6] Film professors David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson described the development of the technique over 80 years of cinema and noted that Greengrass used more than the usual shaky camera motion to make it intentionally jerky and bouncy, coupled with a very short 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

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wide shot</span> Cinematic techniques

In photography, filmmaking and video production, a wide shot is a shot that typically shows the entire object or human figure and is usually intended to place it in some relation to its surroundings. These are typically shot now using wide-angle lenses. However, due to sheer distance, establishing shots and extremely wide shots can use almost any camera type.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tracking shot</span> Shot in which the camera follows backward, forward or moves alongside the subject being recorded

In cinematography, a tracking shot is any shot where the camera follows backward, forward or moves alongside the subject being recorded. Mostly the camera’s position is parallel to the character, creating a sideway motion, tracking the character. Tracking shots differ in motion from dolly shots, where the camera follows behind or before the character resulting in either an inward or an outward movement. Often the camera is mounted on a camera dolly which rides on rails similar to a railroad track; in this case, the shot is referred to as a dolly shot. A handheld steadycam or gimbal may also be used for smaller scale productions. The camera is then pushed along the track while the scene is being filmed, or moved manually when using a handheld rig. The effect can be used to create a sense of movement, to follow a character or object, or a sense of immersion to draw the viewer into the action.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Conrad Hall</span> American cinematographer

Conrad Lafcadio Hall, ASC was a French Polynesian-born American cinematographer. Named after writers Joseph Conrad and Lafcadio Hearn, he became widely prominent as a cinematographer earning numerous accolades including three Academy Awards, three BAFTA Awards and five American Society of Cinematographers Awards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cinematography</span> Art of motion picture photography

Cinematography is the art of motion picture photography.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steadicam</span> Motion picture camera stabilizer mounts

Steadicam is a brand of camera stabilizer mounts for motion picture cameras invented by Garrett Brown and introduced in 1975 by Cinema Products Corporation. The Steadicam brand was acquired by Tiffen in 2000. It was designed to isolate the camera from the camera operator's movement, keeping the camera motion separate and controllable by a skilled operator.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">French New Wave</span> c. 1960s movement in French cinema

The New Wave, also called the French New Wave, is a French art film movement that emerged in the late 1950s. The movement was characterized by its rejection of traditional filmmaking conventions in favor of experimentation and a spirit of iconoclasm. New Wave filmmakers explored new approaches to editing, visual style, and narrative, as well as engagement with the social and political upheavals of the era, often making use of irony or exploring existential themes. The New Wave is often considered one of the most influential movements in the history of cinema.

Garrett Brown is an American inventor, best known as the creator of the Steadicam. Brown's invention allows camera operators to film while walking without the normal shaking and jostles of a handheld camera. The Steadicam was first used in the Hal Ashby film Bound for Glory (1976), receiving an Academy Award, and since used on such films as Rocky, filming Rocky's running and training sequences, and Return of the Jedi, where Brown walked through a Redwood forest with the Steadicam shooting film at 1 frame per second to achieve the illusion of high speed motion during the speeder-bike chase.

In filmmaking, a long take is shot with a duration much longer than the conventional editing pace either of the film itself or of films in general. Significant camera movement and elaborate blocking are often elements in long takes, but not necessarily so. The term "long take" should not be confused with the term "long shot", which refers to the use of a long lens and not to the duration of the take. The length of a long take was originally limited to how much film the magazine of a motion picture camera could hold, but the advent of digital video has considerably lengthened the maximum potential length of a take.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">German expressionist cinema</span> German art movement during the 1910s–1930s

German expressionist cinema was a part of several related creative movements in Germany in the early 20th century that reached a peak in Berlin during the 1920s. These developments were part of a larger Expressionist movement in north and central European culture in fields such as architecture, dance, painting, sculpture and cinema.

Sync sound refers to sound recorded at the time of the filming of movies. It has been widely used in movies since the birth of sound movies.

