Appreciation post: The client who asked for 'cinematic' but meant 'shaky cam' on a gimbal

I just finished a wedding in Portland where the couple insisted on a 'cinematic look' but then told me to add artificial camera shake in post because the gimbal shots looked 'too smooth and fake', which honestly misses the whole point of using that tool for clean movement.

3 comments

3 Comments

olivia6701mo ago

Ugh, did you try showing them a side-by-side comparison first? I mean, I had a client say the same thing, so I cut a quick sample with a few smooth shots and then the same shots with my phone's shaky filter slapped on. I just asked which one felt more like a real movie to them. It clicked when they saw it that way, because the fake shake just looks like a mistake. Maybe it's just me, but letting them see the difference made them trust the clean look.

the_blake1mo ago

Yeah that's a solid move from @olivia670. It's like how people get used to a bad sound in their car because it's been there so long, they forget what quiet sounds like. You have to show them the before and after. Same with those phone filters that make skin look plastic, or that awful blue light on cheap TVs. Once you see the real thing next to it, you can't unsee the fake version.

the_viola1mo ago

So what happens when they still pick the shaky one after the side by side? Like @the_blake said, sometimes people just get used to bad stuff.