Is A Gaffer Important On A Film Set?

Yes. A gaffer is absolutely important! I remember when I was putting the budget together and I was going back and forth about whether to include a gaffer on the list. So, to be safe, I included a budget for a gaffer for submission. After a day or so, the grantor returned with a few budget cuts and the gaffer was one of them. At the time I agreed with the grantor’s decision because at my last shoot I was able to use natural sunlight and a few lights that the director of photography (DP) brought to create good lighting.

Then, when I was interviewing for a director, one of my top two candidates emphasized the need for a professional gaffer on set to do her best work. I end up finding a great lighting technician who was eager to work and learn more about the lighting process. But as production proceeded, I finally saw how correct the candidate was.

Once I made the decision to end the shoot early, that concluded the first weekend of shooting. Just one more 3-day weekend to go. The remainder of the week was spent making script revisions, finding out another actor came down with a serious illness forcing an additional day of shooting, seeing if we can finally get the proper cars, and figuring out where we will shoot the main car scene.

My first instinct was to shoot the main car scene in Baltimore because you can find an empty street/parking lot everywhere. But we were advised against it because some of the actors found it very difficult to drive into Baltimore due to the intense traffic. Then, that left filming the main car scene in DC, but we were warned that police could kick us out if they caught us.

A risk we were willing to take and a decision that made sense since the next two days of production was going to be shot in house in Washington, DC. Fast forward, it’s day 3 of shooting and we only have 7-hours to get through all the scenes involving daylight. We only had about 5 scenes or so to film so I figured we would be out of the house before our deadline. I get to the location and see the director and the DP working on preparing the proper lighting for the first room that we were going to shoot in.

They continued this process for the next 3 hours without a single shot being filmed. It was here where I realized the importance of having a professional gaffer on set. The truth is, it isn’t the DP’s job to light a room or any location, it’s the gaffer’s. A professional gaffer would just need the instruction from the director and/or DP on how they wanted the room to be lit and the gaffer would get the job done in half the time or less. But thankfully I had a great DP who had a positive mindset, took on the additional responsibility with no problem, and knew how to capture great shots.   

Now, we’re on the 6^th hour of our 7-hour time slot. (We’re down to the wire). The remaining actors scheduled for the day start to show up and they began rehearsing their scenes in the living room. We end up finishing ten minutes before our deadline. I look at my phone and see a text message from the owner letting me know that she’s on her way back and asking if we were done shooting. As we were continuing to pack, Morgen and I were still deciding on where we would shoot the nighttime car scene.

Morgen finally settles on an empty lot by the RFK stadium. After about an hour and half of twists and turns we end up getting all the footage that we needed. It was an official wrap for the day. I felt satisfied. As we were packing up to leave, I get another text from the homeowner saying that she’ll be charging me an additional overtime fee for the extra 45 minutes we took to pack up our equipment. (Seriously?).

Okay. Only 3 more days to go.

Other posts you may be interested in:

• Who Inspires Me The Most In Film? (Female Edition)
• The Importance Of “Live” Auditions In Film
• How Pre-Production Solutions Can Still Cause Chaos In Production?

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