Something I wish directors would stop doing

[andrewducker]

If you pan along (or around) a group of people, and each one does their thing exactly as the camera reaches them then it makes it clear that they are actors, performing for a camera and drags me _completely_ out of the moment.

Please stop doing this.

Comments

[momentsmusicaux.livejournal.com]

I take it you don't like the opening shot in The Player?

[andrewducker]

Stuff that's a roller-coaster ride that's clearly just the director showing off I can live with, because I'm enjoying it for the artistry rather than the art. See also Keanu's entrance to FBI HQ in Point Break, the restaurant scene in Goodfellas, and several others. I'm not concentrating on being sucked in to the story at that point, I'm having a guided tour, courtesy of the director.

[coyotegoth.livejournal.com]

Man, that threw me right out of Full Metal Jacket, with the Marines offering their precisely timed commentaries.

[luckylove.livejournal.com]

I can't focus when cameras panning round and the movement makes me feel sick. I have the same problem with cars driving past.