# In which I pit the cameraman for Battlestar Galactica
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-i-pit-the-cameraman-for-battlestar-galactica/294223
**Category:** The BBQ Pit
**Created:** [March 12, 2005, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-i-pit-the-cameraman-for-battlestar-galactica/294223 "2005-03-12T19:29:08Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@EvilHamsterOnCrack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilHamsterOnCrack)
#### Post date: [March 12, 2005, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-i-pit-the-cameraman-for-battlestar-galactica/294223/1 "2005-03-12T19:29:08Z")
I tried to watch this last night, knowing all the buzz about it, and hoping it would be good. The show was fine, but JESUS CHRIST MAN! Get your finger off of the fucking ZOOM button! Every single scene involved zooming in and out and the camera bobbing. It was ridiculous!
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### Author:  [@FinnAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinnAgain)
#### Post date: [March 12, 2005, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-i-pit-the-cameraman-for-battlestar-galactica/294223/2 "2005-03-12T19:32:55Z")
That’s pretty much been the standard for the show since the miniseries. Myself, I really like it. I think it adds a touch of realism instead of having an omniscient camera angle/view.
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### Author:  [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)
#### Post date: [March 12, 2005, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-i-pit-the-cameraman-for-battlestar-galactica/294223/3 "2005-03-12T19:55:36Z")
There is a happy medium, though. I think it’s effectiveness becomes less the more it is used and it becomes merely a style or trademark.
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### Author:  [@FilmGeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FilmGeek)
#### Post date: [March 12, 2005, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-i-pit-the-cameraman-for-battlestar-galactica/294223/4 "2005-03-12T20:16:38Z")
I noticed the erratic camera a lot in the miniseries, but I don’t even see it now. It’s just part of the show.
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### Author:  [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)
#### Post date: [March 12, 2005, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-i-pit-the-cameraman-for-battlestar-galactica/294223/5 "2005-03-12T20:27:56Z")
I like it fine myself, and I think it gives the show a unique touch.
However **Evil Hamster** certainly isn’t not the only one who finds it annoying.
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### Author:  [@shy\_guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shy_guy)
#### Post date: [March 12, 2005, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-i-pit-the-cameraman-for-battlestar-galactica/294223/6 "2005-03-12T22:10:25Z")
I’ve never watched the show (I’m waiting for a marathon or something since I want to see it from the beginning), but everytime I see commercials for it that feature zooming in space, I always think “Just like Firefly!”
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### Author:  [@FinnAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinnAgain)
#### Post date: [March 12, 2005, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-i-pit-the-cameraman-for-battlestar-galactica/294223/7 "2005-03-12T22:19:41Z")
Ya know, whenever Battlestar comes up, someone mentions Firefly… and then I feel bad because I never caught a single episode of Firefly when it was on the air.
Ah well.
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### Author:  [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)
#### Post date: [March 12, 2005, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-i-pit-the-cameraman-for-battlestar-galactica/294223/8 "2005-03-12T23:18:05Z")
It’s not as bad as the photography in _The Bourne Supremacy_ which frequently had the main character 3/4 obscured by a prop while they talked, through the whole shot.
It’s a stylistic choice that is being abused, and it needs to stop. It’s not clever and artistic, it’s just bloody annoying and distracting.
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### Author:  [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)
#### Post date: [March 12, 2005, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-i-pit-the-cameraman-for-battlestar-galactica/294223/9 "2005-03-12T23:40:24Z")
I second (third? fourth?) that. I understand what they’re trying to accomplish with the shaky, handheld camera effect, but use it judiciously, people.
**shy guy** , we just bought the mini-series on DVD. I hadn’t watched it all either; we just finished watching the mini-series, and it was great. Get it, watch it, and start watching the show. You’ll be glad you did - it’s one of the few quality shows on tv right now.
**FinnAgain** , we got the Firefly series on DVD too, and after watching them all again (I had seen most on tv as well), I am pretty sure that this series was one of the best things that almost happened to tv.
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### Author:  [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)
#### Post date: [March 13, 2005, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-i-pit-the-cameraman-for-battlestar-galactica/294223/10 "2005-03-13T02:11:26Z")
> [@Shy Guy](#):
>
> I’ve never watched the show (I’m waiting for a marathon or something since I want to see it from the beginning), but everytime I see commercials for it that feature zooming in space, I always think “Just like Firefly!”
> [@FinnAgain](#):
>
> Ya know, whenever Battlestar comes up, someone mentions Firefly… and then I feel bad because I never caught a single episode of Firefly when it was on the air.
Hmm, so more than one person thinks there’s a similarity…
If Joss Whedon has a time machine, he should travel through time and sue along with Lucas.
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### Author:  [@FinnAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinnAgain)
#### Post date: [March 13, 2005, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-i-pit-the-cameraman-for-battlestar-galactica/294223/11 "2005-03-13T03:22:05Z")
Now I am sad. There was an increadible scifi show that I haven’t seen, and it was cut before its time so even on DVD there isn’t much? ~sniffles~
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### Author:  [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)
#### Post date: [March 13, 2005, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-i-pit-the-cameraman-for-battlestar-galactica/294223/12 "2005-03-13T04:16:41Z")
With all the bouncing around by the cameraman, I keep expecting to see the title displayed as _Battlestar Galactica Blue_.
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [March 13, 2005, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-i-pit-the-cameraman-for-battlestar-galactica/294223/13 "2005-03-13T04:48:55Z")
Haven’t seen the series since it was _Battlestar Pnderosa_ with Lorne Greene, but I wanted to comment on zooms.
