Light & Grip system: Europe vs. US

[Boris Kalaidjiev]

Hi everyone, 

This might sound a bit stupid but what is the main difference between the Light and Grip crews between the diffrent countries. I mean they're responsibilities on set.

I know there are 2 systems but which part of the world uses which one and how are they diffrent one from the other?

 

Thank you, 

Boris

Edited August 10, 2023 by Boris Kalaidjiev

[Joerg Polzfusz]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grip_(occupation)

I guess that the „which part of the world“ isn’t that clear as US productions are sometimes also partially shot in Europe (e.g. the last Mission Impossible) and vice versa. And unless they’re using local teams, they will continue with their way of working.

[Boris Kalaidjiev]

So if you follow the US system anything shaping light is grip department. Does this mean that grips provide, CTO/CTB, Diffusion, NDs for light? 

The European system the lighting department is the one who modifies the light instead of the grips like the US system?

Am I getting this right?

I do understand that wherever US production go people adopt to their way of working. But for instance local productions in Asia, Africa, South-America which system do they follow?

[Adrian Sierkowski]

If it is going ON the light (like a cut of gel) it's generally the electric. If it's going off the light-- such as a 4x4 frame of CTO or whatever (bascially something going on a C-Stand) it'll be the grip. Same with light shaping. If we are using blackwrap (on the head) lighting, v/s a flag.

 

 

[Boris Kalaidjiev]

So who actually orders filters before a shoot (diffusion, CTO/CTB, NDs)? Is it the grip department or the lighting? Or the lighting dept orders them before the shoot and then pass them on to the the grip so put them onto 4x4 frames?

[Adrian Sierkowski]

Generally most trucks will have them pre-skinned; at least the popular flavors. I've found when getting to bigger or more specific things, it'll come out of the lighting budget for expendables for color, or the grip for diffusion. Since it's going on a frame, the grips will skin it/manage all that, and you'll work with them to make sure you have enough empty frames for what you're doing. But a lot of what I have done has been of "ton" trucks, be that 3, 5, or 10 ton which generally have a fixed package. For example:

https://cinelease.com/wp-content/uploads/CL_TruckPackage_10Ton_D1.pdf

that particular 10 ton has 10 empty frames, ready to be skinned.

 

( and a 10x12 lavender which I can almost guarantee is never used outside of food/beverage lol)

Edited August 11, 2023 by Adrian Sierkowski

[Boris Kalaidjiev]

What about rolls on NDs who would typically order those?

[Adrian Sierkowski]

Could and has been either; though I think to a certain extent that comes down to budget and which department has more leftover in it's budget. Hell, I've had CTO and Tokyo blue come out of the camera budget before because, well, that's where there was some money left on the table. Generally, both your lighting and grip order are going to the same rental house, who will stock it on a truck.

On my orders, I personally keep ND/colors etc on the electric side, as theres a greater chance they will be doing cuts of them to go on fixtures. But I also might have some pre-skinned 4x4s on the grip side. It's really an academic distinction and not really worth getting too caught up in. (and with ND especially, we are moving pretty quickly into an LED world where ND isn't as used as it once was, as even on HMIs and larger tungsten heads it's often easier to just throw a scrim in from the bag vs cut and affix ND or bring in another stand to the forest)