Shaky camera,
shaky cam,
queasy cam,
queasicam,
hand-held camera or
free camera is a
cinematographic technique where
stable-image techniques are purposely dispensed with. The camera is
held in the hand, or given the appearance of being hand-held, and in many cases
shots are limited to what one photographer could have accomplished with one camera. 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.