Most Played Out Trends in Cinematography Today

[Daniel Carruthers]

I love lens flares, it just bugs me that every new filmmaker or average joe acts like JJ abrams invented them lol

 

[Tehben Dean]

I guess I should say my last list applies mostly to independent filmmakers and for Hollywood it's 3D.

 

[Paul Harb]

Someone was blaming editors for quick cuts and bad action sequences...blame the directors and producers. At the end of the day we do what they want no matter how much influence we have and more and more this is the new school of filmmaker.

Digital by the way is partly to blame as people just cover the hell out of everything instead of focusing on the story. With film you didnt have this luxury and put much more thought into everything.

Shooting TOO MUCH
shaky cam shaky cam shaky cam
Covering action with a lot of cameras and making the editor create action and energy that doesnt exist.
Not enough wide shots, not enough long takes
shallow depth of field for no reason
POV video shots
CG blood and fire
equipment fanboys

I find myself going back and studying the classics more and more....something has been lost.

 

[Nick Morrison]

Shooting on an Alexa with massive zooms. Ugg. I see it everywhere. Boring.

Im guessing the Optimo 24-290. I see tons if it at work. And always with that sickly layer of diffusion in front as it to try, meekly, to add some "character" or forgive the actress.

It's become Cable TV 101. I'm tired of it. Find something new. Blow the dust of those primes sitting in the truck and surprise us. For once...

 

[Tehben Dean]

Well said Paul

 

[Bill Anderson]

What do we mean when we say "story", and resort to bumper sticker jargon like "content is king"? The story is surely in the telling; and the ability to tell is independent of story.
Form is often confused with story when it comes to the merits of movies, perhaps because form can turn the most rudimentary content into the most compelling movie.
Wong Kar-wai movies tend to be great examples of the triumph of form over content. There is a good reason that the most basic tales have endured so much telling.

 

[Andrew Burhoe]

I love lens flares, it just bugs me that every new filmmaker or average joe acts like JJ abrams invented them lol

After Effects did. haha

 

[Kenyon Scott]

Poorly matched big cam (RED/Alexa) to small cam (GoPro/DSLR). Looks like they just don't care.

Zooms.

 

[Jaime Vallés]

Great thread!

Personally, I can't stand movies where EVERY SINGLE SHOT is a dolly, or a crane, or a slide, or a steadycam. And this happens is soooooo many movies, even the big ones. For crying out loud, STOP MOVING THE DAMN CAMERA AND LET ME WATCH THE SCENE!!!

To me, a camera movement is the equivalent of making a sentence in a paragraph bold. If you do it sparingly, it makes the statement stand out. But if you make every single word in the paragraph bold, then nothing stands out. It loses the impact. (See what I did there?)

 

[Ketch Rossi]

Many, but I must respect the Director's point of view in telling His/Her story, as I would surely never let any one tell me how to tell my stories... However, they are definitely some way too much played out trends as of lately indeed, as if some of this Directors just have no clue what they are doing and just copying some techniques and repeat them to the exhaustion, of our vision that is... WORTS ONE for me? Shake and Bake, and continuos fast Pans with 3/4 of the scenes always pout of focus, just try and keep that Camera steady, you are giving me headaches and stomach heirs,I want to trow up!! But then again, some camera shake and realistic walking running jumping moving any how and about movements of the camera well done and well distributed are also very cinematically pleasing , when the story calls for it, as the old saying goes... All in moderation...

Oh, and the on-one-self body mounts, might be okay for a GoPro for sports, but in moviemaking... I'll give that about 100 MINUS!!

 

[Mike S. M.]

I know this is an old thread but it's also a topic worth resurrecting.


To me all of the following things are beyond played out and outright annoying. Forgive my sarcasm in advance:


Moving the camera as much as possible for no reason but a desperate try to look cooler than you are.

Slider shots. You just know when it's a slider and when it's a dolly because slider is easier to set up and afford. So they are everywhere. See above.

Side to side dolly or slider in everything even in close ups. See above.

The two color movie, orange and teal. Give up you are not Michael Bay.

Shake cam, yes. Even in intimate or scenes where tension are not at play. Stop trying to be cool.

Ultra shallow DOF. We know you have a 5D. We know your lens opens wider than T2. Now let us see the whole of your actor's face.

Fast cutting.

Everything is shot in a 1000mm lens. What are you afraid of showing us? That you can't stage to save your life? We already know it.

Fake flares. We know it's After Effects or that you just got a new blue flare filter from your dad. We know how anamorphic looks like.

Slow motion. Ok, we get you just got a camera that can shoot 200fps. Even Zack Snider is annoying when he does that.

Future prediction: Gimbal shots. They are becoming cheaper and cheaper and it's a matter of time till people without any imagination start using them for everything.

Sarcastic mode out and in a more serious way, having said all the above, I think every technique can be valid if used by somebody who knows what he is doing. But that somebody will normally use it lightly and not resort to it to try to make his lackluster work stand out by artificial means.

 

[Mike S. M.]

boring! thats why i dont watch independent movies..

It's only boring if the story and dialog is boring. If it is a dolly move will not save it. Nothing will.

 

[Hrvoje Simic]

Expanding on my comment in post #5:

- Constant circular dolly movement around dialogue attempting to add content and dynamics into a script lacking it

- CU overdose attempting to glue importance to words lacking it

 

[George Butterfield]

Then do NOT watch Friday Night Lights.

I don't think the shake in Friday Night lights was 'forced' .... I certainly hope not.

 

[George Butterfield]

boring! thats why i dont watch independent movies..

Which means everything made in Turkey.

 

[David Mullen ASC]

The endless sliding back and forth on every angle of a dialogue scene to make it less static (because the characters are sitting and talking) is a bit annoying. Composition goes out the window for one thing. Sometimes it works to add a nervous tension to the scene, other times it just looks like desperation on the part of the director to make something out of a scene he doesn't like because the actors can't move.

One problem is that, at least for TV work, the directors are told by the studio to keep the camera moving as much as possible, so it moves even when there is no reason for it to move, because for some reason, a static composition is "bad".

 

[Shane Kelly]

I don't think the shake in Friday Night lights was 'forced' .... I certainly hope not.

Oh it was, I was one of the operators on the show for 5 seasons. It was very much designed into the look of the show. At the time, no-one else was doing it though and it has since become a cliché. Most fun that I ever had on a show, 3 cameras on every scene and no rehearsals. The look does settle down a bit after the first season.

 

[Luke Kokinos]

I personally dislike the over use of movement. Dolly shots that aren't motivated, handheld that doesn't fit the moment, ect. I think many directors and DPs are afraid that it won't look "cinematic" if the camera isn't constantly moving about the scene. Ultimately it just makes it impossible to give a particular moment meaning or weight using visuals. It seems so obvious, though I'd be lying if I said I haven't overused handheld myself.

Though, I do exclude directors like Michael Mann or Lars von Trier (among others) who use handheld and fast editing as part of a wider visual style.

 

[Gunleik Groven]

One problem is that, at least for TV work, the directors are told by the studio to keep the camera moving as much as possible, so it moves even when there is no reason for it to move, because for some reason, a static composition is "bad".

Mission for 2015: More static compositions (and nope. Actually not Ironic at all.)

 

[sam karr]

Slow motion. People are shooting boring images thinking that slowmo will make them great. It just makes them boring for a longer time, so extra boring.