Why (Not) Go Hand-Held?

[mad_hatter]

I'm curious to know some ideas and opinions on when you should or shouldn't use hand-held camera?

It seems to me that a number of people consider hand-held to be lazy. Theres the argument that hand-held is quicker to set up, but I'd argue that dropping the camera on a set of sticks takes no time at all.

So why go hand-held at all? Why not? Is there any time that you should absolutely not use hand-held? Is it just an asthetic thing; personal choice?

I watched a couple of films today, to see how they used hand-held. Both The Devils Rejects and You're Next have the sort of style I'd like to emulate. TDR uses probably around 50% hand-held, but mixes them with static/stable shots. You're Next uses probably over 80% handheld. There are static shots used throughout, but they are relatively few and far between. Check out this clip:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-44P-raV8Z4


So many of the shots in the above scene could have so easily been static. And, typically, they would be. So is this just an asthetic choice of the DoP/Director? Or is this technique supposed to convey some kind of emotion?

What's your opinion?

 

[Sage Pictures]

Almost never use tripod

 

[p38]

May I suggest an easy hand held platform to shoot with?
Go here and check it out: http://fotosafariproducts.com/
We're using these for years and if you pair a monopod with it, you'll have a tripod like shots if you really need one. We do 180 pans and hand held and you can't tell if it was on a tripod.

 

[stef]

Wow. This clip was good. The feel would have been totally different on static/dolly system. so much to learn, huh?

hah, it was good. I chuckled.

The handheld movement helped capture the awkwardness of a family dinner. There was clearly a reason for it. I also liked the foreground elements intentionally framed to interrupt the shot. The sound, with background conversations and lots of secret looks and such also helped.

When shooting a tv pilot, I went handheld OTS for shooting a daughter being grilled in her doorway by her mom.

 

[mad_hatter]

hah, it was good. I chuckled...

If you weren’t aware, it’s all the more funny as the two people arguing are Joe Swanberg (“mumblecore” pioneer) and Ti West (acclaimed horror auteur). Apparently, that’s a normal sort of conversation between the two of them!

Just to put that clip into some sort of perspective, it’s one of the more placid moments in the movie. After this scene, it all kicks off, with people dying left, right and centre. But this entire movie is shot this way, with this rough, hand-held look. But I do like it. As trueindie pointed out, it feels informal. I like that.

Anyhow, if you’ve not seen it, I recommend You’re Next. It’s a great film.

 

[Nikola Damov]

I love how people are simply lazy to set up a dolly shot or a jib shot or long steadicam shot or just don't know how to do it and then say " well , handheld is my artistic choice " .

 

[mad_hatter]

I love how people are simply lazy to set up a dolly shot or a jib shot or long steadicam shot or just don't know how to do it and then say " well , handheld is my artistic choice " .

Can handheld never be an artistic choice? Or should your quote actually read "I love how some people..."?

What about all those DoP's who choose to combine stable and handheld? The times they choose to shoot handheld, are they just feeling lazy that day?

And what about the scene I posted above? Do you feel it would have been better static? The handheld aspect of it adds nothing to the scene?

Just curious as to your reasoning behind your opinion.

 

[manio143]

In my experience, which is small, I've seen that camera movement whatever it is gives more dynamic look, so that it should be used when someone is walking from side to side, doing manual work, or showing to people emotionally engaged in an argument or when we want to show number of things laying next to each other. And if we're shooting calm dialog then a tripod would be a better option.