Is focus hunting the next big thing after shakycam? I see focus hunting even in expensive productions, and it is not a cameraman's flop, it is a deliberate choice. I mean, I understand when a camera impersonates a dizzy or drunk person who tries to concentrate his sight, I can accept focus hunting as POV style. But why it is used and, in my opinion, overused in other cases?
I always thought that focus hunting is a defect. A good movie/video should have all important stuff always in focus. If something is out of focus it is a bad take and must be re-shot. Now I see this everywhere.
It goes completely perverse. For example, I was watching a documentary about Huygens mission to Titan. They show how the Huygens lander is descending on a parachute into depth of orange clouds of Titan. I can see how the Huygens ship appears from behind of a cloud, it is in focus. A second later a focus is lost and then restored again, as if the scene is filmed by a crew of filmmakers, flying around the landing site. Huh? What do the filmmakers (ones from the BBC, not from Titan) want to convey? That someone is watching the descent? No, this is not the idea they are after, because they describe Titan as a planet totally devoid of life. Do they want to add "human touch" to the scene? I don't get it, it is distracting, it removes me from the story and makes me notice the technical trick they use. It is all either CGI or mockups, in either case they could have this shot perfectly in focus. Same with the Cassini mother ship, they show it properly focused, then it goes out of focus and into focus again. There is no one to film the ship in the open space near Saturn, for sure no one who would care to share their footage with earthlings. And this is BBC which is supposed to show some British taste and class. I don't even mention "lesser" networks.
I can see this "technique" in almost every video shot with shallow-DOF vDSLR, and people are not ashamed of them! Out of focus, in focus, out of focus, in focus again. They don't think this is a defect. Whether this is a cool technique or nor from a point of a shooter, for me this is usually distracting at best, or vomit-inducing at worst.
I always thought that focus hunting is a defect. A good movie/video should have all important stuff always in focus. If something is out of focus it is a bad take and must be re-shot. Now I see this everywhere.
It goes completely perverse. For example, I was watching a documentary about Huygens mission to Titan. They show how the Huygens lander is descending on a parachute into depth of orange clouds of Titan. I can see how the Huygens ship appears from behind of a cloud, it is in focus. A second later a focus is lost and then restored again, as if the scene is filmed by a crew of filmmakers, flying around the landing site. Huh? What do the filmmakers (ones from the BBC, not from Titan) want to convey? That someone is watching the descent? No, this is not the idea they are after, because they describe Titan as a planet totally devoid of life. Do they want to add "human touch" to the scene? I don't get it, it is distracting, it removes me from the story and makes me notice the technical trick they use. It is all either CGI or mockups, in either case they could have this shot perfectly in focus. Same with the Cassini mother ship, they show it properly focused, then it goes out of focus and into focus again. There is no one to film the ship in the open space near Saturn, for sure no one who would care to share their footage with earthlings. And this is BBC which is supposed to show some British taste and class. I don't even mention "lesser" networks.
I can see this "technique" in almost every video shot with shallow-DOF vDSLR, and people are not ashamed of them! Out of focus, in focus, out of focus, in focus again. They don't think this is a defect. Whether this is a cool technique or nor from a point of a shooter, for me this is usually distracting at best, or vomit-inducing at worst.
