Paris Euphoria from Juien Alcacer on Vimeo.

This goes against everything I’m about for two reasons; and since I feel like far less of a jackass for the first than I do the second, it’ll receive a disproportionate amount of space. It just makes sense.

All for One was based on one, rock-solid, unbreakable-by-fear-of-screwing-everything-up cinematic principle: the camera stays on the tripod. Scenics – on a tripod. Interviews – on a tripod. Game footage – on a tripod. Get the point? It was only good friend, and episode five cinematographer, Sabre Dane who dared go handheld; he follows coach Ryan Nelsen step for step on his walk to the press conference and it is absolute brilliance. He’s also good with that sort of stuff.

Julien Alcacer (check the dude out on Facebook) absolutely shattered that rule in Paris Euphoria. Perhaps shattered is the wrong word. To shatter something, you must first acknowledge its existence. He had no desire even to do that. Not a single shot looks to have been done on a tripod, monopod, cephalopod or metapod (that’s a Pokèmon joke.. come on, laugh with me). And in all its imperfection – and if you are to compare it to tripod work, the imperfections are many – it’s glorious.

With the Nikon D7000’s (which Julien shot on) APS-C sized sensor with an 18-105mm lens (which he used a lot of) at full zoom, the shot remains relatively steady. The subtle shakes, the unlevelled horizon and the jerky and pans tilts give it a special character. It’s like all the times you’re in a new place, your head’s on a swivel and you quickly jerk it from sight to sight. It bumps along in shaky-knee normalcy.

It feels real. Tangible. Life-like.

Now I’m not waving a white flag and claiming all out reform. I have my ways. He has his ways. All I’m really saying is his work is pretty dope, so perhaps I could stand to learn a few things.

And as for the second personal philosophy to which this contradicts; the one which I feel like an enormous jerk-store for admitting… well tough. I still feel like an ass. Not telling.

Nice work, Julien. Your ‘ish is rad.

-C-