Kamen Rider shows: The "live-cam" style.

[MattComix]

I don't know if anyone else feels this way but I have to say that something that I do enjoy about modern Rider shows is the way the shows are filmed. This started (at least for Rider) with Kuuga and for lack of knowing the actual technical term I usually refer to it as "live camera".

For me what I really enjoy about it is that it really puts you in the setting and the moment and the setting much more so than I think many big production tv or films would.

 

[Ramses]

it's intresting to say the least. It looks less like a toku and more of a Drama. I think thats how we are supost to interpit the camera.

 

[JFC]

This started (at least for Rider) with Kuuga and for lack of knowing the actual technical term I usually refer to it as "live camera".

Huh? Hard to picture what you mean by this. Can you compare this "live camera" to any other types of TV/movie broadcast or show?

 

[Aoi Kurenai]

I think he means that the shows feel like they're shot on home video, not as standardized as other shows?

 

[JFC]

Ah, that probably means that the shows are originally shot and broadcast at 60 fps (frames per second), whereas most shows are shot and broadcast at around 30 fps or less.

For reference, examples of shows in North American shot and broadcast at 60 fps include:
- most sporting events that are broadcast live
- daytime soap operas
- game shows

Shows like hour-long dramas (ex. CSI, House M.D., the new Battlestar Galactica) are examples of what 30 fps looks like. The subbed eps that we get from TVN are all re-encoded to be 30 fps or lower. Reducing the number of fps greatly lessens the filesize of an episode, making it easier and "more practical" for most people so send over the Internet and DL.

 

[Inui Takumi]

I think the term is "steady-cam". From what I have seen, its the camera man rigged with the camera strapped around his torso, so when he moves, the camera moves and give the sort of shaky feel to it. Where it is most notable is scenes where characters are running and the camera is very shaky, or when there is a fight scene. But, it is being used more and more in dramatic scenes to give a sense of movement and putting the viewer in the scene itself. This gives a more natural feel as opposed to the traditional stationary camera where its still or moves smoothly on tracks so there is very little shaking involved.

 

[JFC]

^ Steady-cams are great, like you said, for minimizing, if not totally getting rid of the "shakes" that one is bound to get when you have a moving camera. However, they don't have anything to do with the quality of the video produced simply because they're steady-cams. At sporting events the main cameras that are used are all stationary, as they are in most TV productions wherever you go. It's the number of frames per second that gives video that "home video" look that Ryoutarou described (that is, of course, assuming that he's correct in his guess as to what mattcomics was trying to describe :anime.

EDIT: Just to add, my brother took a course in TV broadcasting, and as such got to play around with some big cameras like the ones they use in news broadcasts (both in studio as well as out doing field reporting). As such, I've seen samples of video shot of the same scene/event where one was 60 fps and the other was 30. It really does become noticeable when you see one right after the other.

 

[Inui Takumi]

Ah, I guess I misunderstood what he meant by "live cam". I usually take that to mean the shakiness of a scene.

 

[JFC]

^ According to the instructor of that course my brother took, it was the shakiness that prompted the development of the steady-cam in the first place. Apparently though, those things are crazy heavy. My brother was able to do some internship work at one of the local TV stations, and he found out that they only have had only one steady-cam operator for the last 5-10 years. During that time, he actually SHRUNK in height by about 3-4 inches because the weight of the equipment compacted his vertebrae! :O_O:

Also, they don't have any of their female camera operators using it because none of them can remain standing up straight when they wear it. :laugh:

 

[Inui Takumi]

oh, but, when they move with the steady-cam, doesnt it make the footage shake more since its not rigged to the tracks?