Gaffer Archives

Zen & The Art of Wrapping Cables – Or how to wrap your cables to guarantee tangle-free use

Jan 3, 2022 by John Aldred Leave a Comment

Recently, we posted about workflow efficiency on video productions and one of the things we mentioned was learning how to wrap your cables properly and safely. Safely because it helps minimise the chances of them fraying in the middle and properly because it means you shouldn’t ever see another tangle again. No more tangles means a longer life for your cable and an easier time for you on set because you don’t have to untangle them.

Learning how to wrap cables properly is a skill that takes hardly any time at all to learn, but it’s one that’ll stick with you for the rest of your life with any long cables you might have to deal with. But how do you do it? Well, this video from YouTube channel Vistek goes through all of the surprising complexity of wrapping up cables and how to make sure yours stand the test of time!

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This is, hands down, the best gaffing system I’ve used

Aug 17, 2019 by Ophir Peleg 5 Comments

Any Gaffers out here? You will immediately get this system. For anyone who is new to this, let me share a bit of an intro. (Gaffers, feel free to skip to the good stuff).

As a gaffer, my main job is rigging things in the three-dimensional space. The director and DP decide on the lights they want, but getting it into position is my job. Same goes with rain machines, flags, gobos, diffusers, reflectors and basically any gear you’d need to execute a shot.

There is a lot to be said about this job, but today I want to talk about that magical tape that got us our name. Gaffer’s tape (Gaffer or gaff for short). Gaffer’s tape is that magical tape that gaffers use to stick things into position. “Give me enough gaffers tape and I can move the world” -Archimedes. Gaff tape It comes in a whole lot of colors and widths, but the common ones are black and white, 2″ and 1″. See, Gaffers constantly have to use gaffer tape. A lot of gaffer’s tape. Being able to easily use, dispense and tear tape is crucial to my work. This is why I love ToughGaff.

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This is what a gaffer does and why you need one on a film set

Jul 5, 2019 by John Aldred 1 Comment

Gaffer is one of those titles that unless you actually become part of the photo or film industry, you’re not really sure what it is. It’s just one of those jobs that scrolls up the titles at the end of a movie along with countless others. But they play a vital role on a film set. They’re the guys who make the light look the way the director or DP wants it while still making it look natural.

In this video from Vanity Fair, gaffer Andy Day, who’s worked on movies such as Creed II, The Bourne Legacy and Salt, shows us what happens when you shoot a scene without having a gaffer on set. And while the video is geared specifically towards the movies, the same holds true of photography.

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Grip it Good – The indespensable members of a film crew

Jul 21, 2016 by John Aldred 1 Comment

On a film set, the grip handles all means of camera support. Grips assist the cinematographer and gaffer in managing and sculpting the light. They also deal with safety aspects of cast and crew while working on set.

In the world of photography we may occasionally have an assistant, but such jobs are usually up to us. In this video from ASC Cameraman, Mark Vargo, we get an peek into the life of a grip.

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