POV filming, why isn't it used more often?

S

sicklove

I'm practicing using a POV camera for a web app I'm working on. It's supposed to be immersive, which is why I chose to film in POV.

Why is it seemingly not used very much in most films?

:weird::rolleyes:
 
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You will get a lot of different opinions on this, but personally I despise it (POV camera work).

There are certainly situations where it can be a good choice. I use about 8 seconds of it in my current short (not a moving POV, but a camera angle that appears to be a POV by one of the characters). I never would have done it myself. My DP suggested it, and I went along. So I'm not saying never use it, ever, but an entire film, or even an extended sequence that uses POV is a trigger for me to hit the stop button on the player. It's not immersive (IMO) it's annoying, and usually lazy.
 
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I think Blair Witch, with it's "solo camera" POV worked well for what they were trying to do. I whole POV movie though is tough-Quarantine was VERY well done (IMO) with a "first person" type of view.

If you're doing a film with JUST one person with the POV-could be an interesting short, but again, a script for longer would be challengin.
 
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Blair witch is the perfect example of it working well. It's motivated. There's a REASON we are seeing things POV (sometimes, not all the time). On the other hand, the POV and snorri cam stuff in District 9 is one of the aspects of the movie I hated, even though it was kind of motivated as well.

I'm an old fuddy duddy. I have played first person shooters in my life, but my guess is "kids" who have grown up on that stuff would be more open to it than I am.
 
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Gonzo_Entertainment said:
Blair witch is the perfect example of it working well. It's motivated. There's a REASON we are seeing things POV (sometimes, not all the time). On the other hand, the POV and snorri cam stuff in District 9 is one of the aspects of the movie I hated, even though it was kind of motivated as well.

I'm an old fuddy duddy. I have played first person shooters in my life, but my guess is "kids" who have grown up on that stuff would be more open to it than I am.
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I didn't mind it in District 9 myself-only because it added to the whole "docu" feel. I admit when I first saw the DVD I thought maybe we'd get two versions of the film, one human POV, one Alien lol. It still wasn't bad.

You bring up a good point though-there has to be a reason WHY there's a POV shot, part of the story. Doing it as "artsy" effect with no motive, using your words, doesn't make sense. I remember when I was doing Delivery Day, there was a shot first person of her going outside and checking the mail. A friend said mixing between POV's wasn't a good idea-and he was right-it worked better her peeking out door from 3rd person view IMO.
 
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I'm working on a sort of choose-your-own-adventure type of filmed POV web game.

The way you interact with certain characters causes the storyline to change. You wait for clips to play, select a response/action to the clip, and the game will line up the next movie clip to play based on your actions.

I want to film it entirely in POV so that the player will, hopefully, feel a greater sense of immersion.
 
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I think that the answer to this question is as simple as 'because it's not very good'.

That said there are a lot of different ways that you can use (and abuse) POV shooting so as Ernest Worthing says a great deal of films have an element of it, it's just that when it becomes explicit and self conscious it starts to look like a chimp is in control of the camera.
 
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NickClapper said:
I think that the answer to this question is as simple as 'because it's not very good'.

That said there are a lot of different ways that you can use (and abuse) POV shooting so as Ernest Worthing says a great deal of films have an element of it, it's just that when it becomes explicit and self conscious it starts to look like a chimp is in control of the camera.
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Pardon me, I do not know what you mean by explicit and self conscious, can you explain further?
 
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What I mean is when you have POV used for a protracted period and not just as another way of shooting the scene. So for instance you might have it going through the daily morning routine: getting out of bed, showering, getting dressed...etc. By self-conscious I mean that it is clear what they are doing and the viewer is supposed to immediately recognise that the camera is working from POV. At other times in movies the camera becomes POV (usually to heighten suspense) but doesn't do it in a gimmicky way that announces its intentions. For me that's the difference between decent POV and just lazy filmmaking.
 
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This is TV rather than cinema, but if you want to see POV shots being used really effectively then watch Peep Show, a sitcom on the British Channel 4.
 
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On the TV show M*A*S*H there was an episode called, surprisingly enough, "Point of View" (Season 7/Episode 10). The entire show is from the POV of a wounded soldier. If you are a fan of the show it was quite well done.
 
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