WARNING: This article may contain small plot spoilers for the recently released movie, District 9. If you have not seen this movie yet, read at your own risk


With the release of District 9 this past Friday, another movie is added to the list of "Shaky Cam Films". District 9 joins the likes of all three Bourne movies, Cloverfield, and Friday Night Lights. The television series 24 also uses the technique.

For those of you who don't know, the shaky cam effect is, in a nutshell, when a movie is filmed in a style where the camera doesn't smoothly pan around a room or smoothly follow a character. When the camera is following a character, it appears as if the cameraman is running behind the character. In a movie such as Cloverfield the effect is used to make a very convincing home movie feel as the entire film is shot from the perspective of one of the main characters, in a camera that he is holding the entire movie.

Back to District 9. I've been reading a lot of reviews. I felt it was an amazing movie, one of the best original sci-fi films of all time. But this is beside the point. In a lot of these reviews (as in the reviews for Cloverfield (or even notices posted at theaters) and the last two Bourne films), the critic seems to hate the shaky cam style. Claiming they were nauseous because of it. I do not understand these complaints.

How sensitive does your stomach have to be to get nauseous from this? Or are these critics sitting there and staring at Wikus (the main character) the entire 2 hours of the film? Either way, you have problems.

You should see a doctor if your stomach is that sensitive. I have an incredibly sensitive stomach. I can't do even mild roller coasters. I am unable to see an animal ready for dissection without running to the bathroom. I have to turn my eyes when they show surgeries in movies and on TV. My stomach does not deal well with a lot of things. But the shaky cam effect does not cause even the smallest bit of nausea for me.

If you are sitting there staring at Wikus as he darts from the middle of the screen to about a quarter of the way to the outside, why are you doing this? District 9 is entirely detail filled. It is beautiful just how much attention was paid to small little details such as fading paint or pieces of meat lying around or empty cat food cans. The point is that if you are sitting there and your eyes or working overdrive trying to stay centered on Wikus, then you are missing half the movie. There is so much more to a movie than what the main character is doing and in District 9 you only needed to focus on Wikus every 10 or so seconds. The rest of the time your eyes should have been hovering throughout the scene and taking in the small things like two Sprawn 50 yards in the background fighting over a can of cat food. Instead you are just looking at the same thing the entire movie.

My question to use is this: Do you have issues with the shaky cam effect being employed by movies lately? Do you think it is a nuisance and unprofessional or do you feel that it simply adds to the experience and life-like experience that some movies are providing now (rather than the narrative style of old)?

Sound off, Studio Zero!


Last Edit: Aug 17, 2009 13:30:09 GMT by Andrew McGivery