Film Crew Profile - How to Be a Good Focus Puller

The job of all the assistants and the operator is to ensure that the DOP is happy, and the DOP is ultimately working for the director. Occasionally the DOP is also the operator, but on bigger jobs they are usually separate roles. The DOP is also in charge of the lighting, so having an operator to frame the shots is an advantage and lightens the load of the DOP. In my job I have to ensure that the focus remains sharp (or soft, depending on the shot), that the stop (aperture) and frame speed is correctly set, and that the camera is rolling! This is very important!Interviewer: How long have you been in the industry?Angela: Ten years or so. When I was in my second year of Uni studying media, arts and production, I decided that I needed some industry experience if I was to consider a career in the film industry. I believed at the time (and still do) that a degree alone was probably not going to get me where I wanted to be. I ended up as a camera attachment on the ABC series Wildside.Interviewer: I loved that show!Angela: Me too! It was a great show to learn on, and basically taught me how to be a camera assistant. The focus pullers were excellent teachers. Joe Pickering was the DOP. Opportunities to pull focus happen a lot more readily in TV drama, so it's really a personal choice of where you want to be. On a drama, when the light is going and there's a mad scramble to finish a scene, rehearsals will go out the window and the focus will become a matter of educated guessing - there's a great sense of satisfaction gained from nailing a shot without a rehearsal. This would rarely happen on a big budget feature.Interviewer: So how many people are wanting these types of jobs?Angela: I'm not sure, but I think that the exciting nature of the film industry attracts people to it. The Australian industry is relatively small film permit anaheim compared with, for example, the American film industry, so the fewer number of jobs creates competition. I found being on set exhilarating when I first started out, but this has changed over time, even though I still love what I do. In the beginning I had no real personal responsibilities, and therefore the long hours and occasional scarcity of work didn't bother me. But things are different now that I have started a family.Interviewer: Talking of that, you've been out of the industry for a year and a half now due to parenthood, so how do you think you'll find getting back into it?Angela: I won't know until I'm doing it! There is a part of me that's itching to get back to work. However I've been at home with my son for fourteen months now, so leaving him is going to be a struggle for me I'm sure. It's difficult too because my husband also works in the industry. Due to the long hours we can't both be working at the same time unless we have full time care arranged for our baby.