Mike Jones Digital Basin
cinematic media rinse cycle

Head Mounted Camera and the personal view

Late last year a six part documentary series aired on Australian TV SBS called HELP  which brings to the fore a range of ideas and issues to do with spatial depiction of action the relationship of the viewer to the content being viewed that i find very interesting. The series uses footage from head-mounted personal cameras on ambulance officers as they go about their daily work of helping victims of accidents, injuries and trauma.

The cameras used in the production are small head-mounted security-style cameras that are strapped to the side of the ambulance officer?s heads on a small strut from their cap. Whilst I can find no technical specs on the equipment actually used they look very much like Archos AV500 cameras, an accessory to the very cool Archos portable media devices. In which case they would be recording VGA spec video (640×480) direct to a portable hard disc (presumably worn on the belt.)

The use of this camera imposes three very interesting elements on a perception and construction of space and how a viewer percieves that space -

a) the personal perspective placement of the camera gives the viewer a very distinct spatial awareness not just of the mise en scene frame and subject but of the positioning of the viewer actualized into the space via the POV. The viewer is acutly aware of ?where? in the space as much as they are aware of the frame they are seeing.

b) the fish-eye lens of the head-cam (with a legacy drawn from security cameras and un-manned cameras) is by definition an apparatus designed not as a mechanism for focusing a visual frame on specific subjects but rather is designed to take in a holistic spatial perspective where subjects freely enter and pass trough the frame rather than the frame focusing the action. This is likewise re-inforced by a huge depth of feld ensouring basic focus over all focal distances  

c) the mounting of the camera on the ?performer? eliminates the camera operator and/or crew as tangible (if invisible) elements in the scene. This goes some way towards breaking down the constructed nature of the presented cinematic form. Essentially crewless filmmaking which goes a significant step beyond traditional fly-on-the-wall documentary making.

Engaged as I was by HELP I couldn?t help but be disappointed that the makers hadn?t ?gone the whole hog? so to speak and shot the entire doco from these cameras, 100% in perspective rather than use cut-aways to traditional 3rd-person perspective. To me it presented as an un-explored opportunity similar to that of computer game Half Life 2 where it presents it?s first person narrative entirely in one long singular perspective and was the first to do so. No cuts scenes. No establishing shots. Just pure perspective. Russian Ark did it but it with steadi cam but to personify that view would be something else.

Posted at 01:00AM Apr 09, 2007 by Mike Jones in moving image theory  |  Comments[3]