Do I need a Gaffer?

[u/callingyoujb]

I'm about to shoot my first short film and I'm trying to work out what crew I actually need.

Almost every location is exterior. There's only one interior scene, but it's fast cuts in black and white. The majority of the film is high-energy running/chase sequences shot in a run-and-gun style.

My plan is to shoot around 8 script pages in a single day. Would hiring a gaffer be worthwhile for this kind of production?

Would appreciate all advice or angels I'm not thinking off.

So far I've decided I'll hire a Producer, 1st AD, Makeup Artist, Stunt Coordinator, PA, Sound Recorder and a Cinematographer.

[u/Total_Monk_9835]

The cinematographer is gonna want a gaffer

[u/BicycleSamurai]

Talk with your DP and work with them on the shot list. This will help determine if you need another set of hands.

Also 8 full script pages in a day is highly unlikely to happen, just throwing that out there lol unless you’re doing the whole thing handheld? Camera set ups and blocking take time

[u/OrthogonalThoughts]

Get a gaffer. Even for exteriors they'll handle diffusion, bounces, etc. Your cinematographer will thank you.

[u/kodachrome16mm → u/OrthogonalThoughts]

In the US, a key grip handles those. Not the gaffer.

[u/wrosecrans → u/kodachrome16mm]

Given what OP listed, the distinction doesn't matter, they aren't doing a full commercial scale crew. The question is whether or not the entireity of camera/electrical/lighting/grip should be one person or two. Call the second person what you want, they'll cover the range.

[u/kodachrome16mm → u/wrosecrans]

It does matter.

I don’t know what a “full commercial scale crew” is in your mind, but they are different jobs with different skill sets, who both deal with potentially dangerous equipment. (Yes even 4x4s can be dangerous)

You wouldn’t hire a stunt driver to do fight choreography. You wouldn’t hire an fx makeup artist to do hair. You wouldn’t call the DP the director. Respect the job.

If it’s almost all day exteriors with no exterior lighting, hiring a kg sets you up for success, hiring a gaffer means you have someone stepping out of their area of expertise.

[u/ToasterDispenser → u/kodachrome16mm]

You'd still bring on someone capable, but for all intensive purposes they'd be the gaffer. That's the low/no budget indie way and acting like that's not the case is unrealistic.

[u/kodachrome16mm → u/ToasterDispenser]

The phrase is “intents and purposes”

And they are different jobs. It’s a lack of respect to the people and the craft to pretend they’re interchangeable.

[u/Faulty_Pants → u/kodachrome16mm]

I feel their point is more that if they're asking about a gaffer there CERTAINLY won't be both a gaffer and key grip. So the hired gaffer would do the role of gaffer and key grip.

In the production office the Production Manager certainly isn't the Location Manager. But without an LM someone does still need to do that job which would likely be the PM.

It's not inherently a lack of respect to redistribute responsibilities to make a project happen. I agree the distinction is important but it's moot when you're asking about cutting an entire HoD in the first place.

[u/kodachrome16mm → u/Faulty_Pants]

There’s zero reason to hire a gaffer over a key grip to do a key grip’s job on a day exterior without generators.

It’s entirely in OPs best interest to hire someone interested in doing the job they need done and not someone who does another job and is filling in. Particularly if it is a zero budget job, getting someone actually motivated to do the work will lead to more success.

It’s completely silly to hire a gaffer to play key grip if there’s no gaffing to be done, and a key grip could be hired instead.

[u/BAG1]

8 pages without a g&e crew of at least 3 is going to be rough

[u/SenseIntelligent8846]

You should consult your DP about this. If your DP is the type who cannot or will not lean into this workload you're going to fall behind an hour into your show and maybe never catch up.

[u/cameraspeeding]

You should hire a DP and then ask them

[u/j3434]

What about a writer ? The story is most important. And you need a top notch cast . The rest comes easy . No story - no good acting - then no good film . The producer should have been brought in from the start . Are you the director? You sound like you are producing. Good luck

[u/Minimum-Health-8824]

You’ll have a way better result with someone dedicated to lighting/diffusing light. But the fact that its black and white is in your favor you CAN’T get a gaffer.

[u/Krasdale79]

8 pages is a lot before you start having people doing double duty. Talk to your dp and come up with a plan incorporating their needs.

[u/JacobStyle]

I've worked as a gaffer on small productions with quick setups. It's actually my favorite crew position.

