Although this question is about making movies, I don’t think it belongs in Cafe Society. Mods please move it as appropriate.
Whenever I watch a movie about making movies they show the same stuff. cameras, video monitors, clapboards and something that I have always wondered about.
As the shot it being set up there is always someone with what looks like a tape measure measuring the distance between the actor and the camera lens. I assume this is so the focus is perfect, but why do they still use a human and a tape measure? Couldn’t they attach a laser device to the camera that shows this distance precisely? In fact, it could be tied into the camera’s electronics so the camera automatically sets the focus based on the distance.
I realize that the cameraman has to be able to manually adjust the focus depending on the action or effect the director is trying to get, but if the goal is to start the shot in perfect focus it seems that this step could be automated.
What the camera department on a Hollywood film or TV show is looking for is as perfect an image as they can reasonably get. The image and its accompanying sound are the product they make. So, many man hours are put into making sure each shot is properly lighted and focused. Measuring each shot, and rehearsing it with stand ins, and only shooting when they’re sure they’ve got it right, is just basic quality control.
The salary of one focus puller (usually the second lowest rank in the camera dept) is trivial next to the overall cost of setting up the shot. On a typical hour drama this cost includes 5 or more electricians (lighting), 5 or or grips (rigging, camera support), the other 4 plus members of the camera crew, as well as the art department including the designer, set painters and builders. At least 3 sound guys, and 3 prop guys too. You’ve also got to have 4 plus hair and makeup people, an equal number of wardrobe workers, and Teamsters to drive the whole mess around and maintain the trailers.
The writers and director also cost a lot, and nobody can do anything til the writer does her job, and the director is on board to make sure they do it the right way.
The cast will be your biggest expense, of course. If you’re paying an actor a fifty grand an episode, you can pay somebody twenty bucks an hour to make sure the camera captures every strand of his perfect hair.
There are plenty of consumer video and still cameras with autofocus features. The autofocus feature in these cameras can sometimes cause focus to shift withn the shot - hunting for focus - as subjects in the frame move around. Autofocus isn’t much use for professional work, because you want complete control of what is and is not in focus at all times.