Focused – HD Theater’s look at extreme sports camera ops
On 04.10.10, In Industry News, by Joe Dorsey
Finally some love. HD Theater is airing a new show about the lives of DP’s and camera ops that shoot the extreme sports shots we’ve come to love. Check out the awesome trailer. The show airs April 21st at 8pm on the HD Theater Network. Check your local listings and set your Tivo’s.
14 Responses
I tuned into this show with extreme anticipation and excitement. I am a amateur dSLR photographer, and was really excited to see a documentary about the videographers and the photographers…
I saw the first episode… WTF????
Only one word comes to mind… LAME…
I don’t get it. it was supposed to be about the camera operators… at least that’s what the trailer seems to say (even during the commercial breaks, when they had commercial ABOUT the show, it talked about the “guys who get the shot”)…
I don’t think in the two shows that aired, we did not get to listen to a single camera op. In fact, I would just categorize this show as a ski show, or some dudes who are “focused” on doing crazy stuff to “make the shot”…
All I saw was some unknown photographer holding a Nikon with 70-200VR at the end of a guy’s run, reviewing the LCD. And another guy holding up a Canon with a prime lens showing the LCD to the skiier…
I sat there, confused as heck as the second show ended.
not to mention, the HD Theatre banner kept swiping across the bottom every five minutes for the entire duration of the show, oftentimes blocking the skiier in the shot… Nice life…
I have just taken the show off my DVR schedule. i am so throughly disappointed. Seeing camera guys hanging off ropes in whitewater, a jumper holding a medium format camera with pocket wizard and with what is seemingly an off-camera flash going off behind them as they were free-falling, i thought the show was about that, not about some guys keep saying, “dude! that run was righteous!”
That’s disappointing. I didn’t get a chance to watch the show. Thanks for commenting.
I saw the Focused commercial again, and like I said, there is that one clip of the jumper who is free falling with skiis on his feet, holding his arms out to steady himself… Look hard… But…
There is the photographer with a waist-level viewfinder also on skiis, also free falling, taking photos of the jumper, and the photographer isn’t even holding his arms out to steady himself!!! And as he clicks, there is a flash going off, and I noticed that the flash was hitting not just the jumper, but also the back of the photographer!!! So it must have been BEHIND the photographer, another guy also free falling while holding a flash on remote trigger!!!
Now THAT’S cool. Not to knock the guys, but I have much more respect for the videographers and photographers who do the same thing that the guy in the video/photo is doing, but is holding a camera (for example, the guy who goes with Bear Grills… I would love to know what gear he uses and see videos of him doing the stuff that Bear does, but with armful of camears).
I guess the Diva complex of the “righteous skiiers” prevents the producers from elevating the guys behind the lenses… But I think they could have spent some time in the show talking ABOUT the guys who were holding the cameras. I think not even showing the names of the guys who were shooting the skiiers was the thing that turned me off.
Is there such a small segment of folks who would enjoy the videographers/photographers that Matchstick decides to make a show like this?
If this was a High School term paper, I would have given it an F, with a comment, “Your paper does not address the topic at all!”
When I read Sage Kim’s review I felt that Those were my word’s I was reading. I was so excited about the commercial that I couldn’t wait for the show to come on. After watching it, I couldn’t wait for it to go off. I actually fell asleep during the first show. Where were the great shots? The tag line is “wait untill you see how we shoot it”. I’m still waiting. Even more infuriating is the upcomong schedule is full of the same shows. The 5 second clip of the skydiver flying past the cliffs was more exciting that the 2 half hour shows I watched. Those shows should be changed from “Focused” to “Lines and Pillows” because they sure put me to sleep.
@Sage Kim and @Topgun I couldn’t have said it any better myself. I finally just got around to watching it on the DVR and was extremely disappointed. I’m not really sure why they advertised it the way they did when it had nothing to do with the show itself. Even if they are planning on actually having behind the scenes stuff moving forward, I think they’ve officially already lost the only viewers who cared.
Agreed, couldn’t have said it better myself. WTF….. I hope there are producers looking at these posts. Maybe they can turn it around. I will not remove it from the DVR just yet, but they are getting close. The only camera talk I hear is the shutter. Lets hope they start talking about the shots.
I’ve watched most of the new episodes and I was completely bored. Every episode is about skiing. In the commercial they advertised kayaking and biking. This show needs a liitle more work to keep it interesting. I do like Street Customs though.
What is the name of the song in this commercial?
Really? that is all the show is going to be about…I get it….it takes a lot to film just 8 seconds of footage. But the show is supposed to be about the photographers and camera crew, this last episode, “Behind the scenes” really isn’t behind the scenes its just narrated. I am sick and tired of seeing skiers going down the back country looking for fresh pow, lets see some snowboarders or see more of the white water kayaking as well as the wing suite and mountain bikers as seen in the comercials
The last few episodes were at least interesting because it wasn’t just skiing.
i thought they were pretty good, and theres not much more ‘behind the scenes’ you can get. there were like 5 guys and one or two who shot it. more behind the scenes would show them in final cut editing it…. I loved the show because of the scenery and the incredible stunts, and it did get candid every once in a while with the people making the videos, i agree though they do show the skiing one WAY too much and its like the worst one! the dh biking is the one to see though.
Advertised as watch how they get those shots, yet there is nothing in there about how they got those shots.
This show is not good, it is boring, mostly skiing, and shows nothing about behind the scenes. False advertising and boring. Should be removed.
Follow up, it’s like Jeff Goldblum in Jurassic Park… “Now are there actually going to be dinosaurs on your dinosaur tour?”
hey, I would really like to try to get to know a little more about wingsuits and all that. Can u tell me more about it and how u get into a sport like that