Thank you for making this topic. I also take issue with much of JJ’s style, to the point that many scenes in TFA (and I’m sure in TROS which I see tomorrow) don’t feel like they share any of the previously established cinematographic language of Star Wars.
Take for example the opening scene of TFA. We begin with the classic pan down on a moon or two which are quickly eclipsed by a Star Destroyer belching landing craft. This is a strong visual in keeping with the established style of Star Wars, but almost immediately we get a flashing, shaky series of shots depicting the new Stormtroopers. Compare this introduction with the introduction of the Stormtroopers in ANH; There are similar flashes but happen due to explosions and laser blasts, and there are several cuts but they are all focused on the back and forth between the Troopers and Rebels. So we see that this shot intends to mimic the action of the original without the underlying substance.
Moving on to the shot of BB-8, and here we begin to see how dynamic JJ’s camera is in comparison to those of the other Star Wars canon. The camera spins around the droid and zooms in on its head so that it takes up most of the frame, and then pans up as the droid scoots away. This could have been several static shots in ANH.
Inside the hut of Lor San Tekka, the camera begins in closeup on the map and continues in medium/closeup shots throughout. The color of this is saturated, with bright blue lights of unknown purpose shining through holes in the structure.
Over the rest of the scene, this language is repeated. Dynamic moving cameras of characters running or fighting, shaky cam, vivid splotches of moving color, closeups.
So what is the effect of these techniques? Again, compare this to ANH. Even in the Tantive the camera was often locked down to static shots, and the momentum often came from the quickness of the cuts and the movement of the actors themselves. There were occasional tracking or dolly shots focused on characters walking down hallways, but the action largely took place in single locations with tripod camerawork. One effect of this was that the viewer’s eye was not drawn to a subject by the camera itself but by the subject’s own action. Thus a viewer could choose to look instead at the set or the details of costuming without hindrance. This was a more documentary style, more agnostic about the purpose of a scene.
In contrast, JJ’s cinematography leaves no doubt as to the intention of a scene. Visual stimulus is maximized in an attempt to generate excitement through the style of the director instead of the details of the world or the performance of the actors or the story of the film. And this is why I feel that this style is fundamentally at odds with Star Wars - this universe is about immersion in a detailed world to the point that one hopefully forgets about the existence of the camera and absorbs the story and world on its own terms. In ANH the camera becomes a window into the world, whereas JJ’s camera is merely a camera.