A few months ago I watched a few episodes of the remake of Hawaii 5-0.But this also applies to other modern tv shows.Anyhow when I viewed it,the camera work was terrible.I think it's called 'shaky cam' or something like that where they don't hold the camera still. Plus they switch back and forth on close-ups so quickly,2 seconds and then they switch to another close up for 3 seconds etc..It almost makes you dizzy.Not to mention the colors are not as dynamic on modern shows.Seems they use filters and all types of other things.What do you think? A 1965 episode of lets say Gilligans Island being one example of many looks 100 times better.

Thats what I noticed watching an episode of The Office, looked like it was filmed with a cam corder. Terrible

Yeah who ever films these newer shows think they are being clever or whatever,but it looks like they were filmed by people who never even held a camera before.

I think the producer's nephew got a video camera for christmas.

This "MTV-ization" of TV started happening in the mid-90's - Shaky cameras, doing what I call "BennyHill-a-vision" to the motion, putting a fake "film" effect to live events or shows on video (soap operas did that for a while but I think they've quit that now, local wrestling shows), etc.
After all, they're "awesome, kewl effects" that we all enjoy seeing. (or to quote that chef on "Little Rascals" - "Mush! All de chilrehn love mush!")
You'd think there would be a time when fads like this would die out. Unfortunately, there are fads lately that TV producers want to keep alive artificially on life support. This is one of those things.

Back in the day making TV shows was not just a job it was a craft. A craft in people took pride in doing well. Of course back then they weren't thinking about syndication, DVD's etc. they were just trying to make the best TV shows they could. These days I think the motivation is just to make shows as inexpensively as possible in order to maximize profits not only from the original run but also from syndication, DVD's etc. Quality has been sacrificed in exchange for profit.

In terms of filming techniques, I VASTLY prefer the older style of longer takes and deep-focus cinematography. The longer takes draw me more into the plot and the deep-focus draws me more into the atmosphere. As a viewer, I feel a greater sense of fullness and satisfaction from these things. The newer filming styles leave me cold... it always seems like an endless series of quick-clipped comments and close-up faces, back and forth, in a hazy, formless backdrop of blurs and hyperkinetic camerawork. I never get a sense of 'place' anymore, and even characters start to seem less like real people, and more like emoting heads, floating in space. The more I see of new drama shows, the more I absolutely crave the older ones.

they are catering to the lowest denominator and trying to please those with the non-existent attention span; they fear that if something flashy and exciting doesn't happen every second the viewer will have lost interset and change the channel.

yet they don't understand when people get upset at having to sit through 16 minutes of commercials per hour...

Today's TV is crap, the old shows are much better. Back in the day, TV was done with a lot more care and professionalism, even the commercials were better. While there are many old shows I'm not really fond of, I'd rather see a repeat of any old show (50's, 60's, some 70's) than anything from the 80's and forward. That's how bad TV has become and I doubt it will get better. I stick to watching the retro TV stations and DVD's/VHS tapes I own of favorite old shows/movies and that's it.

they are catering to the lowest denominator and trying to please those with the non-existent attention span; they fear that if something flashy and exciting doesn't happen every second the viewer will have lost interset and change the channel.


I agree.That seems to be the viewers they are going after.Those few episodes of the remake of Hawaii 5-0 I mentioned earlier moved so FAST,but not in a good way.It's almost like they are filming these modern shows for a bunch of children with some type of attention disorder.No offense to anyone by the way.Plus it all comes back of course to the total lack of talent both in front and behind the cameras too.

Today's TV is crap, the old shows are much better. Back in the day, TV was done with a lot more care and professionalism, even the commercials were better. While there are many old shows I'm not really fond of, I'd rather see a repeat of any old show (50's, 60's, some 70's) than anything from the 80's and forward. That's how bad TV has become and I doubt it will get better. I stick to watching the retro TV stations and DVD's/VHS tapes I own of favorite old shows/movies and that's it.

Yeah! This ^

It's almost like they are filming these modern shows for a bunch of children with some type of attention disorder.
No offense taken. It's just, that's what they seem to think we are, see?

I've watched a few very modern British comedies like "The Old Guys","After You've Gone" and "My Family" on stations like PBS.While they are not really good shows they are not that bad either.And the camera work on those shows is good.They are filmed pretty much like sitcoms have always been filmed.They are filmed alot better than modern American television that's for sure.

I guess I'm in the minority but I like the camerawork on the new Hawaii Five-O - it's kinda exciting - but I don't mind the older camera work either.

