Shaky camera
Encyclopedia
Shaky camera, shaky cam, hand-held camera or free camera is a cinematographic technique where stable-image techniques
are purposely dispensed with. The camera is held in the hand
, 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 gives 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. The technique can be used to give a pseudo-documentary cinéma vérité
appearance to a film.
Too much shaky camera motion can make the viewer feel dizzy or sick.
have relied on firm, stable mountings for a jitter-free image. Great effort is spent to obtain a perfectly stable image. However, experiments with hand-held camera began as early as 1925 with Ewald André Dupont
's Varieté
and Abel Gance
's Napoléon.
Hand-held camera
movements became more prominent in some feature film
s 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. Mekas saw it as an inexpensive improvisational technique, one that allowed for greater artistic and financial freedom. Other examples of 1960s hand-held usage include The Miracle Worker
, Seven Days in May
, The Battle of Algiers
and Dr. Strangelove.
The "shaky cam" style was named, and given new energy, in 1981. 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. 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. Further shaky cam techniques were employed by Raimi on his subsequent films including Crimewave
in 1985.
In 1984, the Coen brothers
and their cinematographer Barry Sonnenfeld
used shaky cam techniques in Blood Simple
, then again in 1987's Raising Arizona
.
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. The film's opening scene uses the hand-held style to achieve a sense of "free-floating anxiety and terminal loss of moorings." Reviewers joked that Dramamine was required to prevent motion sickness. Allen and Di Palma continued to use the technique but with more finesse and restraint on Manhattan Murder Mystery
and subsequent films throughout the 1990s to save time spent on principal photography, and to stay within budget.
In 1994, the TV series ER
employed shaky camera techniques, as did the 1996 disaster film Twister.
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. Trier's 2000 film Dancer in the Dark
was criticized for having too much shaky camera motion.
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.
The 1999 film The Blair Witch Project
made extensive use of shaky cam to make the film look like recovered documentary camera footage.
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. Ebert did not mind it but many of his readers complained—one calling it "Queasicam". Film professors David Bordwell and Kristen 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.
The films Cloverfield
(2008) and Friday Night Lights (2004), have been described as making viewers nauseated or sick.
Image stabilization
Image stabilization is a family of techniques used to reduce blurring associated with the motion of a camera during exposure. Specifically, it compensates for pan and tilt of a camera or other imaging device. It is used in image-stabilized binoculars, still and video cameras, and astronomical...
are purposely dispensed with. The camera is held in the hand
Hand-held camera
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...
, 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 gives a film sequence an ad-hoc, electronic news-gathering, or documentary film
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
feel. It suggests unprepared, unrehearsed filming of reality, and can provide a sense of dynamics, immersion, instability or nervousness. The technique can be used to give a pseudo-documentary cinéma vérité
Cinéma vérité
Cinéma vérité is a style of documentary filmmaking, combining naturalistic techniques with stylized cinematic devices of editing and camerawork, staged set-ups, and the use of the camera to provoke subjects. It is also known for taking a provocative stance toward its topics.There are subtle yet...
appearance to a film.
Too much shaky camera motion can make the viewer feel dizzy or sick.
History
Traditionally, still and motion photographyPhotography
Photography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film...
have relied on firm, stable mountings for a jitter-free image. Great effort is spent to obtain a perfectly stable image. However, experiments with hand-held camera began as early as 1925 with Ewald André Dupont
Ewald André Dupont
Ewald André Dupont was a German film director, one of the founders of the German film industry. He was frequently credited as E. A. Dupont....
's Varieté
Varieté
Variety is a 1925 silent drama film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont based on the novel Der Eid des Stephan Huller by . Jannings portrays "Boss Huller," an ex-trapeze artist who runs a seedy carnival with his wife and child...
and Abel Gance
Abel Gance
Abel Gance was a French film director and producer, writer and actor. He is best known for three major silent films: J'accuse , La Roue , and the monumental Napoléon .-Early life:...
's Napoléon.
