# STOP shaking the damn camera **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 21, 2004, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-shaking-the-damn-camera/275885 "2004-11-21T00:31:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![CoastalMaineiac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e8c25b/32.png) [@CoastalMaineiac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CoastalMaineiac)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2017, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-shaking-the-damn-camera/275885/41 "2017-01-21T15:51:51Z")
> [@BubbaDog](#): > > I’ve had it. Here’s a big revelation you stupid artistic fucks. They shook the camera in the “Blair Witch Project” in order to make the movie look like an amateur shoot the fucking thing. It got “old” real quick. > > Now everybody runs around shaking the fucking camera trying to “make the scene look hectic”. Works great on a TV that’s 25" or less. > > Here’s the big revelation. People are buying bigger TVs! And when you shake your fucking camera around it doesn’t add tension to the scene. In fact the viewer goes from "totally engrossed in the story " to “what the fuck is wrong with the camera man?” > I’m talkng to **you** \*CSI, LOST, NYPD BLUE \* and just about every other drama on the tube. > Quit shaking the fucking camera! > > I’ve had to turn the program off too many times because your cheap effect made me nauseous While we’re pitting camera operators… I’ve got another related gripe. Cell-phone videographers, stop shooting video in fucking portrait mode! It looks like shit, every time! ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2017, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-shaking-the-damn-camera/275885/42 "2017-01-21T17:02:02Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > Maybe it’s now Shamble-Cam. Walker-Cam, you mean. 😛 > [@born\_too\_late](#): > > Shitty directors with shitty stunt coordinators need to do **something** so that the rubes don’t notice that their stunts/special effects are shitty. Otherwise people would stop seeing their shitty movies. Any one else find it funny that producers are hiring expensive CGI dudes to _put in_ the shaky-cam effect? ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2017, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-shaking-the-damn-camera/275885/43 "2017-01-21T18:27:50Z")
> [@Hypno-Toad](#): > > There was a time some years ago when every TV commercial used the effect. When done “properly” it enhances the effect because the human eye automatically tracks the subject of the shot as it moves around the screen. This forces the viewer to pay more attention. > > **The problem is that there is an art to doing it well. If I remember correctly, the camera needs to jump from one object to another in the same manner that the human eye does. And of course the thing to which the camera is jumping needs to be the next subject for the viewers’ attention. So that the effect is as if the camera were basically imitating the natural behavior of the human eye. When the camera jumps around** randomly, **it can really screw with the viewers.** De-bolded “randomly” to ironically bold something that’s already in something bolded.😃 Yeah, the randomness screws with this viewer. Conversely, I find some of Gaspar Noe’s _Into the Void_ fucking gratuitously bothersome. IIRC it was a Pepsi commercial back in the early 90’s that first displayed this weaksaucery. ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2017, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-shaking-the-damn-camera/275885/44 "2017-01-21T23:57:35Z")
Recently I watched _Syriana_ (2005) followed by _Traffic_ (2000), both released at the height of the shaky-cam era. The camera kept shaking like an epileptic on crystal meth even during the DIALOGUE scenes. Even when nothing was happening!!! One of the best things about Game of Thrones Season 6 was that it kept shaky-cam to a minimum. You could actually follow what was happening during the battle scenes. ---
**Author:** ![Weisshund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ba8739/32.png) [@Weisshund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weisshund)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2017, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-shaking-the-damn-camera/275885/45 "2017-01-22T22:33:46Z")
> [@BubbaDog](#): > > They shook the camera in the “Blair Witch Project” in order to make the movie look like an amateur shoot the fucking thing. Wait what? You mean it wasnt a bunch of amateur boogery nosed kids running around the yard with a vintage 1981 sony betamax camera? ---
**Author:** ![Weisshund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ba8739/32.png) [@Weisshund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weisshund)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2017, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-shaking-the-damn-camera/275885/46 "2017-01-22T22:35:59Z")
> [@CoastalMaineiac](#): > > While we’re pitting camera operators… I’ve got another related gripe. Cell-phone videographers, stop shooting video in fucking portrait mode! It looks like shit, every time! I imagine walking into one of those peoples homes to find their 16:9/16:10 aperture TV stood up on its edge wondering why all their TV shows are turned on their sides ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2017, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-shaking-the-damn-camera/275885/47 "2017-01-22T23:03:28Z")
> [@Weisshund](#): > > I imagine walking into one of those peoples homes to find their 16:9/16:10 aperture TV stood up on its edge wondering why all their TV shows are turned on their sides A David Lynch TV show called “On the Air” used that gag (sort of): in the early days of TV, the camera was very delicate, huge and hot and was secured to the floor. During a broadcast, a large volume of water soaked the stage and the flooring warped and curled up and the camera leaned over 90[sup]o[/sup]. People at home who were watching, set the TV on its side–except for the dingbats glued to their sofa who didn’t catch on. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2017, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-shaking-the-damn-camera/275885/48 "2017-01-22T23:29:54Z")
I have _On The Air_ on DVD. Love that show. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stop-shaking-the-damn-camera/275885.md?page=2)