Former WWE Vice President of Global Television Production Michael Mansury has reflected on the time WWE first got trigger happy with its camera cuts.
One big criticism of WWE TV is that there are too many camera cuts. It’s a style that WWE has implemented for years and it was in full effect during the opening segment of the May 2 episode of Raw. In that opener, The Bloodline brawled with Drew McIntyre and RK-Bro.
When Did WWE’s Camera Cut Craze Start?
Mansury recently had a chat with Conrad Thompson on The Insiders and he revealed when WWE first started getting gung-ho over having multiple camera cuts at a time.
“I will say that the rapid camera cutting, to my recollection, that came into play when The Shield debuted. The whole purpose behind it — because there’s the movement in the camera, ‘Ready 3, ready 4,’ going back and forth between all the angles.
“The initial design behind that style of shooting was to make what you were seeing on screen for the three characters of The Shield, and just the push that they were getting at the time, was just to make it seem all that more chaotic. At the time it worked.
“I can see now how after so many years of doing it, a lot of viewers feel like they’re on a pretty queasy-inducing thrill ride but that was the intent behind it initially.”
Mansury said initially, the cuts were reserved for only The Shield before that style was implemented throughout all the shows.
“That rapid camera cut situation, it was born out of just creating an exciting and chaotic feel for when The Shield were doing those 3 on 1, 3 on 2 beatdowns very early in their run.”
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