I would love to watch shows without feeling nauseated purely due to the obsession with shaky cam. My wife would love to watch shows if the obsession for strobe lights where they are not needed was not causing her and her family migraines. The flashing method of strobe lights and such triggers them and in some people might trigger seizures.
For me strobe lights don't negatively impact me. They don't illicit any fear response of any kind so I am uncertain why horror movies/shows seem to have become obsessed with them within the last decade or so. I will say that shaky cam has forced me to turn off many a show that I otherwise would have been interested in.
Now I was a big fan of the original 24 television series with Keifer Sutherland. I decided I'd give this 24: Legacy a try. I made it exactly 15 minutes and 24 seconds into the first episode and now I have a raging headache forming and a bit of nausea... This obviously is not a show I will be watching. That is too bad as it seemed like it would be interesting.
So a few minutes ago the guy and his wife I assume will be the main actor run out of their house to get into their car in their driveway. Whomever is following them with the camera must have been drunk as the camera is bobbing and weaving all over the place and I began to feel the bile rising. I stuck it out as shaky cam passes into the back of the car so it can fixate on who I assume is the hero character climbing into the driver's seat. I am thinking "maybe this is just a bad scene" but that scene was bad enough in terms of camera work that my body is already reacting. So next it comes into an office where two new people I haven't learned who they are yet are talking in an office and the camera likes to show the scene like through a glass wall, and zoom in enough. My body has already been sensitized due to that last scene.
Sure enough even in this simple scene filming two people sitting and talking the camera is bobbing a little bit and not steady.
I stop watching it... It is that, or illness.
Source: giphy.com
So that made me think of what I'd like to say to people who make TV Shows and Movies. Please stop with the shaky cam. As far as strobe lights... they are not scary. Be conscious that by deciding to add a lot of flashing to your show you will be making something that a small amount of people cannot watch due causing them physical pain, and for some possibly seizures. So if it is absolutely necessary to the scene that is one thing. To go over the top and gratuitous for no really good reason is just annoying. This one impacts my wife, her parents, and her siblings. She is the ninth child. It has no impact on me, but it does suck when she has to cover her eyes and ask people to let her know when it stops. In some cases she may cover her eyes too late.
Steem On!
I hear you! The effects of camera shaking is o.k. sometimes, when the action and feel of the scene asks for it.
In relation to the strobes, it is a different story and a very fine line between a healthy strobes and very unhealthy one. This relates to the healthy harmonics and unhealthy dissonant harmonics. There are very good resources in relation to this on the effects of frequencies on the human body as well as its psychologic effects. Sadly, the film industry doesn't seem to teach these important aspects health in their courses given to the people studying films.
All for one and one for all! Namaste :)
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Shaky Cam makes sense for FOUND FOOTAGE. Like if investigators are reviewing some found footage, yet even then you don't have to do the entire movie that way to convey that. Blair Witch I blame partially for this as it did start a lot of this trend when it first came out. It's big selling point was them trying to say the footage was REAL and the story a true one, even though it was not, so many people watched all this found footage because of the hype and the spinning it as true when it was not. They spent very little money and made buckets of money back. Hollywood and some other places got jealous and seem to use it after that.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
LOL, I was thinking of Blair Witch too when I read this post. I actually walked out of the movie - if you could call it that. This was hands down the worst movie I have ever seen. What a complete waste of time! It is funny to me how what is supposed to be a creative industry has almost ZERO originality.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Shaky-cam is the worst. I have a feeling that these are made by people just trying to trim budgets and not invest in stabilizers.
I really can't stand shaky scenes when the story doesn't call for it...like on network dramas that have the camera shaking around when someone is sitting on a couch talking to their grandmother. It's not artistic. It's pointless...and irritating. I completely understand you not wanting to watch it anymore.
It actually annoys me that I bothered purchasing a Glide Cam several years ago. If I had known that everyone was going to revert to shaky camera work and that it would become super popular and handsomely rewarded, I would have skipped that $500 expense.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
The shaky cam thing is a major reason why I don't go to the cinema any more because it was making me ill on the large screen. Watching on a small screen reduces the impact but I don't see the reason why it is used so much!
