Mike Jones Digital Basin
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The art of pulling focus

Of all the technical arts in the production of a work of cinema there are two that  stand out as the most dramatic in their ability to profoundly make or break you movie.The first is sound. A bad sound track, poorly recorded dialogue, noisy location will kill the cinema experience for your viewer quicker than a dose a cyanide.The second, that  is less talked about, is Focus. An film can have a great script, great performances but if the shots are out of focus when they should be in-focus then everything falls apart. Poor focus is one of the quickest ways to cement your film with the air of the amateur. Thus the art and technique of the Focus Puller is paramount.



For those not up on the lingo, the Focus Puller is responsible for focusing the camera, for moving the lens focal length to specific points at particular times during a shot. The art of the Focus Puller is to craft a complex ballet of movement where precise points of focus, on particular subjects are hit at specific points of time.

The rise of affordable follow focus systems for mid-range digital cameras such as those from P+S and RedRock has opened up the art of the Focus Puller to a much wider range of productions and particularly to the digital rebel indie filmmaker. FreshDV has produced an outstanding set of videos that look at specific ideas, concepts and practical techniques for focus pulling. The use of split screen view in the videos showing the shot and the operator simultaneously is a fantastic way to get a better understanding of the process.

The art of pulling focus Part 1
The art of pulling focus Part 2
The art of pulling focus Part 3

Of course the need for sophisticated follow-focus systems stems directly from short depth-of-field cinematography - if you shoot deep-focus there is virtually no need for focus pulling. So whilst you’re at it you better watch the FreshDV video on depth of field which expands in more detail on the post I wrote a little while ago.
Understanding Depth-Of-Field

Justin Snodgrass also provides a 6-part video series (20mins in total) that gives a very comprehensive look at the relationship between Aperture, Focal length and Subject Distance in the construction of Depth-of-field.
Depth of field explained

Posted at 11:00PM Aug 05, 2008 by Mike Jones in video  |  Comments[0]