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A gaffer in the motion picture industry and on a television crew is an electrician, sometimes head of the electrical department, responsible for the execution (and sometimes the design) of the lighting plan for a production's grips. The term Gaffer originally related to the moving of overhead equipment to control lighting levels using a gaff. The term has been used for the chief electrician in films since 1936. The gaffer's assistant is the best boy.

Sometimes the gaffer is credited as Chief Lighting Technician (CLT).

Experienced gaffers can coordinate the entire job of lighting, given knowledge of the time of day and conditions to be portrayed, managing resources as broad as electrical generators, lights, cable, and manpower. Gaffers are responsible for knowing the appropriate color of gel (plastic sheeting) to put on the lights or windows to achieve a variety of effects, such as transforming midday into a beautiful sunset. They can re-create the flicker of lights in a subway car, the motion of light inside a turning airplane, or the passage of night into day.

Usually, the gaffer works for and reports to the Director of Photography (the DP or DOP) or, in television, the Lighting Director (LD). The DP/LD is responsible for the overall lighting design, but he or she may give a little or a lot of latitude to the gaffer on these matters, depending on their working relationship. The gaffer works with the key grip, who is in charge of some of the equipment related to the lighting. The gaffer will usually have an assistant called a best boy and, depending on the size of the job, crew members who are called "electricians", although not all of them are trained as electricians in the usual sense of the term. Colloquially they are known as 'sparks' or 'juicers'.

The gaffer, or chief electrician, works with assistants who are known as grips. Much of the "hands on" work credited to the gaffer is actually performed by the grips, who manage cables, position lighting fixtures and install dolly track.

Gaffer tape is but one of the many types of tape that a gaffer, key grip, or any other member film crew uses in a variety of situations. Other types of tape include paper tape, adhesive transfer tape (also known as snot tape), electrical tape, J-LAR, and cloth tape.

References

1. Oxford English Dictionary accessed 15 May 2009
2. Taub, Eric (1994). Gaffers, Grips, and Best Boys. New York: St. Martin's Press. p. 153. ISBN 0-312-11276-9. {{cite book}}: More than one of |pages= and |page= specified (help)
3. David Elkins (2012-05-07). "FIM 1801 - Fundamentals of Cinematography: Ditty Bag Checklist, Years Three & Four: Expendables" (PDF). University of North Carolina School of the Arts.

External links

More about the evolution of the term "gaffer" in film making can be read here.

• Film crew
• Electrical trades