Department Overview: Grip

If you are like me and have gone through a typical film school, the job of a “grip” is a vague title. In school or on amateur films, people tend to use the title “grip” as people who do grunt work such as moving heavy objects or someone who runs and grabs the director a bottle of water. This is the farthest thing from what the actual job title entails.

The Grip department is an essential department in dealing with cutting light, setting up complex camera rigs, and deal with the tools that is needed for camera movement. Alongside art department, the grip department is one of the more flexible departments as well as having people who have a very specific set of skills that range from carpentry, all the way to some with a master in physics or engineering.

Almost always the Grip Department is associated with the Electrical…