The Video Whisperer

Camerawork

The derivation of the word cinematography comes from Greek:
kinema (motion) + graphein (to write)

Motion writing.

Modern use of video cameras are not exempt from the principles of cinematography, though "video" is derived from Greek thusly: Gr "videre" (to see) graphein (to write). It's meaning is more illustrative of the electronic birthright of video technology more than of its application.

Of course before motion pictures we had only still photographs.
With the advent of motion pictures we now had motion within the picture.

Then came zoom lenses, dollies, cranes, and much later, steadicam. Now we had moving cameras shooting moving pictures.

But the basic motion is still the motion that occurs within the frame. One doesn't need to move the camera to compose or convey motion.

So what does one move the camera for?

We've all suffered the nausea of amateur film-making where the cameraman just can't keep the camera still. It's constantly zooming and panning.

And we've seen the various attempts to start new trends in both cinema and even news gathering whereby the cameramen do odd things like  needlessly moving in and out during and interview, for example. What? Are they now trying to compensate for modern motion-canceling technologies in their cameras to simulate "hand-held"?  I don't think so. (you can turn that off)

No, they just don't have a clue as to what their function is. And their function is mandated by the artistic purpose of their job--to direct the attention of the audience to the message, not to their technical "savvy" or innovation.

Good camerawork is invisible.

That doesn't mean one never moves the camera.  But when one does, it does not call attention to itself, but directs attention in a way that gets the the audience to see, feel and understand--or not understand, for that matter, as in the case of mystery. We use our technical tools to direct the attention of the audience to the message of the show, not distract them from it.

In the old days as good directors and cameramen, understanding their role, sought to use the camera more effectively to forward the message, things like the "dutch tilt" were invented. Hitchcock used these effectively on occasion. The camera was tilted dramatically and the effect was to produce a feeling of emotional instability. But of course all other elements of the shot (lighting, acting, sound, music, etc.) all worked as an integrated whole to communicate this feeling.
One didn't suddenly think "what's gotten into the cameraman?! The shot is crooked!" Instead, all elements worked together to direct the attention of the audience to the intended message without distracting them out of the story.

That's what composition is all about. ALL elements of a movie or show (sets, props, costumes, makeup, camerawork, lighting, sound, music, effects and editing) are elements of composition.
And all of these things must come together in a single frame of film or video, in every shot and in every scene as a whole continuously from the beginning of the show to the very end.

While narcissistic camerawork always annoyed me, the first time I recall being truly impressed by the use of moving cameras was the TV show "Hill Street Blues". This was the first time a TV show was being produced by a Hollywood film crew, and those guys were GOOD. It took a very good crew in ALL departments to pull off the amazing ballet of camera and actors within the scene. But it was all to FORWARD THE MESSAGE, and these guys elevated the experience of the audience to feeling like they were intimately involved in the action.

More recently I think the crew of 24 have brought it up another 10 notches. That may be the best crew in the world.

And, at another extreme, I've just started watching "The Office" and what they've done is very clever indeed. Here we have a comedy which pretends to be an on-going documentary of the day-to-day live in the office. It's a little tongue-in-cheek, but that's all part of the message. Their constantly moving, zooming and panning cameras contribute to the overall message in a very impressive way--BUT, it wouldn't work at all if not for the perfect staging of and acting by the actors and all the other departments working cohesively to pull it off the way they do. I've seen similar attempts to do this sort of thing that were a total bust. But these guys knew what they were doing. My hat's off to them.

So, if you want to move the camera, do it in a way that forwards the message of the shot and directs the attention of the audience to that message.

Otherwise, lock it off.