Focus Pull Experimentation

Clare:
The focus pull is a creative camera technique in which you change focus during a shot. Usually this means adjusting the focus from one subject to another. The focus pull is useful for directing the viewer's attention. For example, in our trailer there is a scene where Anna wakes up in which we wish the focus to firstly be on the background where she is asleep, and then for the focus to switch to the foreground where her hand reaches out for her alarm clock. This is often used in drama dialogues which is why we believed it would be an efficient element for our trailer. 

Before we started our filming, I thought it would be smart to practice this technique on my Coolpix P510 camera, which we possibly may use for our filming because it is of a high quality. To achieve the focus pull, I set my camera to Manual and then to Manual Focus. This feature allowed me to, when filming, pull the focus to different levels. I also had to play around with the shutter speed and aperture which I knew was a necessity due to my previous knowledge in my Photography A-Level class. All in all it affected the outcome of the focal adjustments and made it a success. I think this technique will work really well in our piece.

Below is some footage I gathered whilst experimenting with the focus pull feature on my camera. I positioned my alarm clock in the foreground of the frame so that when I started filming it was out of focus, but as I adjusted my setting it became more focused than the bed in the background. I found that I could alternate between the bed and the alarm clock being in focus by using the up and down keys on my camera. However, if I scrolled down too much, the entire frame would be out of focus, so we would have to be careful of that happening when it comes to our actual shoot.