Gaffers on set have one of the underrated jobs. They work with the cinematographer and director to assist set the appear and feel of the film. They usually have all kinds of methods and instruments inside their kits to make it occur. Right now, I wished to go over some phrases that every one gaffers know, and if you wish to break into that sport, you must know them, too. Let’s dive in.
The Gaffer’s Dictionary
AApple Field: A sturdy wood field used for quite a lot of functions on set, resembling propping up furnishings, leveling dolly observe, or giving an actor a short lived increase in top. They arrive in commonplace sizes: full, half, quarter, and pancake.Articulated Arm: A jointed metallic arm with a locking mechanism, used to carry small lights, flags, or cameras in exact positions. Often known as a Noga Arm or Israeli Arm.Arri: A German producer of high-end movie and digital cinema cameras, lenses, and lighting gear. The time period is usually used to check with their well-liked HMI and LED lighting.BBaby: A time period used to explain a light-weight fixture or piece of grip gear with a 5/8″ stud, which is a normal measurement for mounting on mild stands.Ballast: An digital gadget required to manage the present and voltage for HMI and fluorescent lighting fixtures.Barndoors: Metallic flaps connected to the entrance of a lighting fixture that may be adjusted to form and management the sunshine beam.Bead Board: A sheet of polystyrene foam, usually white, used as a bounce or fill supply. It creates a really mushy mild.Greatest Boy: The chief assistant to both the Gaffer (Greatest Boy Electrical) or the Key Grip (Greatest Boy Grip). They’re accountable for managing the crew, gear, and administrative duties for his or her respective departments.Black Wrap: A heavy-duty, malleable black aluminum foil used to masks mild leaks, create snoots, or form a light-weight beam.Blonde: An open-faced 2,000-watt (2K) tungsten lighting fixture.Bounce Board: A big, flat floor, usually white or silver, used to mirror mild onto a topic. It creates a mushy, oblique mild supply. Often known as a “present card” or “foam core.”Butterfly Body: A big metallic body over which cloth (like silk, griffolyn, or nets) is stretched to diffuse or block mild over a large space. Frequent sizes are 6’x6′, 8’x8′, and 12’x12′.CC-Stand (Century Stand): A flexible and heavy-duty stand used to carry quite a lot of lighting and grip gear, resembling flags, nets, and small lights. Its distinctive staggered leg design permits it to be positioned near different stands and objects.Cardellini Clamp: A flexible, jaw-style clamp that may be connected to flat or spherical surfaces to mount small lights or different gear.China Ball: A cheap, spherical paper lantern used to create a mushy, omnidirectional mild supply.Combo Stand: A heavy-duty stand with a mixture head, that includes each a 1 1/8″ Junior receiver and a 5/8” Child pin.Cookie (Cucoloris): A chunk of wooden or foam core with random shapes reduce out of it. When positioned in entrance of a light-weight, it creates a patterned or dappled lighting impact, typically used to simulate mild coming by tree leaves.Courtesy Flag: A small, stable black flag used to protect the digicam lens from a light-weight supply to forestall lens flare.Cutter: A big, black, rectangular flag used to dam mild and create shadows.DDimmer: A tool used to manage the depth of a light-weight by various the voltage equipped to it.Dolly: A wheeled platform {that a} digicam is mounted on, permitting for clean, fluid digicam actions.Dot: A small, spherical scrim, web, or stable used for exact mild management on small areas.Duvetyne: A heavy, black, matte cloth used to dam mild and create damaging fill.EEgg Crate: A grid-like gadget that attaches to the entrance of a softbox or giant mild supply to slim the beam and scale back spill.FFill Mild: A secondary mild supply used to “fill in” the shadows created by the important thing mild, decreasing distinction.Finger: A small, lengthy, and slim flag used to dam a small portion of a light-weight.Flag: A common time period for quite a lot of light-blocking or light-modifying gadgets, together with cutters, nets, and silks.Floppy: A big cutter with an additional piece of material that’s connected on one aspect and will be unfolded to double its measurement.Fresnel: A kind of lens utilized in lighting that creates a mushy, even beam of sunshine that may be targeted from a decent spot to a large flood.GGaffer: The pinnacle of {the electrical} division, accountable for designing and executing the lighting plan for a manufacturing.Gaffer Tape: A heavy-duty, cloth-backed adhesive tape used for a mess of duties on set. It’s recognized for its power and clear removing.Gel: A coloured sheet of plastic positioned in entrance of a light-weight supply to vary its coloration or coloration temperature.Genny (Generator): A transportable energy generator used to provide electrical energy on location.Gobo: A metallic or glass disc with a sample etched into it that’s positioned inside a lighting fixture to challenge a selected form or design. Additionally refers to a grip head.Grip: A technician accountable for organising and working all of the non-electrical gear on set that helps the digicam and lighting, resembling stands, dollies, and cranes.Grip Head: A mounting gadget that attaches to the highest of a C-stand and is used to carry grip arms, flags, and different gear.HHMI (Hydrargyrum Medium-Arc Iodide): A kind of high-intensity discharge lamp that produces a strong, daylight-balanced mild.Sizzling Factors: A warning shouted when carrying one thing with lengthy, pointed ends (like a C-stand) by the set to alert others.JJunior: A time period for a bigger mild fixture or piece of grip gear with a 1 1/8″ pin.KKey Grip: The pinnacle of the grip division, accountable for managing the grip crew and all grip gear.Key Mild: The first mild supply in a scene, which establishes the general temper and path of the sunshine.Kino Flo: A model of fluorescent lighting recognized for his or her mushy, even mild high quality, typically used for lighting expertise.LLeko: A model identify for an ellipsoidal reflector highlight that may challenge a pointy, targeted beam and be formed with inside shutters.Lollipop: A big grip head, usually with a 4.5″ diameter, used for mounting giant frames and reflectors.MMafer Clamp: A flexible clamp with a padded jaw that may be connected to quite a lot of surfaces and has a number of mounting factors for lights and different gear.Matth-Pole: An extendable pole used for holding light-weight gadgets like small lights or microphones.NNegative Fill: The method of utilizing a black floor (like duvetyne or the black aspect of a V-flat) to soak up mild and create or improve shadows.OOpen Face: A kind of lighting fixture that doesn’t have a lens, leading to a tough, much less managed beam of sunshine.PPlatypus Clamp: A clamp with two flat, spring-loaded jaws used to carry foam core or bead board. Often known as a “Quacker” or “Duckbill.”RRedhead: An open-faced 1,000-watt (1K) tungsten lighting fixture.SSandbag: A heavy bag crammed with sand or shot, used to overwhelm and safe stands and different gear.Scissor Clamp: A clamp designed to connect to the metallic grid of a drop ceiling, used for mounting light-weight fixtures.Scrim: A wire mesh display screen that’s positioned in entrance of a lighting fixture to scale back the depth of the sunshine with out altering its high quality.Silk: A big piece of diffusion cloth used to melt and unfold a light-weight supply.Snoot: A cone-shaped tube that matches over a light-weight to slim its beam right into a small, concentrated spot.Softbox: A material enclosure that matches over a light-weight supply, with diffusion on the entrance, to create a mushy, even mild.Spud: An adapter, usually a brief metallic put up, used to attach several types of grip gear.Stinger: An business time period for a heavy-duty extension wire.VV-Flat: Two giant items of froth core taped collectively on one aspect to type a “V” form. They’re usually white on one aspect and black on the opposite and are used for bouncing or blocking mild.YYoke: The U-shaped bracket that attaches a lighting fixture to a stand, permitting it to be tilted.Tell us if there are extra we should always add within the feedback.
