MovieChat Forums > Possession (1983) Discussion > The way the camera moves?

The way the camera moves?

posted 7 years ago by MinaVladimir (4077)
7 replies | jump to latest

First off, what an incredible film. Loved it start to finish, even the tentacle monster, which I was not expecting.

Now, there's so much to unpack in this one, and I don't think I fully "got it" from the first viewing /expect I'll be revisiting this one in the future/.

One thing that got me from the beginning is the way the camera constantly moves. It just goes and goes. In circles around what's happening in a scene /like the, I assume, spy meeting/. Or it just zips right past whatever is happening. That's great, and I liked it, but what does it mean? I need a little help with this one, because I'm drawing a black right now.

[–] FredBurroughs (19706) 7 years ago

I presume it served to add a touch of uneasy energy to the scenes. How can you feel settled when the image is constantly shifting?

[–] MinaVladimir (4077) 7 years ago

This could be it :). From the opening shots there was this kinetic energy about it, and I certainly felt uneasy.

And it was a bit... disorientating at times, just from the way one scene followed another. I can't find the proper way to explain it for some reason, but I hope you know what I mean. And the way the camera moved contributed to that I think.

I haven't been so impressed with a film in a long time.

[–] drhouse (79) 4 years ago

for what it's worth, I just watched this film for the first time and a documentary about its making on YouTube... the cameraman said a bunch of stuff like the role of the camera is to tell the story, not to be part of the story... to be the film itself, not a movie about the making of the film... he said shaky cams nowadays are telling a story which is the opposite of the invisibility he wanted... like when someone is telling you a story they don't shake while telling it

[–] zephyr_cape (2979) 4 years ago

Awesome... going to have to check that out!

[–] eyeswideseth (24) 4 years ago

PERFECT MOVIE!

[–] [deleted] 3 years ago

crap

[–] [deleted] 3 years ago

The camera moves is the only question you had about this movie?