The kino as a documentary camera is used heavily in "Time."
The working title of the fifth episode of Stargate Universe‘s sophomore season has been released, courtesy of writer-producer Joseph Mallozzi’s blog. “Cloverdale” is written by executive producer Brad Wright.
“Cloverdale?” As in … the town in Oregon near the cheese factory? the city in Australia? or the town in British Columbia that serves as Smallville‘s downtown shooting location?
While the in-Universe significance of this title is not yet known, it may be a play on the 2008 monster film Cloverfield. The Matt Reeves / J.J. Abrams film offered a unique perspective on the invasion of a gigantic monster into a major metropolitan city. It was told entirely through a hand-held camera, taken by the film’s characters first to a party and then onto the streets once the crisis began.
Cloverfield‘s shakey-cam style of amateur, accidental documentary has been cited as one of the inspirations behind the look of SGU, which has also taken cues from shows like Firefly and The Shield to develop its realistic, on-the-ground feel. Robert C. Cooper, Wright’s fellow executive producer and co-creator of SGU, pushed this style to the limits in creating the visually unique episode “Time,” which aired this past fall.
In that episode, much of the story is told through the lens of a kino — a remote-controlled camera that Eli uses to document the crew’s missions and activities.
Could “Cloverdale” perhaps follow “Time” as an episode presented predominantly through the lens of a kino? Or is the working title just a coincidence? Keep your browser locked on GateWorld for more on Season Two and the rest of Season One in the weeks ahead!
Somehow I don’t think so.
That shakey cam BS is absolutely horrible!!!!!!! The worst idea to come to video of any kind. Why do the writers/directors feel they need to copy the lame ideas of other shows?
Maybe it’ll be a cross between Cloverfield and Sunnydale – Buffy the Shaky Cam Hunter in Space!
I like the hand-held camera approach. True, people tend to adopt techniques that get popular. But I honestly like this, like the SG1 episode Heroes.
I just wished the peopl that use it come up with a reason with why it is being used. Such as a kino or a film crew, not just absently there for no reason.
months before SGU aired, I begged all not to let the powers that be make SGU anything like the miserable horrible terrable crap cloverfield garbage! Now I see that someone or some people are actually going to do just that!! Aackk Arrghh GRRRRR!
NOOOOOOOooooooooooo!!!!!!
That will only make me bummed out..
I’m not generally a fan of the hand-held camera approach, I thought it looked terrible in films like Blair Witch and Cloverfield.
However, I thought it really worked in “Time” and I don’t think I would’ve liked the episode as much if it had shown in the usual manner.
So if they are going to repeat that success, I am all for it.
@Cheapshot: I couldn’t agree more. The shakey cam was a bad idea, is a bad idea, and will continue to be a bad idea. TPTB are copycats and also-rans. Cooper & Wright = Berman & Braga. It’s all downhill from here. Ignore the fans and you get what you deserve: failure & cancellation.
Well, I thought Cloverfield sucked big time. The camerawork is fine for a few minutes, but not an hour or two. Heh, Cloverdale is probably a blending of Cloverfield and Sunnydale (or was that vale? – the high school in Buffy). Ah, I can see it now, monsters roaming around alien high school eating students. Well, at least it would be amusing. They could air that episode on Saturday night then ;)
Cloverfield’s shakey-cam BAD idea!
I like to see the detail and enjoy the show, not get dizzy watching a program filmed as if by a 4 year old…
Will not be watching this anymore!
I didn’t like Cloverfield because of the filming style. I was interested to see what a full movie shot like that would be like, and afterwards I definitely felt it was way, way too much. I don’t mind the Kino’s that much (would be great though if they were used for more exploration and less drama filming!), but I definitely don’t want to see more entire episodes based around them and shot in this manner. I’ve pretty much written off the rest of Season 1 since they’ve finished filming it before they could take in and consider the backlash such… Read more »
oh god cloverfield gave me a bad headache so did quarantine i went home dizzy.
What, because the word “Clover” is half of the episode title? I think you all are over-reacting to what is little more than conjecture.
On the other hand, at least disliking a certain cinematography technique is a little more valid than the usual “ZOMG SGU is more porn than porn!” complaint.
@Sylvia LMAO! That was a great title/summary.
Just bought Cloverfield (£3) and my God my brain is shaking… If I wanted to watch a shaky video like that, well get any home video made by a child or something :)
Should SGU go to a Cloverfield style of filming, I’ll find something else to watch.
After 5 minutes I’ll be to nauseated to continue.
No….just no.
Handycam style filming as in Cloverfield sucks big time. It was simply too bad to watch. In Blair Witch it wasn’t as bad as in Cloverfield, the script seemed more suited to it, though it wasn’t particularly pleasing either. All-in-all I would say handycam-style filming is just a bad bad thing. I much prefer steady-shot filming which can be properly enjoyed on a full hd screen.
I HATE the shakey camera affect. It makes me sick to watch it. I extremely dislike Blair Witch. It was actually worse than SGU if that is possile. It really doesn’t matter because I am finished watching this ‘tired’ show with it’s WONDERFUL new effects.
Yey nice
The episode was great!