3 Simple Ways to Become a Better Focus Puller Over the Weekend

Camera Assisting 14 Comments

Do you find pulling focus to be tough? You’re not the only one. As Sam Garwood says, it’s “a really simple really difficult job.” The physical act is easy, but the mental pressure is immense. Even if you’re an experienced focus puller, honing the skill is an ongoing battle. The best way to learn is to be thrown into the fire, but there are ways to get better without a cinema camera setup at home — all it takes is some dedication and a bit of time on the weekend.

1. Guess and measure distances

The easiest way to become a better focus puller is to become exceptionally accurate at guessing distances. You should strive to become a human measuring tape. The best 1st AC’s will walk into a room and have a real, tangible sense of the space they’re in.

Start by going into a room with any measuring device and sit in the corner of it. Pick an object, write down your best guess for its distance and then measure to it from where you were sitting. Once you know the true measurement, compare it against your guess then really try and get a feel for how far away it is. It is important not just to guess, but to evaluate after the fact to get a sense for what 5, 10 or 15 feet looks like to your eyes.

Once you get good at this you can even move on to guessing depth-of-field by choosing an object, a random focal length, and go through the process of guessing and checking with a depth-of-field calculator. Knowing distances are good, but also knowing how much play you have with depth-of-field is a big part of focus pulling as well.

2. People watch in public places

You may not always know what is going to happen in a scene because of rewrites or improvisation. Being able to anticipate the natural movements of people can help you subconsciously prepare for unexpected moments in a scene.

Go out to a public place like a park, a mall, or even on the street and start paying attention to how people act, react, and move around certain spaces. When two people are talking do they lean into each other? Do they lean forward before getting up? When someone is walking with a friend, how do they pace themselves?

You should attempt to visit a variety of atmospheres where people will act differently. Intimate settings, like restaurants, are probably the most likely to pop up in movie scripts.

Now, I don’t advise being creepy and stalking people, but pay attention to surroundings and the physical movements within them. That way you build up a certain expectation to how people, and subsequently actors, will react in certain situations.

3. Pantomime the motions

The easiest way to do this is to sit in a room and put your hand in the air like your gripping a follow focus. Now look at a doorway with your hand ready at your “air” follow focus. Pretend a character is walking in and sitting down somewhere in the room and adjust your pretend follow focus as necessary.

This is good practice because it emphasizes the motion of focus pulling and will get your mind used to the direction in which you must pull to go a certain way within the focal plane. The saying I use is “go back to go back and go forward to come forward.” That means you pull the disc towards you to send focus further distance-wise and move the disc away to bring the focus closer — at least on cinema style lenses.

I cannot overstate how important knowing this concept is to pulling focus. Once you can adjust direction without thinking, focus pulling becomes so much easier.

It can be one thing to gauge a distance, expect a movement, but in the end the follow focus has to be turned in a balletic fashion to coincide with on-screen movement. Get used to these kinds of motions and when you do the real thing, it will be a lot more relaxing.

Pulling focus can be intimidating, but it can also be really fun. If you’re having difficulties with it, don’t fret. Even the pros have their bad days. But if you’re feeling like you aren’t yet the best focus puller you can be, try one or all of these suggestions in the next few days and I guarantee that you will come out on the other side with a better sense of the job.

What are some ways that you better yourself as a focus puller? Any tricks that you practice in your off time? I’d love to hear and discuss them with you in the comments.

About the author:

About the author: Evan Luzi is the editor and founder of The Black and Blue as well as a freelance camera assistant.

You can learn more about him or follow him on Twitter and Google+.

This Isn't About One Gig. It's About Launching Your Career.

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  • Adam Richlin

    An older DP friend taught me to use the top of the focus disk and remember “Come together, wander apart” (A simpler phrasing for your “go forward to come forward” neumonic). That stuck with me.

