Gripitionary

anchor spike

a long spike with a large head welded onto it so that i can be driven into the ground to safely tie off stands.

angle iron

used to connect apple boxes together, also called angle bracket

ansi

american national standards institute

apple box

a wooden box used to make small actors tall, raise furniture to make actors tall acotrs short, a place for teamsters to sit, or a good place to pick up a plonter in a very delicate part of the body. there are also half apple boxes, quater apple boxes, eighth apple boxes, not to mention the series of mini apple boxes aviable from matthews.

baby

the hollywood term for a 750-watt or 1000 watt lighting fixture. baby fixtures are normally manufactured with a 5/8” female receiver in the yoke or bale. baby pins, baby receivers, and baby plates all refer to the 5/8” size.

baby plate

also knwon as baby nail-on. a steel plate with a baby(5/8”) pin welded to it and holes drilled in each corner for screwing or nailing to a set wall or studio floor. on the east coast these are often called 750 or baby pigeons.

baby stand

a stand designed with a 5/8” pin @ the top. almost all lighting instruments under 2000 watts in size are made to be mounted on a baby pin. matthews manufactures a number of stands, both rollling and non-rolling such as the baby junior stand in noth double riser and triple riser. century stands, matthews kit stands, and beefy baby stands are all manufactured with a baby pin @ the top. matthews combo stands are now made with baby pop up pin for greater flexiability.

baffle

device used to lessen the harshness of a light source

bale

also known as yoke. the “u” bracket is normally part of the lighting fixture or reflector and is used to tilt and pivot the instrument.

bar clamp

bar clamps or furniture clamps are used to span larger objects to which a small light fixture may be attached with the help of the bar clamp adapter.

bazooka

a stand w/out legs used on studio catwalk.s the base of the bazooka fits in the hole in the deck and the bracket attaches to the safety railing.

beard

using black foil to contain light eminations from the bottom of a fixture.

becky

the matth becky hanger is designed to hang a light fixture off the top of a set wall. it performs the same job as a baby trombone without the beenfit of being able to telesope. the matth becky is adjustable to the thickness of the wall and terminates in two 5/8” baby pins.

beefy baby

another matthews registered trademark referring to baby stand which is stronger than the average aluminum stand and is still incredibly lightweight. excellent for location work and a favorite of rental houses because of its strength and eas of maintenance.

best boy

boyh yhr gaffer and ley grip utilize a best boy, whou is second in command in each department on the set. the best boy is often responsible for much of the coordination of the deparment’s personnel and equipment.

bfg

big freakin’ light

big ben clamp

a cheeseboro clamp with a junior (1-1/8”) pin welded to it. ideal for spanning pipe between two hi-hi overhead stands.

big eye

mole richardson 10k light fixuter with a 29” fresnel.

billy barty

a 20” c-stand with a compact base.

blond

blondes are italian made 2000-watt open-faced light fixtures.

bobbinet

a cotton net dyed black and used to manufacture of open ends, dots, fingers, and butterflies, and overheads. white bobbinet is now also available.

bottomer

flag or cutter used to control light on the lower portion of a subject or architecture.

brute

a carbon arc lighting fixture. brutes are mong the heaviest lighting fixtures used in the industry. a light weight arc (oxymoron) still weighs more than most

bumble bee

cable cross over or ramps. also known as a yellow jacket.

butterflies

also known as “Rags” these are the materials that are tied to the butterfly frame. for many years, only the basic materials were used such as scrims to reduce light, silk to diffuse light and solid to eliminate light. more recently many new materials have been added to allow many degrees of diffusion (grid cloths, black silk, etc.) plus many new reflectice materials are no available to mak elarge reflectors for both sunlight and aritificial light such as matthflectors, grifflectors, and lame’s. standard size are 6’x6’, 8’x8’, 12’x12’, and 20’x20’.

butterfly frame

an aluminum frame made to hold “rags” for controlling light, usually outdoors. these frames are made from either round or square tubing w/capability of dismantling for transport.

c+stand

known also as a turtle base c-stand, this stand was developed by matthews primarily for the still photographice and video markets. the riser column removes from the base for easy transport. the latest version of the c+stand feautures the new posi-v-lock receiver.

c-47

a spring loaded pin used yo hold diffusion, cinfoil or gels on barn doors of peppers and other lights.

candle stick

a pipe that terminates in 1-1/8” jr receiver, used to mount large units in lifts.

century stand

also know as a c-stand, grip stand or gobo stand. probably the most popular multi-purpose stand ever developed. its unique “nesting” leg design allows many century stands to be used in very limited floor space.

chain vice grip

locking chain clamps used to clamp aroun dirregularly shaped objects. often, 5/8” pins are welded to the clamps for mounting equipmentche

cheeseboro

scaffolding clamo or grid clamp. there are many varieties: swivel, 90 degrees, with pins welded on, etc.

