Apologies if this has been mentioned elsewhere, but I couldn't find it on a thread.

Does anybody else find the camera work on SCD very annoying? There are far far too many changes of camera used on the programme; each camera shot is held for a maximum of 5 seconds. When watching the dances we see less than half of the footwork as many of the cameras only focus on the upper bodies.

On SCD Take 2 this week it was said there are 9 cameras used; which seems excessive to me. There even seems to be an extra one used with Tess backstage that I'm sure wasn't in use last year.

I've read a lot of complaints about the camera work on here and I repsect everyone's views, but it really doesn't bother me. I can't see the problem.

If you think this year is bad with the camera's then you haven't seen the years before. I think this year the camera work is better then it has been in previous years.

IMO the camera work has always been bad, right from series 1. What is the point of aiming the camera at DANCERS head & shoulders? I can understand why they don't focus on the feet, although it means viewers can seldom judge the footwork, but they should at least show the whole of the couple.

The camermen/women are only doing what the Director has asked them to do.

What really annoy me are the shots from behind heads in the audience- I mean how is that sensible?! They actually do it the point that the dancers are obscured

I agree that it has improved slightly.

If I think about the camera work it bugs me. If I don't think about it, I forget how bad it is .

Yes, it is annoying. I would rather see the full length shots so you can see all of what they have spent a lot of time and effort learning to do.

Ironically, on Room 101, this was one of Bruce Forsythe's pet hates that he wanted to get rid of

Pity he doesn't have a say in what gets shown.

This, of course, is perfectly true!

Yes it was! That programme was repeated very recently, although it was made in 2003 which was the year before SCD started. They actually showed a clip from Come Dancing during it I seem to recall.

The camera work is poor for a dance contest.
The "director" is obviously not dance orientated and so is going for "artistic change of view" camera shots rather than concentrating on the actual dance (darrrnce as Craig calls it).

She thinks that keeping a constant shot of the couple is boring and so goes in for these daft (darrrft as Craig calls it ) camera angles from behind the audience etc.

I wish to see the feet included in the shot more than it is now

I think the cameramen are reincarnations of my late dad - he always chopped peoples feet and heads off when he photographed them. I hope someone in authority reads these threads then perhaps they'll do something about it.

The camera-WORK, or the lack thereof...

Case in point: I nearly vomit from motion sickness when Austin did his fantastic jive with Erin. The cameraS (with a capital S) zoomed in and out and then out and in, twists and turns, spins like the lyrics of the song. It's as if they are doing the jive alongside Austin and Erin.

I have to re-watch it to understand just how great Austin and Erin were!

But I have to say they were more 'gentle' when they filmed Cherie and James' rhumba. It was very good and romantic. I can even see why Len was iffy about one or two of Cherie's arms movements (though I was surprised he scored lower than the other three judges for Cherie's rhumba)...

the camerawork drives me mental, it completely distracts from the dance, it swooshes around like a fairground ride. in the girls group jitterbug dance they were wearing yellow glittery slippers or something. i was really trying to see what they were but the camera never went near their feet.

Sorry to resurrect an old thread....but I've been watching alot of youtube clips from series 2 recently and I can't believe how much better the camera work was.

Have just watched Aled and lilia's tango via the "All-time most criminally overmarked and undermarked Strictly performance award "thread. It was weird....you could actually see his feet and full body pretty much throughout the entire dance - a few close ups of course but not too many.

You got a real sense of their speed and movement. I thought it was great and the dancing did most the talking - not the camera work.



I really agree.

I'm also wondering if the pro's are starting/will start to choreograph more for and to the camera & direction as the series goes on. So more focus on performance and upper body lines and less on intricate footwork and movement around the floor.

This is one of the threads commenting on the camera work for this series.

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/s...ht=camera+work

Same arguements about series 5 camerawork

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/s...ht=camera+work

And Series 4

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/s...ht=camera+work

And Series 3!

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/s...ht=camera+work

In total "camera work" is mentioned on 248 threads.

So it had been discussed a bit!!!

Camera work on Saturday didn't seem as bad as previous weeks where there has been so much movement it had me reaching for the Kwells. At least on Saturday you got more full length shots. Still think they should get rid of the mobile camera man

Sorry my fault - just did a did a lazy search and this was the first thread that popped up. I guess my brain was in a fizz.

I guess I'm more interested in potential influence/ effect the change in camera direction might have on the choreography/dancing.

E.g If you have a celeb who's not great and you only have 15hrs training ....you could argue it's worth telling them not to worry too much about the feet, slow the dance down and to focus mainly on looking angry etc. You might not get great scores from the judges but to the TV audience it'll look more convincing and more dynamic with the addition of swooping steady cam/fast edits and close ups.

(Plus there's the added bonus of perhaps making the judges look overly harsh ...so it might bring a few more votes your way. But maybe I'm just evily devious )

but at least this year we have fixed camera on the web - shame its not on Red Button

That's the best idea I've heard since I started watching SCD 3 series ago.

please, everyone write to the bbc and maybe just maybe they will listen