AbigailH_Chap3

 The goal is not to create a mesmerizing frame, but rather to make the camera invisible." When reading the text, this line caught my eye, and I carried it with me in my thoughts for the rest of the chapter. This got me thinking of the sheer challenge of the statement, how much skill and practice to get the audience so immersed that the audience feels that the camera is invisible. This feels like a slightly daunting task, honestly, but the concepts that we learned in this chapter kind of helped me understand the techniques to use to work my way there. Additionally, I started to think of movies where I don't think the camera was invisible; in fact, in some movies, the camera being presence is really important. I haven't seen that many found footage films, but the ones I have seen have presented this idea to me that the camera is an important being within the film. Take, for example, the Blair Witch Project. This found footage movie is divisive because it breaks many of the traditional concepts that this chapter teaches us about. But the writer also expresses that these rules can be effectively broken. In the Blair Witch Project, the characters often address the camera, and the shots are shaky and amateurish in feeling, yet that adds to the story in an intentional way. 

I linked here an article that addresses the camera work in the Blair Witch Project. I thought about it a lot while reading this chapter. Blair Witch Project Camera Angles: Analyzing Horror Techniques And Film Techniques [Updated:September 2025]