Does the Shaky Camera craze annoy you

[kinetic]

Every show you watch on TV nowadays seems to have this
'Shaky Camera' technique, sometimes being so over the top
it is outright comical.

Here's a Wiki explanation of it and some insight into it's
origins.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaky_camera

and another:

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=shaky%20camera

In some of the CSI type dramas on TV they even use telephoto
quick zooms in/out and deliberate out of focus errors to
give some sort of immediacy and handheld live documentary feel
to it.
I find it irritating and usually turn it off.:)
Am I officially a grumpy old man?
Why is everything on TV catering to such low attention span
viewers?

Thoughts anyone?

Steve

[OneOfOne]

Must say, it annoys the hell out of me too! You don't need to shake a camera around in oroder to convey excitement, ducumentary style, ad- hoc or whatever other descriptions take your fancy. I find it annoying at best and generally unnecessary. Any films done in this style will date so quickly. Like "real life" shows, I think it has outlived its usefulness and it is time for the guys to move on to something better.

In real life, you would be locked up if you spun your head around from person to person, grabbing a bit here and there.

Save up your pennies guys and buy a TRIPOD!

[mithrandir]

Did you watch Blair Witch? Entirely hand held and we were seasick by the end.

Steadycam is much easier to watch, and is much more like what you see if you are there. Your mind takes out the shake.

[kinetic]

I wonder if, like noise cancelling headphones, you could get
shake-twist-zoom cancelling glasses and try to enjoy a fillum :)

[DavidU]

:lol:

[rally]

Is that as bad as the grossly over saturated colours, excessive colourisation and dynamic range that you also see in CSI ?

Either way too much of anything is a poor excuse for good movie making I think.

Is this the same as casting only 8-10/10 female models/actors in movies too ?
Dont worry about their acting skills - so long as they look allright - she'll be right ! (pun intended)

[Octane]

I watched Cloverfield on my flight over to Europe.

lol, that was an experience.

Personally, I don't mind it so much.

H

[ngcles]

Hi Steve,



(1) So do I for the same reason.
(2) Yes you are.
(3) Because a substantial number of T.V viewers have very low attention-spans ... Duh? ;)


Best,

Les D

[Matt Wastell]

Leave CSI alone - especially CSI Miami - the acting as awesome and having David Caruso as the dirty perv detective is great!:rofl:

[GrahamL]

Steve you just need to give up trying to watch crap tv
no goods going to come of this , soon you'll find yourself watching
reality cooking shows washed down with a little ..So you think you can dance ... and by then its to late to get help !

[kinetic]

Thanks Les..., guys :)

Les:
(1) cheers, at least I'm not alone in this:thumbsup:
(2) I am not grumpy!:bashcomp::argue::)

(3) ohh look....shiny, cute emoticons above! :)

Steve

[Baddad]

Hi Steve, Hi Les, :)

I was intending to say the same as what Les has posted but in a more subtle way. :D

1. I don't tolerate it at all.
2. Bad TV programs do that to learned persons.
3. Learned persons are a minority. Conversely, short attention spanned persons are a majority. Money talks and therefore the majority rules.

:lol::lol::lol::lol:

Understanding why just does not make it any easier to accept.

Cheers Marty

[astronut]

Steve, Les,
You're right!! We are grumpy ole men.
We've earned it!!:lol:
Unfortunately TV has lowered itself with all these reality shows, it only caters for those with loooowwww a t t e n ti o n......... s p a n s.
What are we talking about..................:lol::lol::l ol::lol::lol:

[MLyons]

I suppose they've got to do something to try and compensate for the lousy screen play and story line.:shrug:

A good story should carry itself and really shouldn't need all the frills to keep a viewer amused or interested.:screwy:

[TheDecepticon]

A good storyline?? You gotta be kidding, right?? I don't think I've seen an original, good storyline for 20years or more!!
I just about refuse point blank to watch any TV at all, it is just c**p! Growing up in the bush will do that to you, too. Makes you find something better to do.:D

[avandonk]

I agree totally with the original post. I use the best device on the planet available to me to produce the screenplay. It is called reading a book! The device is your brain!

Bert

[Screwdriverone]

HEAR HEAR!!!

I cannot watch CSI - "Anything" anymore as I cannot stand the primary colours and shades of orange, blue and green "themed" in every scene! Makes me sick.

Add the fact that every police officer and Medical Examiner drives around in $60000+ USD cars and examine bodies in swamps wearing Armani suits and it just gets ridiculous. I would love to take a tour of the multi BILLION dollar Artistically designed and furnsihed Miami Dade PD and just see how much it looks like the screen version, doubt it! And the music video sequences when they do "forensic" work are just nauseating. Imagine..."Daddy, I want to grow up to be a Forensic Investigator so I can take 22 seconds with rock music in the background to find evidence using million dollar machines which extract DNA and match it to massive databases in 15 seconds and all the computers make stupid blippy noises when the information scrolls down the screen"

Now, before everyone canes me with how its supposed to be entertainment blah blah blah.....come on... I know its built for American brains and is all flashy and purile to be able to entertain mind numbingly stupid people, but really...