Hand-held camera
Hand-held camera
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...
movements became more prominent in some feature film
Feature film
In the film industry, a feature film is a film production made for initial distribution in theaters and being the main attraction of the screening, rather than a short film screened before it; a full length movie...
s of the 1960s, including a number of John Cassavetes
John Cassavetes
John Nicholas Cassavetes was an American actor, screenwriter and filmmaker. He acted in many Hollywood films, notably Rosemary's Baby and The Dirty Dozen...
-directed films. Jonas Mekas
Jonas Mekas
Jonas Mekas is a Lithuanian-born American filmmaker, writer, and curator who has often been called "the godfather of American avant-garde cinema." His work has been exhibited in museums and festivals across Europe and America.-Biography:...
named and defended the "shaky camera" work of avant-garde
Experimental film
Experimental film or experimental cinema is a type of cinema. Experimental film is an artistic practice relieving both of visual arts and cinema. Its origins can be found in European avant-garde movements of the twenties. Experimental cinema has built its history through the texts of theoreticians...
filmmakers, writing in Film Culture
Film Culture
Film Culture was an American film magazine started by Adolfas Mekas and his brother Jonas Mekas in 1954, and is now defunct. It is best known for exploring the avant-garde cinema in depth, but also published articles on all aspects of cinema, including Hollywood films.Past contributors include...
in 1962 that he was "sick and tired of the guardians of Cinema Art" accusing the new cinematographers of poor camera skills. Mekas saw it as an inexpensive improvisational technique, one that allowed for greater artistic and financial freedom. Other examples of 1960s hand-held usage include The Miracle Worker
The Miracle Worker (1962 film)
The Miracle Worker is a 1962 American biographical film directed by Arthur Penn. The screenplay by William Gibson is based on his 1959 play of the same title, which originated as a 1957 broadcast of the television anthology series Playhouse 90...
, Seven Days in May
Seven Days in May
Seven Days in May is an American political thriller novel written by Fletcher Knebel and Charles W. Bailey II and published in 1962. It was made into a motion picture and released in February 1964, with a screenplay by Rod Serling, directed by John Frankenheimer, and starring Burt Lancaster, Kirk...
, The Battle of Algiers
The Battle of Algiers (film)
The Battle of Algiers is a 1966 war film based on occurrences during the Algerian War against French colonial occupation in North Africa, the most prominent being the titular Battle of Algiers. It was directed by Gillo Pontecorvo...
and Dr. Strangelove.
The "shaky cam" style was named, and given new energy, in 1981. In the film The Evil Dead
The Evil Dead
The Evil Dead is a 1981 horror film written and directed by Sam Raimi, starring Bruce Campbell, Ellen Sandweiss, and Betsy Baker. The film is a story of five college students vacationing in an isolated cabin in a wooded area...
, director Sam Raimi
Sam Raimi
Samuel Marshall "Sam" Raimi is an American film director, producer, actor and writer. He is best known for directing cult horror films like the Evil Dead series, Darkman and Drag Me to Hell, as well as the blockbuster Spider-Man films and the producer of the successful TV series Hercules: The...
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
Grip (job)
In the U.S. and Canada, grips are lighting and rigging technicians in the filmmaking and video production industries. They constitute their own department on a film set and are directed by a key grip. Grips have two main functions...
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. 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. Further shaky cam techniques were employed by Raimi on his subsequent films including Crimewave
Crimewave
Crimewave is a 1985 comedy film directed by Sam Raimi, an unusual slapstick mix of film noir, black comedy and several eras, starring Reed Birney, Paul L. Smith, Louise Lasser, Brion James, Bruce Campbell, and Sheree J. Wilson. It was Raimi's first studio film following the success of The Evil Dead...
in 1985.
In 1984, the Coen brothers
Coen Brothers
Joel David Coen and Ethan Jesse Coen known together professionally as the Coen brothers, are American filmmakers...
and their cinematographer Barry Sonnenfeld
Barry Sonnenfeld
Barry Sonnenfeld is an American filmmaker and television director. He worked as cinematographer for the Coen brothers, then later he directed and produced big budget films such as Men in Black.-Life and career:...
used shaky cam techniques in Blood Simple
Blood Simple
Blood Simple is a 1984 neo-noir crime film. It was the directorial debut of Joel Coen and the first major film of cinematographer Barry Sonnenfeld, who later became a noted director...