cine-net

see bobbinet

cinevator

a heavy duty light stand w/a load capacity of 300 pounds. the cinevator raises and lowers its load by a specially designed motor drive system. avaiable in 100 volt or 220 volt.

clipboard

a metal or wood piece made in several sizes (3”x16”, 4”x12”, 8”x14”) ww/a clip attached. used as an additional or extended barndoor.

condor bracket

a condor is a construction crane often used by movie crews to get larger lights at high angles. since the “bucket” on these cranes is relatively small, a condor bracket allows lighting fixtures to be mounted without the use of stands.

crafty

craft service. snacks and refreshments, meals provided on set

cucoloris

used to create shadow patterns on backgrounds or subjects by breaking up a flat lit wall into interesting pools of light and shadow. imitates sunlight filtering through trees.

cup blocks

a wooden block, which has a cup, routed out so that the wheel of alight stand can sit in it. cup blocks were used extensibely in the days when light stand wheels did not have brakes to keep them from moving.

cutter

cutters are bigger or odd shaped flags. cutters are used to “cut” the light off certain arewas of the set. size larger than 30”x36” are considered cutters as well as the odd shaped ones such as 12”x42” or 18”x48”.

daddy long legs

wide base hi hi overhead stand.

day player

a crew member working part time on a project. usually hired as extra help on a busy day, or as a replacement.

diff

diffusion paper; there are many types of thes with varying degrees of diffusion

diffusion

short for wire diffusion that actually won’t diffuse light but does decrease light intensity.

donut

a square piece of plywood with a hole in the center, used to keep rolling stands w/o wheel locks in place. for critical lighting situations, donuts are often nailed to the studio floor.

dot

a round scrim, net or solid offered by matthews in 3”,6” and 10” for controlling light in tight situations such as a table top.

double net

two layers of bobbinet, used on overheads, butterflys, scrims… related term double scrim. can be both white and black’ black double nets will give approximate light loss of 1.2 stops, and white double nets will give approximate light loss of 1.0 stops. both black and white will give you reduction of light intensity and white will introduce ambient bounce.

drop down

the baby drop down is made with a femal 5/8” receiver at one end and a baby pin at the other. in between is a hinge which when added to the end of a light boom allows the light fixture to stay level regardless of the angle of the boom. the junior drop down does the same thing when attached to a junioe boom. the 45 degree angle drop down mounts on combo stand and allows a reflector to be used at a low angle w/o the yoke or bale creating a shadow.

duckbill

bead board clamp or in matthews’ case a quacker clamp

duvetyne

cotton fabric used to make flags, cutters and a solid butterfly and overheads. on the west coast it is considered the same as commando cloth is on the east coast.

electrical box tie-in

this is the electrical cable end clamp that hangs onto 3-phase box. a kind of threaded twist lock insulated alligator clamp. also known as a “tie0in cable set” or just ‘tie-ins’

elephant blocks

triangular stackable blocks used to level up gear such as dolly track.

elvis

checkboard grifflectors in gold and white.

extension arm

extension arm, gobo arm, grip arm, or extension grip arm all refer to a tube with a 2-1/2” grip head permanently attached. the matthews extension arm has stainless steel shafte with 5/8” outside diameter which allows a standard baby light fixture to be mounted on it and used as a boom. other manufacturers who do no adhere to out tight tolerances, do not always allow the mounting of light fixtures on their extension arm. matthews offers the extension arm in both 40'“ and 20” lengths.

finger

a small rectangular thin wire frame covered with bobbinet, silk, or duvetyne for lighting control in small areas on set. matthews manufactures two sizes 2”x12” abd 4”x14”.

flag

a rectangular frame wkth a mounting pin, made of 3/8” thin wall tubing onto which duvetyne in sewn. flags mounted on century stands are used to create shadown areas on the set.

flex arm

a flexiable mounting arm with four or five lockable ball koints for mounting dots, fingers, or flex scrims.

flex scrim

flex scrim are avaible in both open end and solid and used primarily with flex arms. before the superflex, standard flags and open ends were too heavy for the avaible flex arm. flex scrims are made w/2 mounting pins and ar available in 10”x12” and 12”x20”.

floppy

cutters are made w/an additional panel that is held in place w/velcro when not needed and released to double the size of the cutter when needed.

french flag

french flags are made out of either a firm but flexible abs plastic and used to shade a camera lens with the help of french flag arm or made of steel and used on a flex arm which is attached to a light fixture.

furniture clamp

see bar clamp

gary coleman

a 20” c-stand

gator grip

same as gaffer grip; a clamp with an adjustable jaw equipped with 12 eubber griping pads that protect the surface being clamped and provide greater clamping ability.

