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excessive camera movement

O

oldtimeradio

I apologize if this is the wrong area to post this, but I am wondering about this.

I just looked at Cramer's rant from last week on CNBC. This is the third time I looked at it. No, this is the first time I looked at it, the first two times I listened to his rant.

I am wondering what gives with the camera movement. I guess they only have one camera and it's a jib. All during this interview/rant the camera is doing a figure eight/left and right pan that's driving me up the wall.

Is this still a relatively new play toy that director's don't know how to handle?

Point the camera in one direction and leave it there. Who invented that, and why haven't they been confined to a prison cell hanging by their thumbs?

Back in the sixties and seventies there were a couple of productions I saw where the camera was in a head and shoulders shot of somebody talking. Everything was fine except the background was moving. The camera was being pulled in one direction with only a slight noticeable movement of the subject, but the background was moving. My thought was: how can I listen to what this subject is saying if I am more interested in watching the background go by?

Who are these people trying to impress with this terrible camera movement?

During a nice ballad or love song I can see where this movement is acceptible, but in a live interview...I don't like it.

Where am I wrong?

Thanks.
Mike
 
Mad Money has had either 2 or 3 cameras the whole time it's been on. About the only time I see the camera somewhat still on the show is when he has an in-studio guest, and even then you can tell there is very slow panning. His remote shows (mostly to colleges/universities) even have a busy boom-cam almost always panning the kids and getting their reaction. Guess I'm used to the show, but I can see where some might need a little Dramamine. I don't know if the movements were his idea or the producers', when the show was being created. About the only other times I can remember deliberate camera swings/closeups/etc, was either with dance shows (American Bandstand, Soul Train) or wacky skit shows (Laugh-In). I'm guessing, that as long as Mad Money remains popular, viewers will still be treated to the epileptic washing machine (or whatever you want to call it) effect.
 
I haven't seen the show, but it sounds like that "video camera anti-steadicam" mess in action programs you see in "24" or "Friday Night Lights". I forget who started it first, but it seems like every producer in the world wants to use this effect for attention. It's real overkill now. My wife and I went to see "The Bourne Ultimatum" on opening week, and that's one of the biggest complaints I had about the film. The camera was shaking so much, I almost got motion-sickness sitting in my seat! I understand using it for a great effect, but that cow's seriously out of milk.
 
Hi. Thanks for the replies.

The camera movements in question are quite different from the cinema verite, or now, stedaicam movements seen in movies and TV dramas. It's even different than news footage shot at a news story.

This is a camera suspended on a boom that can move up and down, left to right and in circles. While such a device might be effective in doing an establishing shot (low level far away changing to high level closer to the subjects) or in a situation that needs a high angle view (cooking show or over the shoulder look at something happening on a desk .. a drawing, a newspaper, a painting).

However, the damn fluid movement during any talking head interview is, in my view, unnecessary and distracting.

Who's the organization in charge of this camera work? I need to file a complaint.

Mike
 
Oh, I agree, Mike. JIB shots are totally unnessary on talking heads, or at least be still enough to get the point across, since that's the gist of the shot is to get the subject's POV, which includes facial expressions, but you can't quite focus on that when the camera's moving all over the place, as you pointed out.

It sounds like they've got more of a "creative" producer instead of a "news" producer. While "out of box" thinking is definately necessary to make shows more creative and appealing, a producer still needs to remember that overkill waters down the subject matter.
 
I haven't seen "Mad Money" in ages but it sounds like they get into those "boat in the ocean" shots that were in vogue at MTV yrs ago...
 
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