, then again in 1987's Raising Arizona
Raising Arizona
Raising Arizona is a 1987 comedy film directed by the Coen Brothers and starring Nicolas Cage, Holly Hunter, William Forsythe, John Goodman, Frances McDormand and Randall "Tex" Cobb. Not a blockbuster at the time of its release, it has since achieved cult status...
.
Woody Allen
Woody Allen
Woody Allen is an American screenwriter, director, actor, comedian, jazz musician, author, and playwright. Allen's films draw heavily on literature, sexuality, philosophy, psychology, Jewish identity, and the history of cinema...
's improvisational style of filmmaking was matched with hand-held camera techniques in Husbands and Wives
Husbands and Wives
Husbands and Wives is a 1992 American drama film directed and written by Woody Allen. The films stars Allen, Mia Farrow, Sydney Pollack, Judy Davis, Juliette Lewis, Liam Neeson and Blythe Danner. It was nominated for the Academy Awards for Best Actress in a Supporting Role and Best Writing,...
, shot by Carlo Di Palma
Carlo Di Palma
Carlo Di Palma was an Italian cinematographer, renowned for his work on both color and black-and-white films, who collaborated with Michelangelo Antonioni , Woody Allen Carlo Di Palma (17 April 1925, Rome – 9 July 2004, Rome) was an Italian cinematographer, renowned for his work on both...
in 1991 and 1992. The film's opening scene uses the hand-held style to achieve a sense of "free-floating anxiety and terminal loss of moorings." Reviewers joked that Dramamine was required to prevent motion sickness. Allen and Di Palma continued to use the technique but with more finesse and restraint on Manhattan Murder Mystery
Manhattan Murder Mystery
Manhattan Murder Mystery is a comedic murder mystery film directed by and starring Woody Allen and written by Marshall Brickman and Woody Allen.-Plot:...
and subsequent films throughout the 1990s to save time spent on principal photography, and to stay within budget.
In 1994, the TV series ER
ER (TV series)
ER is an American medical drama television series created by novelist Michael Crichton that aired on NBC from September 19, 1994 to April 2, 2009. It was produced by Constant c Productions and Amblin Entertainment, in association with Warner Bros. Television...
employed shaky camera techniques, as did the 1996 disaster film Twister.
Danish director Lars von Trier
Lars von Trier
Lars von Trier is a Danish film director and screenwriter. He is closely associated with the Dogme 95 collective, although his own films have taken a variety of different approaches, and have frequently received strongly divided critical opinion....
used shaky camera, called free camera, in his movies. The Dogme 95
Dogme 95
Dogme 95 was an avant-garde filmmaking movement started in 1995 by the Danish directors Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg, who created the "Dogme 95 Manifesto" and the "Vow of Chastity". These were rules to create filmmaking based on the traditional values of story, acting, and theme, and...
movement he co-created in 1995 was partly based on the technique. Trier's 2000 film Dancer in the Dark
Dancer in the Dark
Dancer in the Dark is a 2000 Danish musical drama film directed by Lars von Trier and starring Icelandic singer Björk, Catherine Deneuve, David Morse, Cara Seymour, Peter Stormare, Siobhan Fallon Hogan, and Joel Grey...
was criticized for having too much shaky camera motion.
Janusz Kamiński
Janusz Kaminski
Janusz Zygmunt Kamiński is a Polish cinematographer and film director. He has photographed all of Steven Spielberg's films since 1993's Schindler's List.-Life and career:...
, cinematographer for Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an...
on 1998's Saving Private Ryan
Saving Private Ryan
Saving Private Ryan is a 1998 American war film set during the invasion of Normandy in World War II. It was directed by Steven Spielberg, with a screenplay by Robert Rodat. The film is notable for the intensity of its opening 27 minutes, which depicts the Omaha Beach assault of June 6, 1944....
