Church of the Holy Gaffer Tape

02004-10-20 | Uncategorized | 8 comments

It has no doubt appeared in every single film production ever, but it has never won an Oscar, never been to Cannes and has strangely never been credited…Gaffer Tape, we salute you!!

What’s a Gaffer? Hint: it used to be called Gaffer’s Tape.

8 Comments

  1. Carolynn

    : )
    It’s hell getting that stuff off of skin, though! So be careful with your kidnapping victims!

    Reply
  2. Victor

    What, it’s like Duct Tape only more hip, more glamorous, better connected??

    Reply
  3. Kiyomi

    I now really, eagerly want to know why gaffer tape is called gaffer tape. It’s a kind of “my life-time question”. Could somebody help me out, please?? :-(
    Kym.

    Reply
  4. Matt Callahan

    Carolynn’s comment shines a whole new light on her for me. Hmmm….

    Reply
  5. Matt Callahan

    Gaffer:

    AKA: Chief Lighting Technician

    The head of the electrical department, responsible for the design and execution of the lighting plan for a production. Early films used mostly natural light, which stagehands controlled with large tent cloths using long poles called gaffs (stagehands were often beached sailors or longshoremen, and a gaff is a type of boom on a sailing ship). In 16th Century English, the term “gaffer” denoted a man who was the head of any organized group of laborers.

    Reply
  6. Carolynn

    Thanks for both comments, Matt!
    : )

    Reply
  7. Kiyomi

    Hm, sorry… and thanx. I always thought that gaffer tape was a typical “musician + roadie thing”. = I thought that a gaffer was a person who had rolls of gaffer tapes (Serious. Don’t laugh.)
    Kym.

    Reply
  8. David Jr.

    Yeah, it’s a theatre/stage thing. My bro has worked in theatre for over 20 years, and working on some productions with him has educated me on it. *lol*

    Keep in mind, it’s not like duct, this stuff hardcore and is something like $35 a roll!

    Friends and I have a running joke of someone named Harv the Gaffer — when it’s cloudy and raining, blame it on Harv. *lol*

    -D

    Reply

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