Jul 05 2008
What does a $100million TV show look like?
If HBO’s John Adams is a guide:
Lots of handheld camerawork and tens of thousands of Dutch/canted shots. Surprised and gratified to see modern cinematography storm period drama at the hands of Tom Hanks and HBO.
Shot with a complete disregard for bogus rules and conventions - I’m half way through the DVD - brilliant!
The making of video (above) is well worth watching for the vfx work and the production design. Some suspiciously small handicams appear - did they really shoot with those?
I was not enthralled a by the episodes I saw because the story line seemed to drag. But I think it’s certainly caused me to look more critically at the BBC down the line style of historical productions. They seem somehow flat when they follow the conventions so slavishly.
It’s going to be interesting to see whether this creates a trend that others will feel compelled to follow. I think the plethora of canted shots gave the production a lot of life - but a very different aesthetic to most hand-held cinematography - it was a very lavish production with a lush feel.
Count me out. I thought the clever camera work was really distracting. Shaky cam just doenst do it for me