    The other thing to do is use a speed crank on your focus wheel, and point it down. Pull the ball toward you if the character is coming toward you, push away if they are going away. (newbies learn this concept much quicker, and then you slowly gear them up to using the top of the wheel in reverse)

  • http://www.theblackandblue.com/ Evan

    Those are some really cool ideas, Adam. I’ll keep them in mind, thanks for sharing.

  • Erich Ocean

    Is there a training video online or some kind of tutorial on how to do focus pulling?

    In particular, I’m wondering about the various requirements for the follow focus itself. For instance, if I have only one lens, how flexible does the follow focus really need to be? Couldn’t it just be hooked up to the gears once using, say, an allen wrench and left there? Is there something that needs to be adjusted each take that I don’t know about?

  • Erich Ocean

    Is there a training video online or some kind of tutorial on how to do focus pulling?

    In particular, I’m wondering about the various requirements for the follow focus itself. For instance, if I have only one lens, how flexible does the follow focus really need to be? Couldn’t it just be hooked up to the gears once using, say, an allen wrench and left there? Is there something that needs to be adjusted each take that I don’t know about?

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  • http://www.theblackandblue.com/ Evan

    Hey Erich,

    There are plenty of training videos about being a first AC, but I’m not sure about any that specifically talk about pulling focus — at least none that are free. In Doug Hart’s The Camera Assistant and David Elkins’ The Camera Assistant’s Manual (both books), the topic is covered extensively. There are also many forums full of advice that turn up after a quick google search. I will definitely be posting about this in the future so keep an eye out.

    As for the requirements of a follow focus, that will depend on your gear. If you have only one lens, then you only need a follow focus that accommodates that but it might not be “future proofed” — that is if the FF only works for that lens you may have to invest in a new one should you buy another lens.

    I did a post about do-it-yourself follow focus solutions that you may find suitable to your needs, but if you want to buy a professional follow focus, it will likely be able to adapt to many lenses:

    http://www.theblackandblue.com/2010/09/30/toolkit-diy-cheap-follow-focus-solutions/

    To attach to a lens, a follow focus is usually mounted on a rail system that is built around the cameras. It wouldn’t ever be so permanent that it would require an allen wrench. Most use thumb screws.

    It would only need to be adjusted each take if you were changing lenses as the gears on lenses change location and different lenses are different widths.

    A lot of times, the flexibility of a follow focus is furthered by adding gears around the lens that match the threading on the follow focus. Most people who are looking for cheap, but professional follow focus go with the Red Rock microFollow Focus:

    http://www.redrockmicro.com/mff_product.htm

    It is cheap in cinema terms, but as a result, I have found it to be not as accurate as one would hope.

    I hope this helps, please feel free to ask any more questions, or email me if you need more answers: [email protected]

  • Erich Ocean

    Thanks for the reply. I’ve got both books on order. This is the specific configuration I’ve got now: http://gallery.me.com/erich.ocean/100001/lens%20combo

    I’m going to be mounting it to a geared head and sticks (no steadicam or dolly work, but occasionally will do a car mount). The shooting style is like “First Blood” (aka Rambo), if you remember that look. :-)

    So, basically, I’m trying to figure out how much to spend on the follow focus. Something cheap seems like it could work because (from what I can tell), a lot of what the more expensive rigs seem to get you is the ability to quickly change between lenses. So I was looking at something like this: http://www.dfocussystem.com/dfocus.html

    Dirt cheap, but hey, it could work! But then I got nervous, because some of the videos I’ve seen show the 1st AC disengaging the “gear” before each take so that the speed crank is in the “same” position at the end of the shot, and I began to wonder if that would be possible with the D|Focus, which prompted my question above.

    I can spend more if I have to, but you know how production is, never enough money so it means cuts elsewhere. So in your opinion, would something like the D|Focus with a speed crank work with my lens/rails/shooting style? Or do I need to spend more (and if so, how much)?

    Thanks for all the info! Been following your blog for awhile now and each article has been like mana from heaven!

