Why does 13 Hours look like it's been filmed with a camcorder at times?
Why does 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi look like it's been filmed with a camcorder at times? It's especially noticeable with the colors, especially of fire or harsh lighting at night but also in the camera work. I'm not even talking about the shaky cam for action sequences but the hand-held look of almost every tracking shot and even pans between two people talking.
With an estimated budget of $50,000,000 I doubt that they couldn't afford a Steadicam, decent digital cameras and professional color grading. So was it an artistic choice? What would Bay have gone for with this? I found it nothing but distracting, taking me out of the movie more than once. The movie is not going for found footage or a mockumentary look or whatever to enhance "realism" so what gives?
Best Answer
Doing that on purpose is a cinematograpy technique called Shaky cam:
Shaky cam is often employed to give a film sequence an ad hoc, electronic news-gathering, or documentary film feel. It suggests unprepared, unrehearsed filming of reality, and can provide a sense of dynamics, immersion, instability or nervousness. The technique can be used to give a pseudo-documentary or cinéma vérité appearance to a film.
So most likely the explanation if you asked the filmmakers (Bay and company) would be that they did this to give you the feeling that you are there with the camera during the action. A lot of war movies are doing this (most notably, the Normandy Invasion scene during Saving Private Ryan). Its director Michael Bay is famous for (over?)use of this technique as it is, so him using it for a war-movie seems like a slam-dunk.
In this particular case, I've also heard cynics say that shaky-cam is trying to overcompensate for the fact that the movie itself is pure politically-motivated fiction by using a documentary film shooting technique. Perhaps if its shot like a documentary, some people might be fooled into thinking it is one.
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How accurate was the movie 13 hours?
Michael Bay has assured audiences that his Libyan-set military thriller 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi is an accurate retelling of the events surrounding the terrorist attack in Benghazi in 2013, which resulted in the death of four people, including the US ambassador to Libya.What is 17 Feb in the movie 13 hours?
Throughout the movie 17 Feb is mentioned. Feb 17 is Michael Bay's birthday. Received an "A" CinemaScore. In one of the scenes former Army Ranger Kris "Tanto" Paronto is seen dancing to LMFAO's "Sexy and I know it".Who filmed 13 hours?
Chuck Hogan was set to adapt the book, based on the true events of the Benghazi attack by militants on the American diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, on the evening of September 11, 2012. The film would focus on six members of a security team that fought to defend the Americans stationed there.What gun does Rone use in 13 hours?
"Rone"(James Badge Dale), is seen using a Salient Arms International Tier One AR-15 as his rifle of choice. The rifle is equipped with EoTech sights, AN/PEQ-15 laser designator, and Salient Arms' trademark "Jailbreak" muzzle device attached to the barrel.'Secret Soldiers of Benghazi' Discuss Real-Life Events Behind '13 Hours' | ABC News
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