ɡrip/

verb

1. take and keep a firm hold of; grasp tightly.

In essence, this is what grip is all about.

On big movie sets, labor is divided up into different departments.  The Cinematographer (also known as the Director of Photography) is in charge of the camera department, the gaffer department, and the grip department.

The camera people run cameras.

The gaffers run the lights themselves – they deal with electricity and wattages and math.

The grip department sets up all the non-electrical equipment that supports the camera and lighting departments.  They’re a team of people that has many duties — most of which involve putting things in places in three dimensional space and making sure they stay there securely.

They’re in charge of all the tools that shape light.  They will secure flags, diffusion, or reflectors in certain positions in the air, at certain angles.  They safely secure lights.  They’re also in charge of camera movement, and most anything that involves rigging and muscle.  Without a grip department, lighting and camera stabilization wouldn’t be built or torn down.  Light wouldn’t be crafted.  And the ultra-high end beauty that Hollywood is known for just wouldn’t exist.

On small production sets — for photographers and indie filmmakers — we often don’t have large crews or separate departments.  On a photoshoot, the photographer herself might be ALL of the departments.  On an indie film set, the cinematographer might take care of all the grip and gaffer duties while the director deals with talents.  As budgets and crew sizes shrink, we pile on more and more hats.  But, a great tragedy occurs when we think that we have a small production, therefore we can ignore grip and lighting, or not give it the attention it deserves.

Instead, it just means we have to learn how to be efficient with our time and money, and get the most effective light with little manpower and limited gear.  With a small budget, it often means choosing priorities and making sacrifices.  But with a little bit of time and some C-stands, one or two people can often craft some beautiful light.  And that’s what this blog is all about.  Finding the simple or small budget solutions without forgetting the importance of grip and lighting.

Lighting is the key to creating beautiful imagery.  And with a little understanding and some basic tools, we can have just as much control as the grips in Hollywood do.

So, this journey through the grip tools will have several goals:

1)  Find efficient ways for small or one-man crews to shape beautiful light

2)  Understand how grip tools can help us get more out of our light

3)  Learn how to rig things safely so that we avoid damage to gear and people

Here’s a table of contents for the articles in this series on grip tools and techniques.  You can go through in order, or you can skip around to the ones that look interesting to you!  We’ll keep adding more as we go, so keep checking back for updates!