Mames film list: Great and Ghastly

How many jobs does a Grip have?  Lots and lots and lots and lots.

Movie/video Grips all work under the Key Grip (obviously meaning head Grip person).

A Grip has a pretty diverse skill set.  They:

1) Work handling various lighting shades, buffers, cloths, etc. on behalf of the Gaffer via the Key Grip, however, they do not deal with the electrical functions or the actual lighting;

2) handle all of the ladders, poles, rigging, pulleys and misc. infra-structure needs for the shoot;

3) are responsible for anything that handles the cameras (dollys, platforms, etc.) including the mounting of cameras on cars and other moving objects;

4) They are responsible for what are called fills.  Fills are either negative of positive.  They are often baffle like objects, cloth, or other materials that are used for either light reflection or light reduction.  A positive fill would be in white or light material to reflect light and a negative fill would be to absorb light and lower the reflection of light on a subject.  Along the same lines, they also tent sets or block out exterior daytime light sources so that filming a night scene can be done during the day;

5) and, arguably the most important is that they are responsible for safety.  It is their job to make sure every ladder, bolt, overhead rigging, scaffold, etc. is safely installed, built, or whatever they need to do to make those items safe.  They can even be held responsible (depending upon what state, country they are working in) if someone is injured because one of the items in their keep was not safely or correctly put together. 

There are various levels or types of Grips (other than the Key Grip) that are responsible for specific types of jobs that a Grip would do.  Some of them you may have seen scroll through the credits might be a Dolly Grip, a Construction Grip, A Company Grip, and the list goes on.  They often even have their own Best Boy Grip that performs the same function of Chief Assistant to the Key Grip as does the Gaffer’s Best Boy.

I have a wonderful antique book on setting up movie theatres and how to handle, put together, fix, repair, etc. all kinds of photography and projection equipment.  It was written when Thomas Edison was still alive, in fact, Thomas Edison has an advertisement in the back of it.  In the book it was explained that the cameras used were made very unstable do to the big hand crank that needed to be rotated by the cinematographer.  It warned to make sure that one of two strong men hold a sure grip on the stand it was attached to so the picture did not jerk.  In other literature I read that because these men were constantly called to “grip tight” that they eventually began calling them Grips.  Don’t know if that is actually true or not since I am uncertain how acurate the source was, but it certainly makes sense to me.

Of note, the above description of a Grip only holds true in the United States (maybe Canada and Mexico, but don’t quote me ).   In Europe and some other countries, the Grips ONLY handle the dolly, platform, attachment, or whatever.  They don’t do anything relating to lighting.

Needless to say, the Grip’s job are important ones, so when you see them listed in the credits, know that they most certainly deserve the acknowledgement.

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