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
This is exactly how I felt about Man of Steel. I finally had a chance to watch it not long ago, and even during non-action scenes it was bad. I can see using it for SOME stuff, particularly action scenes, but not all scenes. They had 1-on-1 dialogue scenes that had it - totally unnecessary.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
I should also mention that for some independent films that are setup as more run-and-gun rather than full-on productions, sometimes it can't be avoided.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Shaky cam footage is supposed to add intensity to a scene and or make it look like it came from an 'organic' source. I was in the industry when this retarded technique came into vogue and just like everything else in the video and movie industry it has become a standard and in my opinion extremely OVER used technique to give a film maker's product look more gritty and authentic. I agree with the author of this post. It really does nothing but give people a headache most of the time.
I mean - unless you are re-enacting some sort of explosion or earthquake or something it is totally retarded. It is an un-motivated and over used STUPID thing to do otherwise.
I have a few more for you to think about...ever notice how in almost every single outdoor shot the roads, sidewalks, parking lots and concrete ground looks like there was just a downpour a few minutes ago? This is another think almost all movie producers do in ANY outdoor scene. You could be in the deserts of Iraq and the roads will be soaking wet at high noon! There actually IS a reason for this that makes sense. A dry road, or concrete has no 3 dimensional look to it when it is dry and filmed in a 2 dimensional medium. The water on top of it gives the scene more depth.
Next time you watch a movie notice how there is water everywhere when the scene is outside - even when there is obviously not a could in sight. Movie makers use water ALL the time to achieve 'stacking' with the camera lens. That is why night scenes or dark alleyways and or anywhere that is supposed to be 'grungy' always has water dripping from imaginary leaking pipes and such...
This is a bit of an over used thing as well, but it does make sense to do because - again - film/video is actually 2 dimensional.
My last pet peeve is the use of huge tribal drums to create dramatic intensity in just about every single minute of every single documentary or slice of life type show on channels like Discovery and the Weather Channel. BOOM BOOM BOOM, "and the chicken is crossing the super- highway"....BAROOM BADDABABOOM! "...will he make it unscathed"....
It gives me a headache. I have a huge sound system attached to my big screen and find myself having an upset stomach half way through every episode of 'Deadliest Catch', or any other reality show...PLEASE for GOD'S SAKE! GIVE THE TRIBAL DRUM OVER USE A REST!!!! My ears hurt...
Find some other way to make your point people! You have literally beaten your techniques to DEATH!!!!
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
I'm with ats-david about the "shaky cam"! It makes me physically ill...it's like watching something filmed with a hand-held camera by someone with Parkinson's!
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Well 24: Legacy is pretty bad with it from the a little over 15 minutes I watched and yes it made me ill. I had to sleep it off.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
action scenes nowadays use this method as it gives the viewer a sense of being part of the action. Other times, it's used to represent the chaos in the moment. I understand what you mean and how annoying it can get.
Strobe lights in scary movies on the other hand.. haven't seen much of. Aside from the badass opening scene of the original Blade movie.. I've never seen anybody use a strobe light for any method other then club scenes... well, not at the top of my head I can't think of any. I agree.. if they do try to use them, blah.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
I do believe the reason you provided it accurate. I do believe people that are using it for that reason likely didn't really think it through.
It is kind of like the Six Million Dollar man running in slow motion with sound effects was used to convey running really fast. That didn't get used too often outside of that series.
The most immersive action movies of all time did not use shaky cam as far as I know. Kind of like when you run you are not viewing your world as bobbing and weaving. Kind of like how if you normally get motion sickness riding in cars you might not if you drive because the car becomes a tool and extension of the driver's body and they do not really notice movements that occur in ways alien to their mind. The shaky cam is like the motion that causes car sickness. It is the image moving one way when your mind thinks it should be going another.
A good film should not really want people focusing on that.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
The problem is our brains compensate for such motion. We don't mentally view the world as us bobbing and weaving. It distracts from the action to me.
The strobe light horror movie stuff has been mostly the last decade. It is also popular in some reality shows (that have nothing to do with clubs).
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Very nice
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit