Quite possibly the single greatest advance in filmmaking technology of all time ever
- Thread starter ItDonnedOnMe
- Start date
Lol that's actually pretty amazing. 200$ though... I'll tape it myself 
I do know people who won't blink an eye at the cost and would probably buy several of these. If $200 has a significant impact on your overall budget maybe it's not for you... although I think there's an argument to be made for this on very low budget projects too. There's the efficiency element, of course, but also the liability one. The faster and easier it is to tape cable runs the more likely you are to do it, and the less likely you are to have accidents that at best disrupt your workflow and at worst open you up to significant liability.
if your doing events, weddings etc, that thing pay for itself in one afternoon.
That's dope! Do you have any idea how many times I've chosen to risk not taping cords down, simply because I didn't have time for it? It's scary, and yes I've lost a light because of it. Thankfully, nobody has been hurt. But hell yes, I want one of these things!
In many cases it's actually safer to not tape down cables, as long as you 'run it clean' as they say and ensure you minimize hazards!
I don't personally think I've ever worked on a set where cables were taped down in the way that this gadget does it. Usually it's the green Best Boy identified by the cables he keeps taping down, often shortly followed by the Gaffer coming through and saying 'who the hell keeps taping down my cables?!'
You might use safety mats, or run the cables in areas that aren't walkways - keeping to walls , and out of the way as much as possible. Sometimes you may use tape if the cable is in a precarious position, but as a general rule you rarely see long cable runs taped down like that.
Gaffers are hired not just for their creative knowledge of lighting - indeed, most DPs generally should have quite a good idea of how they want to light their scenes, and would be able to manage Gaffer-less if it really came down to it (assuming the appropriate equipment was hired).
The Gaffer, however, should be knowledgable about electricity, the hazards associated with it and how to safely rig lighting to get the effect the DP wants in a safe manner. Some Gaffers I know and have worked with have indeed been licensed electricians in the past.
That's why you have such segmented and compartmented departments on a film set - the lighting team should all have sufficient training in lighting so as to keep people and lights from breaking, whilst still getting the right effect for the DP. That's why your lighting team will get snooty if the AC starts trying to move a light - the AC has the best of intentions but he likely doesn't have the same experience and training and (though unlikely) is potentially endangering the people or equipment around him/her. Even if the AC comes from a lighting background, he/she doesn't know the intricacies of the current cable run for the set.
Realistically, there are generally way too many lights, way too many cables, and not enough time to tape down cables in that fashion - and sometimes when there are that many cables, it can be more dangerous to tape them than to not! In any case, the lights are often moving around so often that taping their cables down, and having to rip up and then re-tape cables every time you move a light (which in many cases can be every shot or even between takes!) is ridiculous and way too time consuming.
Of course there are times when I've seen cables taped - if they're in a precarious position (say running along a wall or over a doorway) - but you're more likely to see cables running through or over clamps than being taped down.
Of course, if you're in a public space and are running long lengths of cable across walkways, and are going to have such cables in place for extended periods of time it's a different story and of course if you, as the head of department want to tape your cables because you feel it's safer, that's entirely your call. Generally though, I would rather use mats.
As always, your own personal situation will be different to others - I will take no responsibility for injuries caused in your own situations
(plus I don't think 'some guy on the internet said I shouldn't tape down cables' is a legal defense..), and I'm not saying you should never tape your cables, just that in my experience it is very rare. The more experienced crew you have, the more confident you'll likely feel when they don't rip out their Gaffer and start taping their cables down.
I imagine this would be great for those doing live or event-type stuff, particularly audio.
Yeah, I actually spend some of my time in the event world and it's a much more common practice there - you're often setting a stage for 2-4 days, so the cabling isn't moving around much once it's down. Mats and protectors generally get used primarily in areas where you have multiple cables crossing a walkway or door, but tape is standard where single cables need to be run anywhere someone could trip on them.
In my experience, we do not have time to tape down cables, when me or someone I am working under is shooting, because if we have to relight, or equipment, we then have to un-tape it everytime. If we have say five shots in a scene where the lights have to be moved for each of those particular shots, that's five times the tape will be removed. This can really take up time and tape. The only situation I have seen tape is live events, like shooting concerts or weddings, where none of the equipment is going to move for the whole duration. But if it's fictional shooting, people tend to prefer to relight and move things around for different shots of course. If there is not enough plug ins though, and you have to run more wires, than I can see taping it if it becomes a trip hazard of course.
Jax, I don't doubt any of that to be true, but you and I work on different kinds of sets. My film sets don't have gaffers. My sets typically have one or more volunteers who have ZERO experience in filmmaking. On that kind of set, tape is a good thing.