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FROM THE ABOUT TAB:
jump to: WHAT | WHERE | WHO | WHY | HOW
WHAT IS THIS?
FocusPulling is a gathering place for filmmakers. Some of our best moments get spent collaborating with people on shoots and sets, but most of our creative time, we’re sitting in front of machines. Connecting with each other on social media, video sites, and blogs, we can still keep the collaborative energy going: learning, sharing, and making connections. You might already have a short list of places to go for that — and I hope you’ll include this one after taking a look.
Over a few years slowly growing, this domain has been an index to numerous communities within the FocusPulling family: from camera-specific user groups, to DOCOFILM. Still in that spirit, the heart of this site is at the fly-out menu above called CAMERA USER GROUPS. There, you can find the camera you use (or the one you’re interested in), and choose USER VIDEOS. Powered by Vimeo, this wall of videos is a great way to see the most recent results from folks using that gear. And if you’re a content creator, it’s a great way to get more exposure, and increase your play counts. From each group, everything gets published out to respective Twitter and Facebook accounts, too. I’ve created a video showing the steps for getting your clip into the queue, and it’s always available at the first slot on each USER VIDEOS page, or to the right of this site at the sidebar.
Apart from the core user groups, I do my best to deliver the day’s most important news “on the art and technology of filmmaking.” So the home page is the BLOG of everything, which you can filter down at its menu into ORIGINAL CONTENT (reviews, videos and articles written just for this site), NEWS VIA THE WEB (highlights from the blogosphere), and FEATURED VIDEOS (helpful clips scooped up from my daily surf).
RIGSHOTS is a fun social gallery for sharing shots of your camera rigs. Instructions for this easy Twitter-based feature are explained at the page.
A couple of bonus features include ADOBE PREMIERE TIPS, an ongoing collection from around the Web, and something called DOCOFILM NEWS. Merged into the FocusPulling family, DOCOFILM.com is the best round-up of quality news from the Web about — you guessed it — the art and technology of documentary films. Documentaries have special meaning at FocusPulling, because I make them.
WHERE ELSE IS IT?
On Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, Vimeo, YouTube and Pinterest. That’s a lot, but the fact is, we all have reasons for choosing one social network over another, so please follow wherever you like, knowing that they’re all fed equally from here.
Better yet, a great way to stay in the loop, while managing your time in a busy life, is to subscribe to the FocusPulling mailing list, plugging in your name at the sidebar. You will receive no more than one email per week, with a digest of the week’s blog posts, and your information will be used for this purpose only in accordance with the privacy policy below. It’s truly non-spammy.
To make these connections, I’ve discreetly installed some pop-ups at this site, but if they behave in the way that they’re supposed to, when you do something in it or just close the box, it should remember not to bother you again. Sorry if this isn’t your cup of tea, but I hear it’s a survival tactic in the evolving Web.
WHO’S BEHIND THIS?
Like most blogs, really mostly me, with occasional help from contributors. I’m Paul Moon, a filmmaker/technologist/attorney based in Washington, D.C. I make movies under the moniker Zen Violence Films, with more details about that at my Web site. I teach classes as an Adobe Certified Expert (A.C.E.) in Premiere Pro, and am Google AdWords Certified. I try to split my time between all these things — while doing my “normal” job well — so please be patient whenever I fall behind! And, use the contact form on the ABOUT page if you have any questions, concerns or suggestions.
WHAT’S THE POINT?
Apart from finally bringing together the large user group communities, this site arrives after a few years roaming around the Web, thinking about what this site should look like, and what it should do for the people who use it. Speaking for myself, I don’t like graphic-heavy layouts, especially big slide shows on front pages that simply stress you out. Easy navigation with good organization is really important, and I’ve tried to keep it simple. Meanwhile, even though one ad box is one too many, when you do buy something through the sidebar, or the bottom of the USER VIDEOS pages, it costs you nothing while also supporting this site, and it all goes straight back into filmmaking. While keeping ads to a minimum, I sometimes publish deal alerts into the social streams, simply driven by the excitement to share an awesome deal. Coming soon at this site will be a dedicated page that streams all those deal alerts into one place.
WHAT ABOUT PRIVACY AND ETHICS?
FocusPulling uses Disqus for comments, a great way for you to track your comments and maintain accountability, so please take a moment to set up a profile with them if you haven’t already. Public comments about the site are welcomed at the end of this page, too. There’s no bright line, but interaction here is a balance between free speech, and not being a jerk. What’s new?
The occasional reviews here are truly independent, and never influenced by manufacturers or retailers. Although product and retailer references here may include affiliate links that could result in nominal revenue to help support these site operations, they never have any effect upon the impartiality of this site. Simply put, if a product doesn’t work right, or costs too much, I always complain, and that won’t change.
As for your privacy, this site does not share your personal information, or information about your visit, with third parties. Any information stored at this blog is solely to make your experience better, using cookies and traffic metrics. You can prevent the storage of cookies, though, by changing your browser settings (e.g., Firefox Private Window or Chrome Incognito Window). FocusPulling is not responsible for any re-publishing of content from this blog to anywhere else without express permission. This privacy policy is subject to change without notice, last updated February 2, 2015. Please submit all questions about this policy at the contact form on the ABOUT page.