# Spiking the Camera
April 1, 2025

For some reason I'm wondering if in a movie or other "professional
production", if a character looking into the camera is as bad now
as it was previously. From some editors I've talked to and
discussions I've read online, the general line of thought is that
an actor spiking the camera instantly and irrevocably ruins (that
part of) the shot, and it must not under any circumstances be used
because "the audience *will* notice."[1]

But with youtube and such where videos tend to have conversational
styles where looking into the camera is commonplace and
appropriate[2], I have to wonder if people are more used to looking
into the camera where it isn't seen as immediately out of place.
Like, when all media everywhere avoids it at all costs, then it'll
stand out much more than when just before you put the movie on you
watched a video with someone looking into the camera the whole time.

I also have to wonder if the "average viewer" would have noticed it
even before the internet though. Although I suspect even if they
don't conciously notice, for most people it would probably be like
the RedLetterMedia maxim: "you didn't notice... but your brain did."

[1]: You'll note that even in films like The Silence of the Lambs
where actors speak into the camera for effect, they aren't actually
looking directly into the lens but slightly off to the side and
behind.
[2]: youtube videos that are conversational with the viewer, that
is. cf. documentaries, where interviewees never look into the
camera because the conversation is between the interviewee and the
interviewer, rather than the interviewee and the moviegoer.


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