Sean Bobbitt at this years CAMERAIMAGE 2013 gave a master class on going handheld.
In it he asks “what do you think handheld does for the shot?”
You always have to question when a director says lets go hand held. What and why are you going hand held? And for me, quite often, it is simply a lack of idea — if we put it hand held, it will feel kinetic — but if you have a solid story reason that justifies going hand held, I’m happy to do that.- Sean Bobbitt, BSC
Again and again, we hear the pros talking about story motivating the tools we choose rather than the other way around.
It’s just nice to hear Sean talk about this in the context of specifically using hand held. It gives context to the question and makes you think about your choices.
If you are watching the video, skip forward to 1 hour 25 minutes in to watch Sean in action as he gives a quick class room example.
Now Play!