, 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.
The 1999 film The Blair Witch Project
The Blair Witch Project
The Blair Witch Project is a 1999 American horror film pieced together from amateur footage. The film was produced by the Haxan Films production company. The film relates the story of three student filmmakers The Blair Witch Project is a 1999 American horror film pieced together from amateur...
made extensive use of shaky cam to make the film look like recovered documentary camera footage.
Criticism
The Bourne Supremacy (film)
The Bourne Supremacy is a 2004 American spy film very loosely based on Robert Ludlum's novel of the same name. The film was directed by Paul Greengrass, written by Tony Gilroy and Brian Helgeland, and produced by Frank Marshall and Pat Crowley. Universal Pictures released the film to theaters in...
and third
The Bourne Ultimatum (film)
The Bourne Ultimatum is a 2007 American spy film directed by Paul Greengrass and loosely based on the Robert Ludlum novel of the same title. This film is the third in the Bourne film series, being preceded by The Bourne Identity and The Bourne Supremacy...
installments of the Bourne action film franchise
Bourne (film series)
The Bourne films are a series of dramatic films based on the character Jason Bourne, a former CIA assassin suffering from extreme memory loss, created by author Robert Ludlum. All three of Ludlum's novels were adapted for the screen, featuring Matt Damon as the titular character in each...
directed by Paul Greengrass
Paul Greengrass
Paul Greengrass is an English film director, screenwriter and former journalist. He specialises in dramatisations of real-life events and is known for his signature use of hand-held cameras.-Life and career:...
were described by film critic Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
as using both shaky cam and fast editing techniques. Ebert did not mind it but many of his readers complained—one calling it "Queasicam". Film professors David Bordwell and Kristen 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
Composition (visual arts)
In the visual arts – in particular painting, graphic design, photography and sculpture – composition is the placement or arrangement of visual elements or ingredients in a work of art or a photograph, as distinct from the subject of a work...
the action.
The films Cloverfield
Cloverfield
Cloverfield is a 2008 American disaster-monster film directed by Matt Reeves, produced by J. J. Abrams and written by Drew Goddard.The film follows six young New Yorkers attending a going-away party on the night that a gigantic monster attacks the city...
(2008) and Friday Night Lights (2004), have been described as making viewers nauseated or sick.
See also
- Dutch angleDutch angleDutch tilt, Dutch angle, Dutch shot, oblique angle, German angle, canted angle, Batman angle, or jaunty angle are terms used for one of many cinematic techniques often used to portray the psychological uneasiness or tension in the subject being filmed...
- Jump cutJump cutA jump cut is a cut in film editing and vloging in which two sequential shots of the same subject are taken from camera positions that vary only slightly. This type of edit causes the subject of the shots to appear to "jump" position in a discontinuous way...
- Hand-held cameraHand-held cameraHand-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...
- Pan and scanPan and scanPan and scan is a method of adjusting widescreen film images so that they can be shown within the proportions of a standard definition 4:3 aspect ratio television screen, often cropping off the sides of the original widescreen image to focus on the composition's most important aspects...
- TiltTilt (camera)Tilting is a cinematographic technique in which the camera is stationary and rotates in a vertical plane . A rotation in a horizontal plane is known as panning...
- Found footage (genre)Found footage (genre)Found footage is a genre of filmmaking, especially horror, in which all or a substantial part of a film is presented as discovered film or video recordings, often left behind by missing or dead protagonists. The events onscreen are seen through the camera of one or more of the characters involved,...
- Cinema veriteCinéma véritéCinéma vérité is a style of documentary filmmaking, combining naturalistic techniques with stylized cinematic devices of editing and camerawork, staged set-ups, and the use of the camera to provoke subjects. It is also known for taking a provocative stance toward its topics.There are subtle yet...
- Direct cinemaDirect CinemaDirect Cinema is a documentary genre that originated between 1958 and 1962 in North America, principally in the Canadian province of Quebec and the United States...