Hand-held camera
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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"It must be said, all that we have done in France in the area of cinéma-vérité comes from Canada. It is Brault who brought a new technique of filming that we had not known and that we copied ever since. In fact, truly, there is a "brauchitis" spreading, it is certain. Even the people who consider that Brault is a nuisance, or were jealous, are forced to recognize it." -- Jean Rouch, Cahiers du Cinéma. Original text «Il faut le dire, tout ce que nous avons fait en France dans le domaine du cinéma-vérité vient de l'ONF (Canada). C'est Brault qui a apporté une technique nouvelle de tournage que nous ne connaissions pas et que nous copions tous depuis. D'ailleurs, vraiment, on a la "brauchite", ça, c'est sûr; même les gens qui considèrent que Brault est un emmerdeur ou qui étaient jaloux sont forcés de le reconnaître.»" |
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Hand-held camera or hand-held shooting is a film and video technique in which a camera is literally held in the camera-operator's hands--as opposed to being placed on a tripod. The result is an image that is perceptibly shakier than that of a tripod-mounted camera. Early examples of include J. Stuart Blackton's The Passionate Quest (1926), Sidney Franklin's Quality Street (1927), and Cecil B. DeMille's The King of Kings (1927).
Despite technological developments, the aesthetic consequences of these smaller cameras weren't fully realized until the the French New Wave. Godard envisaged Breathless as a reportage (documentary), and tasked cinematographer Raoul Coutard to shoot the entire film on a hand-held camera, with next to no lighting.
Select filmmakers notable for their use of hand-held cameras
- Kenneth Anger
- Olivier Assayas
- Noah Baumbach in his recent work
- Stan Brakhage
- Andrew Bujalski
- Maya Deren
- Jean-Luc Godard during the early part of his career
- Paul Greengrass
- Werner Herzog
- Stanley Kubrick, including early use of the Steadicam.
- Albert and David Maysles
- Jonas Mekas
- D.A. Pennebaker
- Jacques Rivette
- Jean Rouch
- Lars von Trier
- Wong Kar Wai
See also
