In film- and television-making, the
boom operator is the member of the
sound crew in charge of moving the
boom microphone -- often
colloquially known as the "big fuzzy thing on the end of a stick"; actually a microphone attached to a long pole, often with a
wind shield to keep the extraneous noise down and account for the "fuzzy" look -- close enough to the onscreen noise source (
actors, for example) to pick up the desired sound without getting the pretty
microphone in the picture.
Also known as a
sound recordist.
One has to wonder... do boom operators often brag about their "boom sticks"?