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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Most Played Out Trends in Cinematography Today

Most Played Out Trends in Cinematography Today

  • The "Hey everyone, look how wide open my lens can get!" rack focus

    Votes: 48 41.4%

  • The "We rented a dolly for the day, and we know how to use it!" scene

    Votes: 19 16.4%

  • The "JJ Abrams is my hero!" lens flares

    Votes: 25 21.6%

  • Other

    Votes: 24 20.7%
  • Total voters
    116
Zooming. I HATE it. Use a DOLLY or a CRANE or a CINESLIDER. Zoom went from bering an artistic choice to a lazy man's camera move
 
Side to side dolly moves are PLAYED OUT.
 
While "cheap" you can't argue that lens flares add instant production value in the eyes of the average Joe. Sometimes, depending on the budget you're working with it may be necessary.

I don't dig zooming in the general sense, I do however use small snap zooms in some of my work.
 
Forced camera shake attempting to glue tension over nothing.
 
Love this thread!

Tom Lowe said:
Side to side dolly moves are PLAYED OUT.
Click to expand...

Unless you're Peter Greenaway. I could watch the side to side dolly moves in his films all day... :)

Hrvoje Simic said:
Forced camera shake attempting to glue tension over nothing.
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+1 :thumbsup:

+2 if they're attempting to add tension to a scene that should have had tension anyway... but doesn't because of story / acting / director issues.

Bruce Allen
www.boacinema.com
 
My votes (not just cinematography)

Shaky cam fight scenes or shootouts

orange and teal color correction

cg fire and explosions

chaotic editing that jumps all over the place and destroys continuity (in general, I think editing is way too fast today)

obviously faked cg anamorphic flare

movie posters that have just the title of the film on a black background

Michael Bay's music video style of cinematography

motion capture



What I would like to see more of:

long takes

slower editing

deep staging and focus

black and white cinematography

dutch angles

use of miniatures

doing things for real instead of saying "We don't need real helicopters, we will just get the boys at ILM to model some up for us, they will look just as good as the real thing"

placing the camera on a tripod
 
Doug Beatty said:
Then do NOT watch Friday Night Lights.
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Funny that you mention that... my wife and I just started watching it the other day as a result of multiple recommendations and while the story seems pretty interesting, I can't get past the camera work.

And although Andrew just touched on it, the other style that really sticks out in my head as awful is the "Michael Bay moving camera in every shot including close ups" style of cinematography. It's almost as though he doesn't trust the composition, story, etc. to be enough to engage the viewer, he needs to add one more (motivation-less) element to maintain audiences attention.
 
I think you nailed it Andrew. :-)

Trends are trends. They come and go. Nothing beats a good story. Nothing wrong with dolly moves, when they are motivated and serve the story. There's a lot of ugly color correction out there right now (sorry guys). The films I tend to love are the ones where the cinematography, editing, etc. are all invisible. The movie doesn't seem put together, it just seems to exist.

In some ways, I wish they would get rid of BTS. I like them, as I'm sure many of you do, but they sort of break the magic of moviemaking a bit and in some ways spoil the general audience's experience. When you're able to see behind the curtain, you realize it's just a bunch of tricks and slight of hand.
 
Andrew's list = my list. You betcha. Show me some moves that don't distract and/or rip my eyeballs out. "Creativity" is good when it develops the story, but start from solid cinematic basics. Please. Good thread, Doug!

Mike
 
Zooming. Horrible.
 
Andrew Rieger said:
My votes (not just cinematography)
What I would like to see more of:

long takes
slower editing
deep staging and focus
use of miniatures
doing things for real instead of saying "We don't need real helicopters, we will just get the boys at ILM to model some up for us, they will look just as good as the real thing"

placing the camera on a tripod
Click to expand...

This is a great list, Andrew. Unfortunately, the use of practical effects are becoming less and less the norm as digital cinema makes it cheaper to CG elements. (e.g. The Thing vs The Thing 2011..<shudder>..)

And I believe it was Stu Maschwitz that said: Tripods are like pants — you use them because you have respect for yourself.
 
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