- published: 15 Dec 2011
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A focus puller, or 1st assistant cameraman, is a member of a film crew’s camera department whose primary responsibility is to maintain image sharpness on whatever subject or action is being filmed.
"Pulling focus" refers to the act of changing the lens’ focus distance setting in correspondence to a moving subject’s physical distance from the focal plane. For example, if an actor moves from 8 m away from the focal plane to 3 m away from the focal plane within a shot, the focus puller will change the distance setting on the lens during the take in precise correspondence to the changing position of the actor. Additionally, the focus puller may shift focus from one subject to another within the frame, as dictated by the specific requirements of the shot (cinematic techniques).
A good focus puller will have an intimate knowledge of cinematographic and optical theory. Depending on the parameters of a given shot, there is often very little room for error. As such, the role of a focus puller is extremely important within the realm of a film production; a “soft” image will, in most circumstances, be considered unusable, since there is no way to fix such an error in post-production. One must also consider that an actor may not be able to duplicate his or her best performance in a subsequent take, so the focus puller is expected to perform flawlessly on every take. Because of these factors, some production personnel consider the focus puller to have the most difficult job on set. For example, British cinematographer Oliver Stapleton has written:
Actors: Judy Garland (actress), Debbie Reynolds (actress), Thure Riefenstein (actor), Paul Reiser (actor), Nicky Katt (actor), Rob Lowe (actor), Mike O'Malley (actor), Dan Aykroyd (actor), David Koechner (actor), Johnny Carson (actor), Scott Bakula (actor), Matt Damon (actor), Michael Douglas (actor), Marvin Hamlisch (composer), Jerry Weintraub (producer),
Plot: Scott Thorson, a young bisexual man raised in foster homes, is introduced to flamboyant entertainment giant Liberace and quickly finds himself in a romantic relationship with the legendary pianist. Swaddled in wealth and excess, Scott and Liberace have a long affair, one that eventually Scott begins to find suffocating. Kept away from the outside world by the flashily effeminate yet deeply closeted Liberace, and submitting to extreme makeovers and even plastic surgery at the behest of his lover, Scott eventually rebels. When Liberace finds himself a new lover, Scott is tossed on the street. He then seeks legal redress for what he feels he has lost. But throughout, the bond between the young man and the star never completely tears.
Keywords: 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, adoption, age-discordant-relation, aids, bald-man, baldness, barefoot, based-on-autobiographyActors: Quimbé (actor), Alexandre da Silva (actor), Ivo Alexandre (actor), Mário Bomba (actor), Marta Faial (actress), Tiago Carreira (actor), Luís Lourenço (actor), Fábio Veríssimo (writer), Ana Varela (actress), Fábio Veríssimo (director), Fábio Veríssimo (producer), Irina Batalha (producer), Fábio Paiva (actor), Irina Batalha (actress), Isabel Garcia (producer),
Genres: Comedy, Short,Actors: Dan Beirne (actor), Roger Bainbridge (actor), Miguel Rivas (actor), James Algie (actor), Zachary J. Gans (producer), Tim Moore (editor), Steve Boleantu (actor), Tim Moore (director), Joe Gallagher (actor), Jon Booren (actor), Kevin Murphy (actor),
Genres: Comedy, Short,Actors: Samuel W. Sullivan (miscellaneous crew), David Kitay (composer), Johnny Alonso (actor), Brenda Song (actress), Ric Reitz (actor), Mona May (costume designer), Lara Grice (actress), Batou Chandler (miscellaneous crew), Tara Kleinpeter (actress), Mykel Shannon Jenkins (actor), Savage Steve Holland (director), Todd Stashwick (actor), Deneen Tyler (actress), Daniel Berendsen (writer), Win Riley (miscellaneous crew),
Genres: Comedy, Family, Music,Actors: Mike Curb (producer), Guinevere Turner (actress), Lisa Arnone (miscellaneous crew), Martin Donovan (actor), Mary-Louise Parker (actress), Jill Hennessy (actress), Peter Jacobson (actor), Kip Myers (miscellaneous crew), Rebecca Gayheart (actress), Kevin Sussman (actor), Will Janowitz (miscellaneous crew), Susan Misner (actress), Hughroy Williams (miscellaneous crew), Carole Curb Nemoy (producer), Marla Sucharetza (actress),
Genres: Comedy, Romance,Actors: Lynda Boyd (actress), Gabrielle Rose (actress), Eric Johnson (actor), Fred Ewanuick (actor), Jano Frandsen (actor), Christian Bocher (actor), Micah Kelpin (actress), Holly Redford (writer), Holly Redford (director), Holly Redford (producer), Bonni Devlin (editor), Antonia Bardon (costume designer), G. Patrick Currie (actor), David Halifax (miscellaneous crew), Adria Budd (producer),
Genres: Short,Actors: Mathilde Seigner (actress), Catherine Jacob (actress), Micheline Presle (actress), Amira Casar (actress), Christine Citti (actress), Bruno Slagmulder (actor), François Perrot (actor), Antoine Duléry (actor), Patrick Catalifo (actor), Jean-François Gallotte (actor), André Chazel (actor), Olivier Claverie (actor), Marc Citti (actor), Alain Sarde (producer), Christine Gozlan (producer),
Genres: Comedy, Drama,Actors: Benoît Magimel (actor), Carlo Brandt (actor), Clément Sibony (actor), Yves Beneyton (actor), Bruno Coulais (composer), Miglen Mirtchev (actor), Olivia Del Rio (actress), Romain Duris (actor), Coralie (actress), Philippe Martinez (actor), Laure Sainclair (actress), Chipy Marlow (actress), Gilda Albertoni (actress), Juliette Welfling (editor), Zoé Félix (actress),
Genres: Crime, Drama,Actors: Ashley Judd (actress), Marianne Muellerleile (actress), Beth Grant (actress), Earl Boen (actor), John Rubinstein (actor), Edith Fields (actress), Lindsay Crouse (actress), David Dukes (actor), Jeffrey Combs (actor), Allan Corduner (actor), Peter Dobson (actor), Scott Menville (actor), Ron Rifkin (actor), Christopher Young (composer), Mira Sorvino (actress),
Genres: Biography, Drama,Actors: Laurence Rosenthal (composer), Hilary Momberger (miscellaneous crew), Rick McCallum (producer), Erich von Stroheim (actor), Robert Peters (actor), Gene Autry (miscellaneous crew), George Lucas (producer), Leo Gordon (actor), Sean Patrick Flanery (actor), George Fisher (actor), Francis X. Bushman (actor), Doug Jones (actor), David Margulies (actor), Michael Schultz (director), Peggy Farrell (costume designer),
Plot: Indy takes a job as assistant to a Hollywood studio executive in an attempt to earn his college fees. His job is to get flamboyant and difficult director Erich Von Stroheim to complete his latest epic on time and with the budget, or else.
Keywords: adventurer, character-name-in-title, composer, fedora, film-studio, hollywood-california, indiana-jones, sequel, young-version-of-character