Seb, this seems to me like cheese itself is simply missing a declared dependency on gstreamer1.0-clutter. Cheese doesn't work without it, and installing it fixes the issue.
-- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Touch seeded packages, which is subscribed to gstreamer1.0 in Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1311370 Title: One or more needed GStreamer elements are missing: cluttervideosink Status in “gstreamer1.0” package in Ubuntu: Confirmed Bug description: Ubuntu 14.04 fresh install. When launching cheese this error message is displayed "One or more needed GStreamer elements are missing: cluttervideosink." ProblemType: Bug DistroRelease: Ubuntu 14.04 Package: cheese 3.10.2-0ubuntu2 ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.13.0-24.46-generic 3.13.9 Uname: Linux 3.13.0-24-generic x86_64 ApportVersion: 2.14.1-0ubuntu3 Architecture: amd64 CurrentDesktop: Unity Date: Tue Apr 22 23:32:11 2014 InstallationDate: Installed on 2014-04-22 (0 days ago) InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 14.04 LTS "Trusty Tahr" - Release amd64 (20140417) SourcePackage: cheese UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install) To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gstreamer1.0/+bug/1311370/+subscriptions -- Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~touch-packages Post to : touch-packages@lists.launchpad.net Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~touch-packages More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp