PAN BACK! PAN BACK! WTF!!

I read a film essay that said closeups are supposed to carry more emotional weight. Supposed to make the film a more intimate experience. I thought that was a bunch of nonsense.

This will probably play better on home viewing. But, yes, as a theater experience, it is a lot to handle.

I think that the POV shots worked very well, if you kept the numbers of them within reason. But, doing that for a majority of the movie was quite a lot to take in.

I also thought that, missing things like not seeing the LEM land from outside was going too far with viewing everything from Armstrong's point of view.

Just seen it on the small screen and yes made me sea sick. I agree like watching it through binoculars in rough seas. Normally you get a break from camera shakes in the quiet parts, but in First Man the camera was still zoomed in and waving around in funeral scenes! Nearly had to stop watching this otherwise enjoyable film, but managed to get through by focusing on the corner of the telly.

Rather than a clear picture of the action I find it just hard to work out wtf is going off. Perhaps filmmakers misunderstand this confusion with an emotional response? Well unless they are aiming for anger.

I’m going start a crowdfunding campaign to supply Hollywood with steadycams and wide angle lenses to hopefully eliminate the scourge of tight shaky close ups. Either that or I’ll edit some classic film, like Laurence of Arabia or something, giving it tight shaky shots so it can be seen how bad it is.

And who do you think the targeted demographic is?

You seem to know so much. One wonders why you'd say "PAN BACK" rather than zoom out.

I agree. This movie's theme had potential. A nice, feel-good movie could be done. Rarely does the shaky cam work. Yet it's being overused and abused. Plus when they zoom in it makes me feel sick. And this is on a 24" screen. I think I would throw up in a theater.

Yeah, this was the biggest reason why I hated this film. It was frustrating to look at. It was too confined. Oddly enough in the moon landing scenes where they are confined, the camera seemed pulled back.

I didn't get sick, but during the Gemini flight when they were tumbling end-over-end FOREVER I got bored. It was just too much, and went on and on after the idea was thoroughly conveyed. Maybe it went on that long or longer in real life, but this is a movie and things need to be done economically, not exhaustingly.