Are you tired of all of the found footage and Bourne movies that seem to exclusively use the handheld, shaky camera approach to filmmaking? Many of us seem to have taken for granted the smooth and luxurious power of a Steadicam shot scene in a movie. In fact, I think we often forget that up until 1975, there was no such thing as a Steadicam. We owe a lot to Mr. Garrett Brown who brought the Steadicam to Hollywood. In fact, we never would have gotten movies like GOODFELLAS or THE SHINING without him. At least not the iconic visuals we have come to associate with those movies.
This montage from the good folks over at Film School Rejects serves as a lesson on how the Steadicam is integral to Hollywood. I am all for hand-held footage when it fits the moment, but sometimes you just need a smooth look at the cinematic world on display to best digest everything on the screen.
Check it out and see if you disagree.
I don’t think any of the films in this supercut would have been able to achieve these shots using a crane or larger rig since many of them are in such close quarters. If you look back at movies like Orson Welles’ TOUCH OF EVIL, that amazing tracking shot was done without the benefit of a Steadicam and is phenomenal. Most movies today evoke this shots with a cameraman holding the camera, which just makes it look like an episode of COPS.