Jitter Cam - Television Tropes & Idioms

Using a handheld camera with no damping. Combines frequent use of the Whip Pan and the Repeat Cut. The antonym of Steadi Cam.

This technique imparts immediacy to the sequence, or a headache, depending on skill of application. It was originally a documentary technique, eventually becoming more common in TV episodes. Almost an inevitable side-effect of First Person Camera.

Its popularity has increased recently, with many of the below examples coming in the past few years. It often overlaps with the style of the Faux Documentary and Mockumentary.

Contrast Screen Shake. See also Camera Abuse.

Examples:

Live Action TV

Came into wide TV use in the US with Hill Street Blues...
...and in the UK with The Bill.
Later, NYPD Blue would use the technique heavily.
The Shield goes so far as to have twitchy zoom and focus; for actual action scenes, they go to a higher shutter speed.
Lost, particularly in the pilot, when the illusion of running through the jungle was created with actors running in place and filmed by a very shaky camera.
24.
Firefly was notable for being the first show that simulated the jittercam effect in its CGI sequences.
The 2003 reboot of Battlestar Galactica, probably because the CGI-FX was done by a company that previously worked on Firefly.
- The use of Jitter Cam in Battlestar Galactica, at least in the space scenes, was actually called for by writer/producer Ronald D. Moore, in his manifesto on "naturalistic science-fiction." The idea was that while in conventional film-making it is important never to draw attention to the camera in order to avoid breaking Suspension Of Disbelief, CGI special effects shots tend to fall into a sort of Uncanny Valley effect. The CGI shots in Battlestar Galactica were therefore shot using only camera placements and techniques that theoretically could have been used if the show were, in fact a documentary.
Doctor Who episode "Love & Monsters".
Most battle scenes in Band Of Brothers.
The Office, both UK and US, since it's a Mockumentary
The 2006 Friday Night Lights series, continuing the tradition of the film.
Boston Legal
The X Files episode "X-Cops".
Kath & Kim (the original Australian version)
Medium
Law And Order.
House, from about the third season on.
The Thick Of It, especially in the first series.

Film

In Children Of Men, a combination of Jitter Cam and long sequences made for a very nervous movie, in which half of the screen time consists of The Oner with Parkinson's, making a lot of filmgoers gleefully seasick for nearly two hours.
Cloverfield, a giant-monster-eats-New-York story shown as "documentary footage" filmed by a guy with a camcorder, is eighty-five solid minutes of this. Would you like Dramamine on your popcorn?
Faulty Logic slams the 2007 Transformers movie for using this.
The Blair Witch Project.
The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum. This editor is fairly certain that the longest cut in either of the movies lasts a good six seconds, and recommends not watching either on a full stomach.
''My God, it's full of stars!
The 2004 film Friday Night Lights.
Path to 9/11 does it start to finish, even when characters are seated, socializing, and completely relaxed.
Diary Of The Dead occasionally suffers from this but mostly only in zombie attacks. One could assume that as the characters are film students they may have a sort of steady cam device, although you never see one.
12Rounds.
Man On Fire has a lot of it, which for some significantly detracted from the movie.
Rachel Getting Married combines this with a lot of long shots. Justified in that the movie is basically presented as home videos of the wedding in question and numerous characters are seen with camcorders.
Hancock.
Used to rather unfortunate effect in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. It's hard enough to follow fight scenes between two blurry, fast-moving, overly-intricate robots without the camera jumping about too.
- ...and it was a vast improvement over its usage in the first movie, which took it to "[1] only knows what the slag is supposed to be going on" levels.
Saving Private Ryan
Minority Report
Schindlers List
Lost In Translation
Star Trek (the 2009 movie), combined with excessive Lens Flare.
Public Enemies
Some parts of District 9 - but done well enough to seem natural, but not nauseated.
- Speak for yourself. This troper nearly had to leave the theatre, the nausea was so bad.
The independent film Amreeka uses Jittercam more or less all the time, supplemented by a devout belief in the Close-Up. Not a great combination.
Paranormal Activity

Anime (see False Camera Effects)

Full Metal Alchemist, in the first episode and an opening sequence.
In the final fight scene in the first episode of the anime Samurai Champloo, the camera not only jitters, but also loses focus at one point. The effect shows up in a few other episodes as well, always in a fight scene. Looks cool, although drawing attention to the camera raises the question of what a cameraman was doing in Edo Japan.
- And given the whole premise of the anime, probably deliberately.
Flag is told entirely from the point of view of various cameras and a computer screen. As such, the cameras can vary often end up moving around quite a bit, particularly when the photographer or the chosen camera is being used in combat.
The very first episode of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha used this while Nanoha was running back to the animal clinic containing Yuuno.
Anime Director Satoshi Kon likes to drop hints that he knows his camera (before his Author Avatar explicitly brags it in Paprika,) and a few times in Paranoia Agent, the Shaky Cam effect is illustrated to enhance an impact. It's especially noticeable in the late season fight between Maniwa and Slugger.
Black Lagoon also uses it. Eg: in a car chase with the Robo Maid, the impact with a palm tree is accompanied by jittering camera tilt and shake, along with sustained motion-blur on palm tree itself.
Le Portrait de Petite Cosette, so much. While jittering, the camera constantly goes in and out of focus as well.

Video Games

Happens when the player sprints in Gears Of War, despite the game being third-person. Word Of God says that this masks the fact that running isn't really much faster than normal speed.
The Transformers video game based on the movie.
In Fallout 3, whenever you use the VATS.