So after watching the two full songs they've uploaded so far (Invisible and IWF), I think I'm going to enjoy the DVD quite a bit. I understand how people can be bothered by the number of cuts, but I found a deep appreciation to how the two songs were filmed with two very different styles in mind. IWF has a lot of close-up shots of the band members and a lot of footage taken from around eye-level if you were on the floor. It actually made me feel as if I was reliving the song right from GA. There was a shot that started on Bono on the catwalk, then did a quick swivel to Edge on the main stage. I really appreciated that because it highlights the fact you can even have this sort of experience during this show.
In contrast, Invisible had very few of these motions and a lot of wide pan shots to give perspective of the entire venue and the center divide. Again, this style highlights the unique experience one would have in the back of GA or in the seats. These two clips highlight the dichotomy of the IE Tour that led me to say that there are no true "best seats" in the venue. IWF was a song best enjoyed up close while Invisible can be truly appreciated from a distance.
Of course, it's a stretch to come to this conclusion from just two songs, but I think it'll be alright in the end.
When I saw the name "Hamish Hamilton," my heart sunk. I can expect it to look like someone put the camera in the hands of the comic book character the FLASH, and he ran a little bit faster than the speed of light spinning the camera round and round. As much as I love the Boston DVD, I hardly ever actually watch it....I just listen to it while cleaning up or something. And U2 are not alone, just about every major act has released a DVD where the camera cuts ten billion frames per second with awful editing to the point where you can't watch it. Just go to Amazon and search for DVD of any artist, and somebody is complaining...and it is usually older artists and their older fans. Somehow young people enjoy being dizzy...and auto tune as well lol. Ok, enough digs at young people...I can't be grumpy old man just yet... I don't have any recent REM dvd, but heard theirs are also ruined by this. Well, at least I will like listening to it for sure.
I've always loved how the ZooTV TV special was filmed. From 00:34 (although you could watch the first awesome 34 seconds too) the cinematography and editing is sublime (I wish they would've had Kevin Godley (director), direct Sydney (David Mallet)):
