Greetings, Lovers of Cinema Verite:
I first became aware of this technique when viewing The Bourne Ultimatum, particularly in a scene where Jason and Nikki, on the run in some sun-drenched North African coastal city lousy with assassins, are finally sitting still in a stifling, airless apartment, conversing in subdued tones. Actually, they were NOT sitting still ...
I had no idea why the pro with the camera had such a bad case of the shakes. Now I know. Hard on mine eyes, harder still on my delicate stomach.
My sailing the waters off Australia was an inner-ear breeze by comparison.
CC
Shaky camera is a cinematographic technique where stable image techniques are dispensed with on purpose. It gives a film sequence an ad-hoc, news, or documentary feel. It suggests unrehearsed filming of reality in a situation where stable image techniques cannot be applied (this situation may or may not really apply). Thus a sense of dynamics is provided at the cost of the traditional objective of showing as "well" as possible the people/objects/action being filmed.
Several movies have been criticized for excessive shaky camera technique. The second and third installments of the Bourne action movie franchise directed by Paul Greengrass have been categorized as such. [ 2 ] Indeed, many people report that shaky camera in the Bourne series has reached beyond distraction, to the point of inducing nausea. [ 3 ] The same applies for the films Cloverfield (2008) [ 4 ] , Friday Night Lights (2004) [ 5 ] .
Perhaps the most famous film to use the shaky camera technique is The Blair Witch Project (1999). The technique was intended to make the film look like amateur camera footage. In many theaters, this was so severe that staff were ordered to hand out motion sickness bags to those who wished to see the movie. [citation needed [wikipedia.org ... Shaky Camera]