I’m not the biggest fan of the way TV and movies are primarily shot these days. There’s way too much jiggling of the camera – up, down and sideways. That’s because, thanks to MTV – it seems our attention span is much less. So, when we see a simple shot like standing in one place,talking – we see the camera jerking – left – right, right-left, up-down, sideways – you name it. YIKESSS!!!
And, it’s everywhere now. TV, movies, commercials. Separately – another trend – I especially “love” the sideshot of somebody talking into another camera.
That’s another great effect – to keep our attention. You know what it really is? Fill. Just fill. A boring commercial or interview – but it needs this.
My-my what has it all come to.
Back to the subject – the first TV show to use this type of jiggling shoulder-camera effect (thank goodness it quickly went away) was the 1970′s ABC-TV series “Kolchak The Night Stalker” starring Darren McGavin. Yes, the 1970′s – way before MTV. But, on Kolchak, it was used for effect – not because its audience needed a constant moving camera to keep their attention.
Gary West – www.mrpopculture.com Thank you Robert Neill.
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