Weird but important fact about video and eyeballs.
I was just reminded of this when I found an old video of my eyeballs shaking all over the place when I got overloaded and stressed. Ā It wasnāt that I looked at the camera in the video, at least not that I remember from looking it over really fast. Ā Just that I saw the eyes and, because of being reminded of eyes in general, Ā remembered something I learned a long time ago about eyes and video cameras.
So when I was a kid I was in a weird ultra-low-budget educational movie about grief. Ā They told us never to look directly into the camera. Ā They said that if you looked straight at the lens, then no matter what it really happened, it wold look like you were deliberately staring into the camera, and people would read all kinds of things into that, that arenāt really there to read. Ā They said even glancing for a second can cause this. Ā
Also, people in general see someone looking at a camera as the same thing as eye contact. Ā It isnāt the same at all. Some people who avoid eye contact also donāt look into cameras. Ā But some people do one or the other and not both. Ā It looks like eye contact in the finished picture or video. Ā But itās really just staring at a little (or large, as the case may be) box when someone hits a button and/or points it at you.Ā
I remember watching a documentary sometime in the past 10-15 years. Ā Many subjects of the documentary were young (not yet adolescent, even, as far as I could tell) children. Ā Children who had either not been taught about these things, or had been taught and forgot, or just couldnāt help looking at the camera sometimes anyway. Ā More on that in a second, I need to add a note about being unable to avoid it even when trying:
From my time on the news -- it is hardĀ to pretend the camera and camera crew are not there. Ā I was able to avoid looking sraight ino the camera, but I (and the other people being filmed) found it impossible to pretend we were alone, which is what they were asking us to do. Ā I think it may be especially hard for autistic (and possibly some other neurodivergent people too) people to pretend something or someone isnāt there. Ā I donāt know if the children had this problem, or some other reason for looking straight at the camera sometimes. Ā But I bet itās hard for kids to pretend entire camera crews out of existence too, especially in a high-stress situation like being filmed.
So anyway -- back to these kids.
I saw a lotĀ of people talk knowingly about how this one girl was obviously playing to the camera and not really interested in doing the things she was doing. Ā They based this on the fact that at one point she opened her eyes and appeared to stare right into the camera just before doing an even more fervent version of what she was doing beforehand.
And -- they could be right. Ā She couldāve been hamming it up for show.
But -- they could just as easily be wrong. Ā She could have glanced at the camera because she heard the camera crew and instinctively turned to look. Ā And then thrown herself back into what she was doing so that she wouldnāt get caught off-guard that way again. Ā And even a momentary glance like that could easily look like she was deliberately making note of where the camera was so she couldĀ āperformā better for it. Ā Because a glance can look like an intentional stare, when watching a video.
I donāt think weāll ever get an answer to that. Ā But when it comes to judging people based on certain aspects of how they look on camera, I try to be very cautious if it involves anything that depends (for interpretation) on a moment when they looked at the camera. Ā Because that look gets exaggerated tenfold. Ā And because even someone deliberately looking at the camera can have zillions of different motives and not all of them are in any way related to puffing up their ego or performing or making sure theyāre being watched or anything like that.
And remember that if youāre watching someone whoās in a documentary or on the news, the likelihood that they have any editorial control whatsoever is slim. Ā Meaning that things can get spliced together in a way that puts someone in a completely inaccurate light, either on purpose or by accident on the part of the editors and those who work with them. Ā
Even stuff thatās basically accurate can look wrong to people who arenāt paying attention to editing as a thing that happens in videos. Ā
Like... during my interview, they showed me typing, but only enough to show I was typing the answers. Ā They didnāt show me thinking before I was typing, and they didnāt show all of the typing, and some of the video didnāt always match the audio going on in terms of representing what happened in realtime. Ā All of this makes total sense and is standard. Ā You canāt show these things in realtime without wasting a lot of time.
So people afterwards somehow thought -- even with obvious cuts between different views, etc. -- that all of this was in realtime. Ā So theyād say it was strange that I never needed time to think before typing -- no, they just didnāt show me thinking. Ā Some also questioned that the answers were so long but the time spent typing was so short. Ā Nobody involved seemed aware that even news interviews are generally edited somewhat, especially when they contain extremely long boring time-consuming typing sequences.
So just beware of this... I donāt know whether to call it an illusion, or what to call it if itās not an illusion. Ā But be aware of this... misleading quality of cameras, I guess. Ā And remember that things are almost always edited and can range from slightly off to completely misleading -- both when itās intended to mislead and when it isnāt. Ā If your entire judgement of someoneās character is based on them looking at the camera, you might want to hold off on judging them. Ā Because they could as easily have been doing something totally different than what you imagine. Ā And if itās part of a deliberateĀ series of edits, the filmmakers may be attempting to portray someone in a particular light that may not be accurate.
I donāt know what that kid was doing. Ā But most importantly -- I donāt claim to know what was going on in a the mind of a child I donāt even personally know, justĀ because she glanced at the camera for a second.
TL;DR: Looking at a camera looks like staring even when it isnāt. Ā Be careful of judging people for looking at a camera during a video. Ā Be careful of looking at a camera during the taping of a video. Ā Also, editing is a thing and even editing that doesnāt intend to mislead can confuse some people.