With our heads, bodies or eyes, we can pan and tilt; but we can’t zoom without an optical device. So zooms aren’t a ‘natural’ movement. It’s been pointed out in several books that cameramen should not overuse zoom, because it looks unprofessional. Once upon a time (way before I was born) people used fixed focal length cameras. My dad had an 8mm camera in the 50s (still before I came along) that had a zoom. It seems that it must have been in the '50s and '60s that zoom lenses became widely available on professional and consumer cameras.
Consumers liked to zoom in and out with their home movie cameras. Why? Because they could. Some professional filmmakers in the '60s liked to use rapid zooming. Why? Maybe it had to do with the drug culture. (Far out, man! Whoa! Zoom… in! And… zoom out. And in! And out! andinandoutandinandoutandin…)
There’s a place for zooming; but if they’re overused, the footage looks like an amateur home movie or a psychedellic drugfest.
Not having seen the new BSG, I can’t comment on how it’s used there.
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### Author:  [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)
#### Post date: [March 13, 2005, 8:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-i-pit-the-cameraman-for-battlestar-galactica/294223/14 "2005-03-13T08:41:40Z")
Come on guys, give the cameramen a break, they’re just doing their job. If you want to blame, blame the Director!
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### Author:  [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)
#### Post date: [March 13, 2005, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-i-pit-the-cameraman-for-battlestar-galactica/294223/15 "2005-03-13T09:54:11Z")
> [@1920s Style "Death Ray"](#):
>
> Come on guys, give the cameramen a break, they’re just doing their job. If you want to blame, blame the Director!
So, does the cameraman have no creative input? I’m curious just how much control the director usually has in a given film or TV show.
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### Author:  [@LibrarySpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LibrarySpy)
#### Post date: [March 13, 2005, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-i-pit-the-cameraman-for-battlestar-galactica/294223/16 "2005-03-13T12:56:24Z")
> [@shy guy](#):
>
> everytime I see commercials for it that feature zooming in space, I always think "Just like Firefly!
The show is _nothing_ like Firefly. Different theme, different thrust, different camera filters, different dialogue patterns. Sure, they’re both “space operas,” but they’re so far apart that they could define either end of the spectrum, with Farscape in the middle as a fusion of the two (dark, plaguing morality and sheer silliness). Battlestar Galactica took standard military science fiction and turned it into an ER-style serial, and the melodrama annoys the crap out of me (I prefer television drier and more bland. I realize it’s a personal failing.)
**EvilHamsterOnCrack** , isn’t jiggly camera work made for people on crack?
> [@Derleth](#):
>
> So, does the cameraman have no creative input? I’m curious just how much control the director usually has in a given film or TV show.
I would say the cameraman is more of a technician than a creator. Though there’s a lot of artistic technique to the camera process, it’s the director who casts the vision. From the endlessly boring Stargate commentary I’ve heard (usually involving the director, a lighting director, and the director of photography), it’s the director who says “push in here.” “Now, use 8mm film for this effect. Now, find a filter that will soften these edges.” The cameraman makes it happen.
The editor, on the other hand, has a lot more creative control, so perhaps some of the blame for the rapid cuts can go to him.
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [March 13, 2005, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-i-pit-the-cameraman-for-battlestar-galactica/294223/17 "2005-03-13T14:28:22Z")
> [@Derleth](#):
>
> So, does the cameraman have no creative input? I’m curious just how much control the director usually has in a given film or TV show.
[This site](http://www.filmmaking.net/faq/categories/category11.asp) will give you a thumbnail sketch of crew roles.
The Director is the person responsible for the creative vision of the film. The Director of Photography (who works closely with the director) is the person who is responsible for the cinematic look of the film.
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### Author:  [@FilmGeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FilmGeek)
#### Post date: [March 13, 2005, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-i-pit-the-cameraman-for-battlestar-galactica/294223/18 "2005-03-13T15:29:55Z")
Actually the ‘cameraman’ only operates the camera. The best cameramen and DPs have a great relationship.
When the DP says “use this filter” the Assistant Camera makes it happen.
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### Author:  [@Malodorous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malodorous)
#### Post date: [March 13, 2005, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-i-pit-the-cameraman-for-battlestar-galactica/294223/19 "2005-03-13T15:32:44Z")
I like the space shots with the zoom effect, it helps to give a feeling of scale to the space combat that is missing in, say, ST where the space ships always look like they’re the size of the planets.
> [@Johnny L.A.](#):
>
> With our heads, bodies or eyes, we can pan and tilt; but we can’t zoom without an optical device. So zooms aren’t a ‘natural’ movement.
In the non-space zoom shots in BSG, I think that the idea was to give a natural effect, that of having your eyes “focus in” on a particular face or object when it becomes the center of your attention. I think they also thought this would connect the shots inside the ship with those outside which had zoomins for the reasons I mentioned above.
A good theory, but I agree they overused the indoor zoomin, and I really wish they’d limit it to when some object becomes very important suddenly, rather then in randomly zooming in randomly on someones face during a dialouge.
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### Author:  [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)
#### Post date: [March 14, 2005, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-i-pit-the-cameraman-for-battlestar-galactica/294223/20 "2005-03-14T04:39:57Z")
Well, we just watched this week’s episode, and man, they have _got_ to lay off the shaky camera. It is over-used so much it is starting to distract me from the story.
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