Shakey-cam effect
 

Hello there!

I'm trying to get the following effect, which I think would be best described if it were showed to you. The link is for a video on youtube, a music video by blink 182.

YouTube - blink-182 - Stay Together For The Kids

Now, notice the chorus part of the song where the camera seems to shake and the picture becomes distorted but still sharp and clear enough to make everything clearly visible. This is the effect I would like to produce on one of the videos I'm making, and here's the question:

Is the technique done as simply as shaking the camera while shooting? I have a feeling this might work on film cameras but would the picture be heavily distorted it it was shot by a digital camera? I own a Sony EX-3 and the 5d mk2. I've shot the rest of the video with the mk2 exclusively, but I will mix it with footage from the EX-3 because of some slow motion stuff I couldn't pull off with the mk2.

I would also like to play with depth in the same shot; focusing on the object while the background is blurred.

Thank you.

Alas.


It is a bit hard to see detail on clips compressed for internet so I must guess a little.

I think all the images where shot clean and the shake was added in post-production as an effect.


The EX-3 and 5D Mark2 are CMOS sensor cameras. The EX-3 footage will look better if you want to move the camera. My personal preference is to shoot without shaking the camera and add the effect in post. If it does not look good in-camera, you can't change it later.

thanks Bob!

I'll look into making the effect in FCP or Motion, but other then those, what program or plug-in could I use?

after effects is the king of all those EFX. wiggle is the name of the camera shake effect.

For the blurry bg, 2 layers with a mask. is the easiest in post. otherwise, reshoot with a dslr for DOF.

you can tinker around with the "Earthquake" filter in FCP to achieve a similar effect.