I noticed and despised camera shake on one of the first shows to use it, NYPD Blue and it just took off from there. Drives me insane.

Right. That's how I feel about all this.

/endrant ;)

Cheers

Chris

[Ric]

Have to agree with Steve as well, this shaky cam thing is annoying.

It's usually hurting my eyes by the end of the show.

[M54]

How does it annoy you guys?
You don't actually WATCH:eyepop: the shows in question, do you???:D:P:lol:

[Screwdriverone]

Not any more Molly, not any more.

Just saw this nice warm bandwagon rolling by and I thought I might hitch a ride.

;)

Cheers

Chris

[Octane]

Chris,

You being in IT, I'm glad you bring up the point about the bleeping noises whenever there's a computer screen in a show. It drives me absolutely bonkers. It downright insults my intelligence.

In fact, the bleeping computer screens is even more annoying than the camera shake. It's turned into a bit of a joke with my friends and I. Whenever I go to an ATM to download some money, I make those bleeping noises. Or, if a friend is over and I have to head on over to Google to do a search, I'll make the bleeping noises as I type and increase the intensity of the bleeps as the search results pop up.

And, whilst we're on CSI: *, if anyone's interested in a /proper/ forensic investigation show, I'd highly recommend Silent Witness (14 seasons and counting). I'm hooked.

H

[kustard]

It's certainly being overused now. For certain scenes it definitely enhances the emotion of the story but you don't need it for everything. Something that really annoys me is a certain food show where every shot is either out of focus or seeming cut in half... err, I want to SEE the food, not some out of focus blur whilst the cameraman zooms in on the hostess's assets...

+1 Humayun for Silent Witness, an awesome show and the only cop show I'll watch.

[Octane]

Simon,

Emilia Fox. :dribble:

Can I recommend, quite possibly, the greatest show ever written for TV? The Wire. IMDb it. At lask check, 9.7/10. I saw two episodes, and bought the boxed set as soon as it was released a couple of months later. I'm savouring it and only watch an episode once every few weeks. It's too good to finish!

H

[Screwdriverone]

HA HA HA!

Thanks H, I knew there would be a kindred spirit to agree with this.

My other pet hate is a scene where there is ABSOLUTELY NO TEXT on the screen, just some schematic of a building and / or graphics of the story, and then the computer "operator" merrily bangs away on the keyboard whilst blabbing on about how powerful the computer is or the analysis its doing. 150 keystrokes fly by with the screen changing, zooming in, information gets called up and photos appear.....ALL BY BANGING AWAY ON THE KEYBOARD AT 100 MILES AN HOUR???????

Please, can someone show me the Operating System that exists that can do this? NEVER a mouse in sight.

I think the worst scene ever to use this drivel was (in an otherwise good movie.....Halle Berry....dribble...) was Swordfish with John Travolta and Hugh Jackman, where he is creating a banking hacker program on half a dozen screens with NO mouse again, and bashes away on the keyboard while a music video plays and he survives a montage of garbage cut scenes and camera changes etc. I mean really!

Jurassic Park also did this ("I know this operating system..." yeah bullcrap you do!) and Mission Impossible ad nauseum....

Sorry, got sidetracked......and off topic.......again. :sadeyes:

Cheers

Chris

[Octane]

Chris,



Should I mention Abby from NCIS? l o l

That character grated on my nerves so much I stopped watching the show!

H

[kinetic]

What exactly is she btw?
the token goth/metal head/tattooed biker chick/ nerd/geek/ peircing freak?

Quite a lot of tokens taken care of in that role.

Another hilarious , seemingly over the top production thing that certainly
dates a show is the starting credits running through about the first
3 or 4 ad breaks.

Steve

[kustard]

hahaha, I had a pretty big WTF over that one as well...

[Screwdriverone]

Aww, now H, Abby is a cutie, we know she is full of crap, there is just something about a smart goth scientist.....:P

oh dear.

Cheers

Chris

[michaellxv]

yeah, leave Abby alone. Best part of the show.

Been watching original Star Trek lately and they use the camera zoom in/out to very poor effect when they go on Red Alert. Now that you've drawn my attention to it, it really is annoying.

[Screwdriverone]

Oh yeah Steve,

Good call on that one :thumbsup:

Cheers

Chris

[bartman]

What about TV ads that employ the same shakey/ move like a doco camera effect??????
They really annoy me!!!!:mad2:

[Octane]

Sorry gents, I show no quarter for Abby.

annoying++;

H

[Waxing_Gibbous]

As I have a mild case of Parkinson's that's all you ever get from MY videos!! :lol: True Cinema Veritas
Hey I should apply for a job on NCIS. Union rates!!
By the way - what are people real job is to find hash brownies on Aircarft Carriers and bust CPO's for selling ammo to gun-nuts doing investigating murders and such?

[Kal]

Read this article today which relates to this topic in a way:

Season Finale of House shot entirely with Canon 5D Mk II (http://www.petapixel.com/2010/04/09/house-season-finale-filmed-entirely-with-canon-5d-mark-ii/)

[Jen]

:lol::lol: Do you really want me to answer that Steve :rofl:
Maybe your just too picky LOL :P;):D