If you’ve ever sat that at the end of a movie and looked up at the screen wondering what specific roles some of the crew play on a film set, then we’ve got a video for you – just one in a series posted by Vanity Fair. This one looks into the intriguing role of a gaffer, the chief electrician in a film or television production unit.
A quick Google may offer a quicker answer, but what these Vanity Fair videos are good at doing is offering examples of what happens on the set of a movie, and what specifically the role of the specific person is.
Wikipedia describes a ‘gaffer’ as ‘the head electrician, responsible for the execution (and sometimes the design) of the lighting plan for a production. The term “gaffer” originally related to the moving of overhead equipment to control lighting levels using a gaff. The gaffer’s assistant is the best boy electric .’
So now you know.
The video is below, but do take a look through some of Vanity Fair’s other video in the series on YouTube which goes into the role of the script supervisor. So awesome.
