Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[Blossom]

At the end of movies there is a list of people who have worked on the film, but the terms are confusing. What is a *gaffer*, a *grip*or a*best boy*?

Are there ever *best girls*?

And what is the difference between a producer and a director? What do they do?

[advoca]

There are two kinds of Best Boys: The Best Boy Electric and the Best Boy Grip. They are the chief assistant, usually to the gaffer (the chief lighting technician) and to the key grip (the boss of the grips, who are the jack of all trades, building sets, moving cameras and cables, and whatever else needs doing).However, the term Best Boy is more often used lately as a general term for the second in command of a group.

The origin of the term is from "pre-union" filming days when the line between Grip and Electric departments was less rigid. When the head of either department needed another body temporarily, he'd go to the head of the other department and ask him to "lend me your BEST boy". By default the 2nd in charge of either department came to be known as best-boy.

This term may also have been borrowed from early sailing and whaling crews, as sailors were often employed to set up and work rigging in theatres.

There are no "best girls" as such; but there are female chief assistants and these are called "Best Boys".

The Director is the person responsible for the interpretive aspects of a film or television production; the person who supervises the integration of all the elements, such as acting, staging, and lighting, required to realize the writer's conception.

The Producer is the person responsible for the financial and administrative aspects of a film, television, or radio production. He or she is the person who exercises general supervision of a production and is responsible chiefly for raising money, hiring technicians and artists, etc., required to stage a play, make a motion picture, or the like and then generally running the business side of the show.

[Hank898989]

a gaffer is usually a reference to your grandpa.
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[advoca]

In England we also use the word gaffer to mean an old man (not neccessarily your grandpa). However, the word is also used to mean a man who is in charge of other people, especially workers, such as a foreman.

I was explaining earlier the use of the word gaffer in the film industry.

[Bob S.]

As it was explained to me by someone in the business, grips set up and move everything around. They are like the roadies of the film industry. The Key Grip tells all the other grips what to do. The dolly grip pushes the camera dolly around (the camera dolly is mounted on tracks so it can be moved around smoothly and easily). The gaffers go up into the lighting rigging at the beginning of the shoot and come down at the end of the day. You don't know what they do, but you couldn't do a film shoot without them.