Cloverfield

[Dr Mordrid]

Great concept....

Excellent acting (extra points to Mike Vogel)

FANTASTIC monster!!

TOTALLY RUINED by the massive over-use of "jitter-cam".

A ***1/2 star movie made into a *1/2

Before people even got out of their seats at the end they were complaining of headaches and nausea, essentially MOTION SICKNESS. These complaints extended into the lobby and bathrooms with both men and women saying they were too upset to even go to dinner after the show. Several said no way would they recommend it for that reason.

The producers/director need to understand that modern camcorders ALL have anti-jitter features that smooth out camera motion to a smooth slide instead of a shaky jitter.

It's also one thing to see jitter-cam on a small screen which takes up maybe 10%-20% of your field of view, but it's entirely something else to have it fill up 90% in a darkened room. That is enough to bring on a previously dormant seizure disorder.

Even I got slightly nauseated and I raced cars, love roller coasters and have a history of parachuting off buildings

[rylan]

There is way to much use of jitter-cam in movies lately. Even the Bourne Ultimatum had too much of it and it really detracted from the movie.

[ND66]

Does this even looks like a movie?????


Secret Video from Cloverfield


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[Dr Mordrid]

Take a camcorder, start it recording then hang it from your wrist by the strap. Now run around the block. Most of what you'll get is from the shoulders down jitter and shots of the ground. That's at least 1/4 of Cloverfield. Even when the cam is at eye level it's flipped left, right, up and down so quickly it makes you seasick.

[Brian Ellis]

Even the Bourne Ultimatum had too much of it and it really detracted from the movie.

The movie detracted from itself. I enjoyed the first 2 Bourne films, but the Ultimatum was the Ultimate in zero-enjoyment.

For sale: one PAL DVD of the Bourne Ultimatum, played once!

[Evildead666]

Watched the bourne ultimatum a couple of nights ago, and have to admit I was starting to think there was a problem with my codecs since the bloody screen would not calm down.

I REALLY REALLY HATE it when they ADD jerkiness to the images to make it look 'amateurish'. BOLLOX.

It just becomes really hard to concentrate on the film, its as if they are trying to hide some crappy special effects (even tho they are fine...)

If this is worse, then, well, WHY ?

Maybe the director could answer ?

[Evildead666]

Been reading about Cloverfield on the web, and it seems that a lot of people didn't enjoy the constant camera movement either...

[Mehen]

The movie detracted from itself. I enjoyed the first 2 Bourne films, but the Ultimatum was the Ultimate in zero-enjoyment.

For sale: one PAL DVD of the Bourne Ultimatum, played once!

Supremacy was like that too.

[Technoid]

I REALLY REALLY HATE it when they ADD jerkiness to the images to make it look 'amateurish'. BOLLOX.

Especially since "amateur" news footage isnt jerky at all!

Usually they play to much with the zoom and the quality is atrocious (grainy as hell, severe color bleeding, loss of color, static noise etc etc)

Even when they are evidently running as hell the footage usually ends up smooth.

[Gurm]

The argument is that the jitter-cam adds "urgency" or "immediacy" to the film, or "simulates real life". The problem is that your brain is the ultimate anti-jitter filter. Walk down a long hall, with your eyes focused on something at the end. Does that thing jump around like Pee-Wee Herman on a triple-espresso? No. It stays still. Now, do the same exercise but let your eyes defocus. See how much it moves around? Your brain is correcting all of that on the fly?

Now, ADDING that jitter back in after the fact just confuses your brain and makes you ill.

[Jammrock]

The argument is that the jitter-cam adds "urgency" or "immediacy" to the film, or "simulates real life". The problem is that your brain is the ultimate anti-jitter filter. Walk down a long hall, with your eyes focused on something at the end. Does that thing jump around like Pee-Wee Herman on a triple-espresso? No. It stays still. Now, do the same exercise but let your eyes defocus. See how much it moves around? Your brain is correcting all of that on the fly?

Now, ADDING that jitter back in after the fact just confuses your brain and makes you ill.

The jittery camera ruined most of the Bourne movies for me. Great movies all around, but the jittery camera kept them from being spactacular.

That said, if Cloverfield is as jittery as everyone says I'm going to skip it. That crap drives me nuts.

[High_Jumbllama]

Serenity had some of that but Whedon did not beat the viewers over the head with it. Everything in moderation. :shudders: It reminds me of bullet time.

[Dr Mordrid]

At least bullet time was in slow motion

[Technoid]

Oh well, theres an excellent "anti jitter" filter in Virtualdub

[Dr Mordrid]

Would have been better if he'd rented a few StediCams