I’m going to be the next Hitchcock, but for porn.
Japanese people are usually said to be able to persevere for long amounts of time on a variety of subjects. And it’s not like this is something that we’ve decided should be part of our generalization; they have entire days that are built around activities that no one wants to watch or do, but many people are obliged to do nonetheless (Sports day). I guess everyone has their social outcasts and those that can’t seem to follow the predefined ruleset handed down to them by their faceless social organizer god that runs hell on weekends. Japan found a job for them and so everyone seems to be happy.
These people must be cameramen or, at least, it sure seems like it. Many cameramen here seem to have very little patience. You always see them dramatically zooming in and out at something of minute importance during newscasts or on some report for a program. If you watch the news everyday, you’ll see it at least once a day, if not more. Then again, it could be something other than a complete lack of patience.
This feels like Final Destination 3…
There are many camera techniques that you can use when filming, you probably know some of them. Zoom, pan, scan, etc. Some of the techniques learned are not used that often, which can be a downer. It’s not difficult to think of a cameraman thinking, “Hey, I know how to pull off a pretty good follow shot. How about we do it in the next scene? It’s stupid of me to be so great and use so little of my skill. I mean, I spent so much money and time to learn all of this, shouldn’t I put it to use? At least to prove my worth to my realdolls.”
And it’s fine to think this, but you can’t just be throwing random camera techniques in for no reason at all, there’s absolutely no good reason for it. Example: The main character in n Deer Man (mentioned in a previous post) moves to Nara and climbs up to the top of Wakakusa mountain (若草 young grass). While he is gazing down at the city, the camera moves up while doing a vertigo effect (or dolly zoom). The problem with this is that there was absolutely no reason for it (this effect isn’t used often very much on purpose). It’s intended to give you a certain eerie emotional feeling, which could fit at a different time in the series, but at this point, things are quite happy and on the up and up. The camerawork here is working against the dialogue, music, and previous atmosphere. The scene in question feels odd for no good reason.
New camera. Zooooooooom. WHEEEEEE.
A third reason why there are so many odd cameramen in Japan is that they (or their bosses) suck at their jobs. Again, this could easily be true.
Who knows the reason, but when it happens it looks really amateurish and doesn’t really add anything (Look for yourself in this informative video about a woman who was absolved for crimes because her breasts were too big).