Breaking Bad is the most beautifully-filmed show in the history of television.

Today's TV is crap, the old shows are much better. Back in the day, TV was done with a lot more care and professionalism, even the commercials were better. While there are many old shows I'm not really fond of, I'd rather see a repeat of any old show (50's, 60's, some 70's) than anything from the 80's and forward. That's how bad TV has become and I doubt it will get better. I stick to watching the retro TV stations and DVD's/VHS tapes I own of favorite old shows/movies and that's it.

I can say the same thing about pop music, it's been mostly junk since the late 1980's. I was a frequent listener of top 40 radio in the 1970's, there were so many good songs on the charts in those days, especially the middle part of the decade 1973 to 76. Musicians today might sing decent enough and are adept at playing their instruments, but I don't think they could write a decent song if their life depended on it. And don't get me started on that rap garbage, that stuff should not even be allowed to be made it's no wonder why things are as bad as they are today. A few artists I listened to back in the day (Foreigner, Whitesnake, Kiss, AC/DC, Blondie, Suzi Quatro) all have released recent CD's but they only have a couple decent passable songs on them, not nearly worthy enough to make a purchase. Elton John is one artist who has stayed pretty consistent with releasing good music, I like most of his stuff and his CD Peachtree Road is very good. His recent collaboration with Leon Russell is pretty good too, maybe I'll buy that album one of these days. But overall, with music I stick to the good stuff from the 70's up through the middle part of the 80's, 1986 was the last decent year.

No quite the opposite actually, filming Style is vastly better now then anytime during my life.

Are some filming techniques over used? Of course. But that has always been the case.

Be it over use of static look down shots, to soft focused close up on women, to hyper kinetic action shots. All of these are examples of styles used in different decades.

Filming style, from type of camera, too staging of scenes to lighting filters are all designed to help sell the material you are watching.

Why do so many sitcoms use a laugh track? Well to help sell the "humor". Is it always at places that are funny? Nope.

Musical under score, are there not because they reflect actual sounds that would natural be in these scenes, but to heighten the drama or the humor of scenes.

At heart I think most people would actually prefer slower-paced editing of a production shot on film instead of any overly-slick digital cinematography simply because its more relaxing. But due to the cheap and easy nature of the digital format the powers that be have decided this shall be the norm. And just like everything else the public is fed, they eat it up while being afraid to go against the grain.

I find this stupid shaky camera effect to be nauseating when not done correctly - which is most of the time. Sometimes it's so inappropriately disorienting that it can detract from an otherwise good production. This preposterous "found footage" style is now being applied to FAR too many movies. I just saw a very unique adventurous film called Trollhunter where the storytelling, location, dialogue and effects were fascinating. But it was all shot to hell every 5 minutes when they took time out to show us a white balance, occasionally shooting nothing but sky, scuffling the audio, etc. Is this supposed to be entertaining?

At least the editing style of a standard 3 or 4 camera show with a laugh track hasn't been screwed with since its conception 50-60 years ago. That is what I find most comforting when watching sitcoms. It's one constant in the ever-changing TV universe.

Not me at all.

Now i am niot saying all modern techniques are done well consistently, far from it. But like every artistic venture you have great, good, average, poor and awful ( and this includes old style directing, camera work and lighting).

A well direct piece today us a vast, vast improvement over previous generations.

For example you take any show I watch seriously ( from any decade ) and I can point out different directors and DP. Be it from the 60s, the 70s, 80s, 90s, and beyond. I only casually watched earlier works.

Gifted artist take the tools and skill sets of the previous generation and improve on them.

. A few artists I listened to back in the day (Foreigner, Whitesnake, Kiss, AC/DC, Blondie, Suzi Quatro) all have released recent CD's 1986 was the last decent year.

Oh, I agree Lawrence Welk kicks ASS! :crazy:

Regardless of any good writing or acting that may be present in today's shows, they are frequently unwatchable to me because of "shaky cam" and other gimmicks. It just looks cheap and unprofessional. Just as bad is the "filmlook" effect added to taped or live productions. I could go on, but suffice it to say that I really appreciate the way the older shows were done.

Thats what I noticed watching an episode of The Office, looked like it was filmed with a cam corder. Terrible
Uh, that's because it's in mockumentary format. It's supposed to look like there's a camera crew following them around.

I have also noticed the difference in filming. I hate it when we see the shaky camera scenes.

Also the shaky camera work and other things they do look even worse on a high definition tv in my opinion,because they have that big bright screen.