The hand held camera

The hand held camera

Hand held camera is a filming technique where the camera is held in the hand of the of the camera operator, as opposed to the typical filming technique of using a tripod in order to achieve steady footage. The tripod allows camera shots such as panning and tracking shots due to the smoothness of the mechanisms which allow the camera position to be altered. The hand held camera would create a more shaky effect, yet also more realistic.

This is a common effect is horror films for 2 main reasons. Firstly, using a hand held camera is much cheaper and therefore would be appropriate for production companies making a low budget horror film. Also, using a hand held camera can be advantageous for the overall effect of a movie. Those movies wishing to create a constant ‘point of view’ focus, as if a character in the film is holding the camera, would use this technique. This creates a more realistic view of the storyline and intensifies the feeling of fear due to the suggestion that the audience is watching real events.

Recently in the film industry, the hand held camera has been an effective profit building technique. Due to the low costs of this way of filming, if a film is relatively popular in cinemas and receives a high revenue, the profit will be much larger than if costs were high. The most notable films that use hand held camera is ‘The Blair Witch Project’ and ‘Paranormal Activity’. Both films use the camera to suggest that the characters are simply documenting normal stages of every day life (a camping trip and moving into a new house), then begin to capture scenes of unnatural horror with them. The authenticity of the character reactions are heightened by movements in the camera, for example the character holding the camera jumping when in a frightening situation.

Also, the quality of the footage is generally worse using hand held cameras. The gritty, vintage effect of the images may be preferable for films aiming to seem realist or unconventional. However, many prefer the flawless depiction of events from conventional filming methods. I plan to use this technique in my film as well as camera shots using a tripod to achieve a mixture of effects.