globe

light bulb, bulb

goal post

used to support textiles and lights. supports a rail or pipe with two stands on either side.

gobo ball

a bright orange, soft rubber ball which slips onto protruding extension arms to prevent injury to eyes and other snsitice areas of the body. gobo balls are not recommended for golf, handball or street hockey, but stick it on a radio antenna and it sure makes it easy to spot your car in a parking lot.

gobo head

also known as grip heads, this handy piece of equipment is used to mount on top of a stand and to attach extension arms, flags, cutters, etc…

greib arm

a flexiable arm which can be bent into almost position to hold a french flag. dot or finger, flex scrim or flex clamp.

grip

our main man on the set. responsible for riggging cameras, the safe operation of camera cranes and dollies, not to mention camera cars. grips erect sets and do non-electrical lighting control with the use of such items as scrims, flags, vutterflies, overheads, cutters, and cookies.

grip head

same as a gobo head

grub screw

another term used to describe a set screw

happy head

we couldn’t list these under either gobo head or grip head for fear that they may get confised with those of otehr manufacturers. the happy heads are absolutely the best holding grip head in the world.

high boy

high boy is slang for hi-hi roller or high overhead stand.

high hat

a very low mounting for camera heads. usually mounted on a wooden board

hollywood riser

junior or 2k riser or junior stand extension.

hurricane stock

cornet boom, 750 boom.

inky

300watt mole light fixture

juicer

term used for an electrician

junior

the term junior is used when referring to a 2000watt or 2k light fixture. the standard junior is made with a 1-1/8” pin attached to the yoke or bale and therfore gets mounted into a femal receiver on the stand. it is the opposite of the baby mounting system for safetly purposes. lighting fixtures larger than a 2k also have a junior pin.

key light

the main light source on which the entire lighting plot is usually based.

knurling

texture applied to an originally smooth surface, allowing better gripping of an object pr piece of equipment.

lame (e with accent)

silver or gold laminated to a knot trico fabric. used in sizes up to 20’x20’ to reflect light.

lenser

flag used to shade a camera lens from direct light.

lettuce

single wire diffusion. a double is known as a tomato.

lollipop mafer

movie set slang for double matth gag. for years the standard in small clamps used on the motion picture set. now replaced by the improved super mafer. its hexagonal receiver for attaching everything for 5/8” baby pins to flex arms has become legendary. the new double super mafer allows the use of two attachments on one clamp

low boy

a term commonly associated with a low light stand

magic finger

a 5/8” baby pin mounted on a ball head which can be mounted to the top of any baby stand. will lock tight at any angle between 360 degrees in the pan and 90 degrees tilt. the new extended magic finger allows the mounting of 2-1/2” happy head or grip head in addition to a baby fixture.

man-maker

term used to describe a full apple box. used to make actors look taller on camera.

meat axe

originally designed for use on studio catwalks; it is now commonly used in television studio grids. the attached c-clamp mounts on the grid or railing of the catwalk and allows the mounting of a flag or cutter via its 2-1/2” grip head. for safety reasons,, neither the arm nor any of the attachments are removeable.

menace arm

a noun. 1) something that threatens to cause evil, harm, injury, etc.; a threat: air pollution is a menace to health. 2) a person whose actions, attitudes, or ideas are a menace.

in movie terms, a menace arm is just what the word describes. a menace. a possible danger, a threat.

before MAX, a menace arm was jury0rgged arm usually builr on set and used to place a light or camera in an otherwise dicult position. this was not only very time consuming to build and very dangerous if not contructed or used properly. hence the max arm designed by key grip richard mall and built by matthews is safe and time efficient, capable of lifting and placing a light or camera from a negative six feet to positive 17 1/2 feet with a horizontal reach 17 feet.

mombo combo

redesigned for greater strength and safety the new mombo combo is capable of reaching new heights. at its full extension of 27 feet, we strongly recomment the use of the ne guy rope set that is now available and anchor pins if no other safe attachment is available.

n.d.

neutral density gels reduce the intensity of a light source without affecting the color of the light. can be applied to lighs as well as windows.

net

short for bobbinet, netting used in screims and overheads to help control light.

nyloc

a nut featuring an internal nylon collar that resist turning and locks the nut in place, keeping it from self-loosening.

open-ended

scrims/flags that have a wire on one side of the frame so as to not have the fram cast a shadow on that side.

over-saver

small camera slider used to adjust over the shoulder shots.

pancake

east coast term for eighth apple box

pidgeon

east coastterms for baby plate or junior wall plate.

pig tail

short piece of electrical cable with connector plugging device at both ends.

plito bracket

made to hold expendable reflectors or bead board and foam core, the polito bracket can be adjusted from 24” or 48”. to further enhance its functionality, it has an ear for mounting in a grip head; a ground spike and a handle for hand holding.po