Kino Eye - P. Carter

     Ok, so I have read, and re-read, Kino-Eye on three separate occasions trying to the best of my abilities to fully comprehend the arguments presented by the author of this piece. I must admit that it was a bit difficult for me personally to follow what the author was trying to say. That being said, I will make my best attempt to explain what I took from the excerpt.

     It is mentioned early on that the camera is better at capturing images than the human eye, and while yes I will agree that technically a modern camera can capture more information than the human eye can process, I personally disagree that the camera is in any way superior to the eye of an artist. For example, we have all grown fully accustomed to the ever watchful eyes of security cameras posted nearly everywhere in our everyday lives. If any one of us were to sit and watch a video feed from one of the aforementioned security cameras we would soon find ourselves bored with even the highest resolution of this type of static footage. However, take this same camera and place it in the hands of a skilled artist and there is a chance of magic being created from an artist's touch. Therefore, from my personal perspective, the technical superiority of the camera is nothing without the human eye of the artist.

     Later on in this piece the author sites an example of, "shooting a boxing match not from the point of view of the spectator present, but shooting the successive movements (the blows) of the contenders." As I read this I could not help but to think of a scene from "Raging Bull" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wwItkoapuA . In this scene we see both types of shots, from both inside and out of the ring, merged together to form a narrative. In my opinion the use of theses shots together add to the dramatic tension of this scene.

     Perhaps if the author wrote this piece during the modern era of filmmaking he might have a different stance. Today we can shoot first person point of view shots (POV) with an off the shelf Go Pro camera. I have noticed a growing trend in the use of first person POV in modern media that rivals that of the "Shaky Cam," from not long ago. Here's a movie trailer from Hardcore Henry demonstrating my point https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wv33e0TyL6M .

     For me personally the current trend of over using  POV filmmaking like the over use  the shaky cam craze before have diminished the art of cinematography. To me a skilled artist knows when and what tool to use when telling his tale. For example, in the opening scene of Saving Private Ryan, Steven Spielberg expertly uses both steady shots and handheld camera (not to be confused with "shaky cam") to draw us into his narrative. Through his use of camera techniques we can clearly see the action that is taking place AND we feel like we are there storming the beach with the rest of the soldiers. Sadly this seems to be a dying art form that is grossly being replaced by overly kinetic camera movements and filmmaking is suffering for it.