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Film is a young art form. As such, in comparison to literature or theater, it is in a state of infancy. And so, there are many kicks and screams, tantrums, and terrible two's. When Kubrik levelled the world with his use of Big Wheels and the recently invented steady cam in 'The Shining, it was a sort of culmination of the slowly shrinking size and weight of the film camera. The 35mm camera had evolved from the occasional dolly shot in the silent era, to the exciting and often avant garde use of hand held in the sound era, finally to a level of shake less movement that allowed the camera to follow the action and become itself, not just a vaguely mobile audience member watching, but in effect it allowed the audience member to go running with the bulls. Unfortunately, with such ease of use there has been abuse. Many filmmakers with the help of the shaky camera technique used in faux real life looking productions like NYPD Blue, Law & Order, and the endless reality shows, the idea has been advanced that something is more real life' with a shaky camera. The premise Hollwyood is offering is the action is unfolding so quickly that using a tripod or a dolly or planning the shots is impossible. These films are masquerading as documentaries, and hiding the 18 vans and trucks with lights, the espresso makers, the lawyers and Agent representatives, the bowl of miniature M&M's, and the omelet chef behind the fig tree. The absurdity of this technique can best be seen in Babel, where the camera drops down shooting knees only to pull back up as the camera man quickly attempts to recover and rack focus on a cheetah diving behind a bush? no...Brad Pitt's teary eyed face.

In lieu of entertainment, they can instead, drop and shake the camera.

Returning to a film like 'The Shining,' Instead of one long steady cam shot, there are static shots of Nicholson slowly loseing his mind at the typewriter contrasted with the rolling hum and rumble of the camera moving down the hallways (of his mind).
It is the art of the director of photography and the editor, to a create a visual drama within the drama. The rhythmic tension of associative images of different length and states in a scene that lead to a final visual payoff, in the same sense that each dramatic scene is also a back and forth tension, the camera work necessarily should echo. The Devil posed the question, why can't the entire movie be money shots? The cinemas answer to the 6 second loop, visual porn

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