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Gripping: Where on earth do I start?


Eddie Cole

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Hi, Im 18 currently studying network and systems but I love film and all the behind the scenes and dont want to sit behind a desk for the rest of my life.

I live inbetween leeds and manchester and have absolutly no idea where to get started, I dont finish till early june but I'd love to start getting experience on set. I found a lvl 2 and lvl 3 nvq specifically in gripping but I have to have worked as a grip for two years before being able to apply (seems a bit backwards to me? )

 

Where do I start?

 

Just to note; I could move to london and use my trust fund to get me off the ground to do what I would absolufly love too.

 

Thanks in advance :)

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Well given you're propensity for computer, perhaps DIT work? It's a growing field in film and gets you kinda both in the camera department, and the post department-- but this all depends on what you want to do in the end. I would say if you're goal is directing, then you just have to direct.

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In the UK grips don't set flags etc, they operate camera dollies. and cranes, lay tracks, set up tripods and rig camera mounts, the manual labour part is around that area. Here the electricians rig the flags and other stuff associated with the lighting.

 

Yeah I know, Thats why Im so interested in it because getting to work with all the dollys/cranes ect is exactly what I want to do.

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Check out here: http://www.gripsbranch.org.uk/

 

Making contacts is usually the best starting point, keeping in touch for as long as it takes, so they know who you are. Then read all you can on the subject and help out on any local no budget or student films for experience.

 

"To apply to take the qualification an individual must have been working professionally as a Grip or Crane Tech for a minimum of 2 years within the industry, and must supply a detailed CV plus references."

 

This the part I was talking about in the OP from that site, Im enquiring about the other one you linked though.

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Where do I start?

 

Maybe you could help out on some shoots at the Met while you are doing your studies.

Contact them and ask them if they could use some on set help! :)

 

You could even put up an ad offering to help.

They used to have a floor in H-block but it must be somewhere else now but if you can get into the Electric Press building, perhaps for a screening, you could put an ad on the notice board there.

 

Freya

Edited by Freya Black
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Yeah youve said this several times,

Brian has explained this already. You need to contact the grips branch at BECTU, get some names and contact them, see if they are looking for trainees.

 

For instance, Grip Services in Bristol, who provide grips for Casualty, Dr.Who, Sherlock and most other productions at BBC Wales, often take on trainees. In fact, two of the grips I usually work with in the UK were trained there.

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It's difficult, but not impossible. You should do a bit of chasing after the training scheme they seem to be starting, get some idea of time scales, However, don't expect instant results, you need to convince them that you're serious and going to be around for more than just making a single call.

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You need to contact the grips branch at BECTU, get some names and contact them, see if they are looking for trainees.

They really won't be. The film industry in this country is tiny and imploding rapidly.

 

To the wider issue, I can't shake the impression that the grip NVQ was created as an effort at job protectionism. Seriously: if you've been working as a grip for two years, you are a grip, to at least a minimum level. Perhaps it's because I've rarely met a grip I liked, but I can't help associating the term with a slightly overweight smoker who peppers every sentence with foul language and thinks that being gruff and taciturn is a sign of professionalism. Yes, there are very clever people out there building advanced and potentially dangerous rigs that require a lot of intelligence and planning, and they're all working for Jerry Bruckheimer. In the UK, most grips I've met are glorified box shifters with delusions of grandeur who have - on more than one occasion - moaned in my ear that levelling track is very skilled work. While I wrote software.

 

As a grip would say, for **(obscenity removed)**'s sake. You really want to be one of these people? They've deliberately created circumstances which make it clear they don't want you.

 

P

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A lot of freelance people are employed by the BBC and quite a few were trained by them. They can also be a bit surreal at times,

 

H & S is pretty big these days and risk assessments are a part of many productions. With certain jobs they want the paper work.

 

Yes! I understand that the BBC were employing a growing number of people as freelance.

Not sure if that's been put a stop to or not recently.

 

Yup theres always been the box ticking side of things around, don't think that's anything new.

 

Freya

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They really won't be. The film industry in this country is tiny and imploding rapidly.

 

To the wider issue, I can't shake the impression that the grip NVQ was created as an effort at job protectionism. Seriously: if you've been working as a grip for two years, you are a grip, to at least a minimum level. Perhaps it's because I've rarely met a grip I liked, but I can't help associating the term with a slightly overweight smoker who peppers every sentence with foul language and thinks that being gruff and taciturn is a sign of professionalism. Yes, there are very clever people out there building advanced and potentially dangerous rigs that require a lot of intelligence and planning, and they're all working for Jerry Bruckheimer. In the UK, most grips I've met are glorified box shifters with delusions of grandeur who have - on more than one occasion - moaned in my ear that levelling track is very skilled work. While I wrote software.

 

As a grip would say, for **(obscenity removed)**'s sake. You really want to be one of these people? They've deliberately created circumstances which make it clear they don't want you.

 

P

I have to say, Phil, that my experience with British grips has been the complete opposite. Young or old, they have been an absolute pleasure to work with. Yes, they grumble, but who in the Film industry doesn't? Almost without exception they have been clever, helpful people, who have a valuable input to what I do. Now, perhaps because I rarely worked in London, I was seeing a breed of grip that you haven't come across, but I doubt it.

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All the grips I've worked with have been positive helpful people, that includes the London ones I've worked with. The NVQ may have given the grips something that prevented people just walking in off the street and calling themselves a grip, however, the nature of the modern world requires scaffolders and similar trades to have NVQs or other qualifications. I would take the construction industry to be an example for this. Having just done the creative industries safety course, all this is part of the risk assessments that many productions will now undertake. Unfortunately they like having an audit trail, so there's a lot of paper involved..

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Risk assessments are occasionally useful and in any case reasonably quick and easy to do. Mostly they're an exercise in arse-covering rather than actually preventing accidents, which is a regrettable plague of modern life, but they don't generally prevent anyone doing anything.

 

The idea that it is necessary to have a two-year apprenticeship to lay track and push a dolly is absurd. I mean, I own what I like to think is a reasonably serviceable dolly. What am I supposed to do, never use it unless I've got some £400/day chainsmoker sitting on an apple box telling me how hard his life is?

 

P

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Grips do more than push a dolly, they're also involved with the increasing number of cranes, remote heads and rigging cameras on cars and vehicles, it's a matter of doing the practical hours needed to be good at your job, although the depth really depends on the type of work you're getting in the 2 year period. I suspect with an intensive training scheme with skill assessments, which ensures trainees get good experience on a range of productions it could be shortened to a year or 18 months. Grips usually know quite a bit about the cameras as well.

 

I don't think anyone is stopping you from using your dolly, although you may run into insurance problems with a crane carrying the camera operator.

 

Risk assessments often go over board and often just involve paperwork for what should be done correctly during the working day. However, the larger the production the more likely you are to get involved in this sort of stuff.

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