  • http://www.theblackandblue.com/ Evan

    Judging by your setup, you definitely have the capability to mount a real, cinema style follow focus on those rails. Especially if you’re shooting with cinema lenses, I strongly suggest getting a decent follow focus, it’ll make the AC’s life much better :)

    Something cheap would work, but I think you’re misreading into what differentiates a cheap follow focus and an expensive one. The obvious features are the unlocking mechanisms and the ability to have two FF disks on each side of the camera, but that isn’t what makes them so expensive.

    What really is the difference between a cheap and expensive follow focus is the precision milling of the parts. An expensive FF will usually have higher grade materials, more precise measurements, and as a result will be much more precise while pulling focus.

    For instance, the reason I find the Red Rock one frustrating is because on the marking disk when I hit the mark sometimes it doesn’t hit the same mark on the lens overtime. There is a bit too much “play” where the disk doesn’t line up with the lens on point. I hope that makes sense.

    What you are referring to with a 1st AC disengaging and reengaging the follow focus to set the speed crank is simply a style of pulling focus. Any professional AC who uses that style should be able to adapt accordingly to a follow focus that doesn’t accommodate it. By no means is that the standard way to pull focus. In fact, I rarely use a speed crank, as I find it distracting most of the time.

    I understand that most productions are looking to cut costs and it’s hard to justify some of the prices for a good follow focus! The AC in me wants to ask you if you think you can put a price on your footage being in focus, but I know that is a misnomer argument — Most talented AC’s will adapt to even the worst equipment and find a way to do their job. I’ve pulled focus with zip ties before and there is always the option of pulling off the lens.

    I think the DFocus is acceptable if you want something decent but not too expensive. But, as your productions get bigger you might want to consider buying something better or renting one that is nicer if money allows.

    One last thing that just came to mind, however, was how a decent follow focus may be affected by shooting on DSLR. Assuming that a 1st AC is pulling and not the camera operator, having something precise is even more important. With a DSLR there is no monitor to double check footage and if it isn’t precise enough to land on the marks exactly, it could spell trouble with such shallow DOF. Just a consideration.

    Thank you for taking the time to come here and comment and for the compliments on the blog! I’m glad you’re enjoying them. Hope you stick around for all the great stuff that I have planned for the near future :)

  • http://twitter.com/kyle_peters Kyle Peters

    The way it was taught to me was to think of the follow focus wheel as a yo-yo with a string extended out to the subject. If they come closer, pull the “string” in, if they move away, let the “string” out. Not sure that makes sense in writing, but in practice it’s intuitive.

  • http://www.theblackandblue.com/ Evan

    Totally makes sense, Kyle. In fact, I really like that simple visualization of it. I will have to start using that to teach newbie focus pullers. Thanks!

  • http://www.facebook.com/neil.ferdowsian Neil Ferdowsian

    One thing I do that helps me practice guessing distance is when I’m walking through town I’ll guess the distance it’ll take to walk from lets say a bin to a lamppost, I’ll walk it and most of the time I’m quite accurate, just out by a step or two. It’s not a perfect way of guessing distance but I’ve found that by doing this it’s improved my guessing distance when pulling focus if I haven’t been given time to actually measure it.

  • http://www.facebook.com/neil.ferdowsian Neil Ferdowsian

    One thing I do that helps me practice guessing distance is when I’m walking through town I’ll guess the distance it’ll take to walk from lets say a bin to a lamppost, I’ll walk it and most of the time I’m quite accurate, just out by a step or two. It’s not a perfect way of guessing distance but I’ve found that by doing this it’s improved my guessing distance when pulling focus if I haven’t been given time to actually measure it.

  • http://www.facebook.com/neil.ferdowsian Neil Ferdowsian

    One thing I do that helps me practice guessing distance is when I’m walking through town I’ll guess the distance it’ll take to walk from lets say a bin to a lamppost, I’ll walk it and most of the time I’m quite accurate, just out by a step or two. It’s not a perfect way of guessing distance but I’ve found that by doing this it’s improved my guessing distance when pulling focus if I haven’t been given time to actually measure it.