The Pet Peeve

[Rey]

I have a pet peeve about modern camera techniques in television. Now I admit, I do not watch much television anymore, other than the news, as I don’t care for many of the shows on today. But I have noticed these camera techniques now even creeping into the news reports. It seems that camera operators no longer want to use a tripod, and instead shake and wobble the camera around like a drunk man. What ever happened to a nice, steady, professional looking shot? Not exciting enough? But it doesn’t end there, they are also playing with the zoom control. During the shot, it will very abruptly and awkwardly zoom in, sometimes in several short bursts. Then zoom back out again, as if a child has just discovered the zoom control, and it is a fun thing to play with.

Now, I understand some camera wobble can be used to good effect, say during a high action sequence in a movie, to accentuate the action. But these camera tricks are being used all the time now, even during an interview. A person will just be sitting on a chair talking and the camera will be swaying side to side, and quickly zooming in and out on their face. Does this make the interview more exciting? It drives me nuts. What makes it even more annoying to me is that it is not a case where the camera operator or director is trying to be creative or different. Quite the opposite, he is only trying to join the latest trend, the latest fad, even if inappropriate, in a world where creativity is more often monkey see monkey do.