8mm Forum: Anybody got a tripod?

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Topic: Anybody got a tripod?

Paul Adsett
Film God

Posts: 5003
From: USA
Registered: Jun 2003

posted December 15, 2007 03:07 PM

We watched 'The Bourne Ultimatum' last night, and by the end of it I felt motion sick. This film is a perfect example of the current fad in movie production for hand held shots. I'm not talking about steadicam shots, which are OK, but 'Bourne' is full of hand held shots where the camera just wanders all over the place, particularly in the close ups. To me this is a real and annoying distraction. If you can't be bothered putting the camera on a tripod it just symbolizes cheap shoddy workmanship. Lesson 1 in movie making - use a tripod! I don't lIke this current style of 'cinema verite' camera work, which makes the professional films look very amateurish, and distracts from the movie story.

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Michael O'Regan
Film God

Posts: 3085
From: Essex, UK
Registered: Oct 2007

posted December 15, 2007 03:26 PM

Hi Paul,

I do understand where you're coming from.

Yet, one of my favourite filmmakers of all time - John Cassavetes - used hand-held camera all the time, and the results were brilliant.

-Mike

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Brad Miller
Administrator

Posts: 525
From: Dallas, TX, USA
Registered: Jun 2003

posted December 16, 2007 02:16 AM

There are some great reviews over on the main forum www.film-tech.com Just go there, click on forums and do a search in the movie review forum for "Paul Greengrass". The search will turn up 3 movies that idiot has done. Personally I think he is the worst director out there.

I'm not sure if these links will work or not, but I'll try...

United 93
Bourne Supremacy
Bourne Ultimatum

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Knut Nordahl
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 173
From: Norway
Registered: Dec 2005

posted December 16, 2007 03:52 AM

Personally i don't remember beeing to put off by that in the Bourne films, which is strange, because I hate those 45mins cop shows on tv where they absolutely do not use a tripod. Worse they zoom in and out all the time to.
Not everything needs to be a MTV style video.

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Graham Ritchie
Film God

Posts: 4001
From: New Zealand
Registered: Feb 2006

posted December 16, 2007 05:24 AM

Well I thought "United 93" was well made, the director did a excellent job, as far as some on "that forum" not understanding the so called technical side, [Roll Eyes]

strange, it might be that after spending almost 30 years or so in aviation might have something to do with it, "United 93" was a wake up call for aviation, and if you watch the film carefully, it highlighted how easy it was to hijack an aircraft with tragic results, what surprised me reading those reviews was how self opinionated and negative everyone's views were.

Graham.

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Jeremy Day
Film Handler

Posts: 38
From: North Little Rock, AR, USA
Registered: Mar 2007

posted December 30, 2007 07:37 AM

I hate to resurrect an older topic but I also share your dislike of Bourne. I know it is the style but . . .

I recall there was a scene where Bourne was reading some material behind a computer. They cut 4 or 5 times at least (jump cuts) of him reading. This was just to keep the fast pace editing going during a very passive activity.

There's a limit for me. I understand the theory behind filming fight scenes this way. They are making the statement that fighting is hectic and disorientating.

I personally study Jiu-Jitsu and find this to be far from the truth. I think this style is best at hiding the inabilities of actors to mimic fighting realisticly.

All the younger individuals I work with enjoy this type of filmmaking. I just find it tiresome.

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