Shaky Cam

[Rowdy Roddy McDowall]

I always found the herky-jerky camera movements of NYPD BLUE to be meaningless, not adding anything consistent to the plot of the show. It was as if they were trying to make it different than the HILL STREET look, but HILL STREET never had meaningless movement. NYPD BLUE just looked messier.

SAVING PRIVATE RYAN used the shakycam for excellent reasons, during its combat scenes as opposed to the quieter talkative moments. And because it was a success, virtually every action movie since GLADIATOR felt the need to borrow the effect......just as action movies stole THE MATRIX's bullet-time effects regardless of whether it even made sense to the plots. So those two films inadvertently spawned a host of cliches.

Still, wasn't LOST IN SPACE the first notable use of bullet-time,over a year before THE MATRIX?

 

[Mr. B]

If it's used "appropriately," I don't mind. I thought the style fit in BSG and it's okay in actual documentaries... or if the camera is chasing people running.

Conversely, I recall seeing shaky cam in the film Public Enemies. It depicts American gangsters in the 1930's and the cinematography was incredibly distracting... completely takes you out of the film.

 

[Harvey]

Still, wasn't LOST IN SPACE the first notable use of bullet-time,over a year before THE MATRIX?

Apparently the effect first appeared in the a music video from the mid-1980s.

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As for the question at hand, I don't mind hand-held motion picture photography. It's been around since cameras were portable enough for someone to hold, and as all technical aspects of filmmaking, it's been used well in certain cases and used poorly in others. As a term itself, "shakycam" isn't particularly useful; handheld photography didn't suddenly appear in motion picture and television in the 1980s and 1990s.

 

[Enterprise is Great]

I rarely notice it these days. It's been used for so long now that it's just another filming technique and doesn't really stand out much unless it's over done.

 

[RandyS]

I can usually tolerate it but it annoys me. Down with the shaky cam.

Same here. shaky cam is what made NYPD BLUE unwatchable for me way back when which is disapointing because I love cop shows, but I tolerated it in the New BATTLESTAR GALACTICA, because, you know, that's science fiction,(which I love most) and I wanted to see it.

But I agree, down with shaky cam.

Hell, even Mary McDonnel agreed that she didn't like it.