<i>Empire</i> (1965 film) 1965 American black-and-white silent art film by Andy Warhol

Empire is a 1965 American black-and-white silent art film by Andy Warhol. When projected according to Warhol's specifications, it consists of eight hours and five minutes of slow motion footage of an unchanging view of New York City's Empire State Building. The film does not have conventional narrative or characters, and largely reduces the experience of cinema to the passing of time. Warhol stated that the purpose of the film was "to see time go by."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vilmos Zsigmond</span> Hungarian-American cinematographer

Vilmos ZsigmondASC was a Hungarian-American cinematographer. His work in cinematography helped shape the look of American movies in the 1970s, making him one of the leading figures in the American New Wave movement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dutch angle</span> Type of camera shot

In filmmaking and photography, the Dutch angle, also known as Dutch tilt, canted angle, or oblique angle, is a type of camera shot that involves setting the camera at an angle so that the shot is composed with vertical lines at an angle to the side of the frame, or so that the horizon line of the shot is not parallel with the bottom of the frame. This produces a viewpoint akin to tilting one's head to the side. In cinematography, the Dutch angle is one of many cinematic techniques often used to portray psychological uneasiness or tension in the subject being filmed. The Dutch angle is strongly associated with German expressionist cinema, which employed it extensively.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Wong Howe</span> Chinese-born American film director and cinematographer

Wong Tung Jim, A.S.C. (Chinese: 黃宗霑; August 28, 1899 – July 12, 1976), known professionally as James Wong Howe (Houghto), was a Chinese-born American cinematographer who worked on over 130 films. During the 1930s and 1940s, he was one of the most sought after cinematographers in Hollywood due to his innovative filming techniques. Howe was known as a master of the use of shadow and one of the first to use deep-focus cinematography, in which both foreground and distant planes remain in focus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Deep focus</span> Photographic and cinematographic technique using a large depth of field

Deep focus is a photographic and cinematographic technique using a large depth of field. Depth of field is the front-to-back range of focus in an image, or how much of it appears sharp and clear. In deep focus, the foreground, middle ground, and background are all in focus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gordon Willis</span> American cinematographer and film director

Gordon Hugh Willis Jr., ASC was an American cinematographer and film director. He is best known for his photographic work on eight Woody Allen films, six Alan J. Pakula films, four James Bridges films, and all three films from Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather series.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hand-held camera</span> Filmmaking technique

Hand-held camera or hand-held shooting is a filmmaking and video production technique in which a camera is held in the camera operator's hands as opposed to being mounted on a tripod or other base. Hand-held cameras are used because they are conveniently sized for travel and because they allow greater freedom of motion during filming. Newsreel camera operators frequently gathered images using a hand-held camera. Virtually all modern video cameras are small enough for hand-held use, but many professional video cameras are designed specifically for hand-held use such as for electronic news-gathering (ENG), and electronic field production (EFP).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">In-camera editing</span> Film technique

In-camera editing is a technique where, instead of editing the shots in a film into sequence after shooting, the director or cinematographer instead shoots the sequences in strict order. The resulting "edit" is therefore already complete when the film is developed.

Christopher Russell Rouse is an American film and television editor and screenwriter who has about a dozen feature-film credits and numerous television credits. Rouse won the Academy Award for Best Film Editing, the BAFTA Award for Best Editing, and the ACE Eddie Award for the film The Bourne Ultimatum (2007).

Found footage is a cinematic technique in which all or a substantial part of the work is presented as if it were film or video recordings recorded by characters in the story, and later "found" and presented to the audience. The events on screen are typically seen through the camera of one or more of the characters involved, often accompanied by their real-time, off-camera commentary. For added realism, the cinematography may be done by the actors themselves as they perform, and shaky camera work and naturalistic acting are routinely employed. The footage may be presented as if it were "raw" and complete or as if it had been edited into a narrative by those who "found" it.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Mekas, Jonas. "A Note on the Shaky Camera." Film Culture , issues 24-27, 1962.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Muir, John Kenneth. The Unseen Force: the films of Sam Raimi, pp. 81, 303–306. Hal Leonard Corporation, 2004. ISBN   1-55783-607-8
  3. ↑ "Queasy-cam face-off". www.theaustralian.com.au. 2011-09-09. Retrieved 2019-08-20.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Bordwell, David; Kristin Thompson. "Unsteadicam chronicles." Observations on film art, August 17, 2007. Retrieved on October 2, 2009.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Bailey, Peter J. The Reluctant Film Art of Woody Allen, pp. 188, 193, 303. University Press of Kentucky, 2003. ISBN   0-8131-9041-X
  6. 1 2 3 Ebert, Roger. "The Shaky-Queasy-Utimatum." RogerEbert.com , August 22, 2007. Retrieved on October 2, 2009.
  7. 1 2 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. ↑ Berra, John (2010). Directory of World Cinema: Japan (1 ed.). Bristol, UK: Intellect Books. p. 115. ISBN   978-1-84150-335-6.
  10. 1 2 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. 1 2 Meade, Marion. The unruly life of Woody Allen: a biography, p. 13. Simon and Schuster, 2000. 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.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.