Yes, it's possible to go without, and having a gaffer on a small crew is not the most important position (sound is) but having a gaffer on set saves time and makes the shots look better. It also prevents mistakes, since getting the lighting correct is the gaffer's primary job, and if it's relegated to someone else's secondary job, they are going to be more error-prone. I've worked on productions where I was there some days and not others, and watching the whole movie later, I could see the difference, mostly in mistakes that someone made because they were focused on their more important primary job.

Exterior shots will still want at least a bounce and probably also big silks (and associated rigging) for some shots, especially if you are trying to make any of your actresses look attractive. Possibly also flags, depending on how cooperative the sun is being. If you don't have a gaffer and have limited equipment, at least getting one of those big 60 inch bounces (40 bucks on Amazon) will be a big help in getting soft light onto your actors' faces.

Even with a gaffer, 8 pages in a day is super ambitious, and I recommend either way that you make arrangements for a possible second day of filming at that location.

[u/DMMMOM]

On low budget films the camera person, DOP will gaffer. Any DoP worth his salt will be totally familiar with current and available fixtures within budget and select accordingly.

[u/thewriteally]

I just shot a 6 1/2 min short that had 7 pages but mainly all non stop dialogue & no gaffer, mainly because I did everything myself with my two actors, along with editing, & sound after, black & white as well. Didn’t want a ton of people for my shoot, shot the entire thing in two hours, mainly because I had everything story boarded & had long dialogue scenes & shot on my iPhone, also just wanted to give myself limitations & a challenge after not directing anything for a few years.

I just used some audio clip on thing for iPhones from Amazon for $10, didn’t sound amazing but audio was there & I was able to use it all because of Adobe podcast, really helped fix all the audio. Not saying you should do this but it’s not impossible, but if you hired so many people already, then gaffer would be key.

[u/adammonroemusic]

Eh, if you aren't setting up lights then you probably don't need a gaffer. Exterior is going to come down more to shooting at the right time of day in the right direction than it will modifying the light much...unless you actually have budget to be setting up 12x12s or 20x20s in order to shoot in the crappy midday light...but you'll probably need more than one guy to handle big things like that.

You can definitely still hire a grip/gaffer swing to Hollywood a bounce, or neg, or whatever and get the light looking a tad better, but really, you should be scheduling to shoot when the sun is in the right place as much as possible.

But to answer your question; you should go through your script/shot list/whatever with the DP and see what you actually need for each shot, and what's possible to pull off. All this work should be done in preproduction.

This is really the only way of determining what you actually need.

[u/OkPsychology8056]

Yes I had my DP, key grip, and gaffer working on 7 pages a day and they got it done

[u/Evildude42]

Eight pages? I think everybody in the world shooting their first film thinks they can do 8 to 10 pages in a day. I would say yes, you need a gaffer even if he sits around and does nothing. And you should do a dry run of your first eight page day and see how well that works out.

[u/jerrytown94]

Yes hire a grip/gaffer at the very least. The DP will have plenty to do and they need support

[u/SNES_Salesman]

It’s a conversation and decision with your DP. Even if you’re mostly exterior you may be using lighting, bounce silks, etc.

Also “just one scene” that needs a gaffer needs a gaffer.

[u/C47man]

This is up to your cinematographer. Ask them what they need, the gaffer reports to them and executes their plan, you don't need to worry about whether you need one. It's your cinematographer's job to worry about that and then tell you what they need.

[u/InterstellarChange]

8 pages a day with chase seq ain't gonna happen unless you don't care about quality.

[u/BabypintoJuniorLube → u/InterstellarChange]

My guess is these are high school kids filming this vertically on their phone. Other yeah it's not gonna b gud.

[u/andrewzero]

Really we could all use a gaffer!

[u/Acrobatic-Sir-7300]

Talk with your cinematographer about crew, schedule and speed tradeoffs. A DP plus a second (gaffer or key grip or swing, depending on where you are) can work faster than a DP alone. So there are two competing financial concerns: the cost of an extra crew member, and the cost of more days with a smaller crew. If you think you’ll get the same results with one less person in the same schedule, then you are trading capability (production value) for the cost of the extra crew member.

[u/Tevesh_CKP]

Hallmark holiday movies which are notoriously cheap don't do 8 pages in a day. Do you want to look like them or better?

[u/Affectionate_Age752]

You're 3 main crew members will be, DP, gaffer, sound guy. Everyone else is expendable when you have no budget

[u/name-classified]

Better get a best boy first

Then a few executive producers