On The Job: Lights, Camera, Grips

The way the camera pans, the way it takes a precise shot from a drone, a ladder or a crane, all is the job of a grip.

Ninand Nayampally, a seasoned grip of 15 years, says, “The DoP (Director of Photography) usually explains the specifics of a shot — be it motion, angle or positioning. Then we provide the mechanical support for the camera, whether it needs to be mounted, rigged or harnessed.”

As a grip for a 2015 film, he recalls working with a leading Bollywood director, who wanted fluidity and minimal cuts between shots. Nayampally would set up four or more cameras for every scene so that it could seem continuous from different angles.

Carrying heavy equipment like tripods, cable cams or dollies (wheeled cart, which carries the camera), grips require fitness and endurance.

A side function of the job includes building rigs and apparatuses to support the camera for unique shots.

For car or bike advertisements, grips make stabilising devices to reduce vehicular vibrations that provide a steadier shot. For a scene in a 2012 film, where a car falls into water, Nayampally and his team built a 110-foot makeshift crane suspended on another industrial crane.

In 2001, he met a grip from the US, who provided creative inputs and directorial guidance to his DoP. Impressed, Nayampally quit his job as a line producer and became a grip.

He explains, “Grips get to be both hands-on and creative on a film set. In India, grips and light technicians are looked at as people who are only good for manual labour which is not true.” A grip earns about Rs 1.5 lakh per project. Grips work on approximately 50 commercials and one or two films a year, depending on its duration. Bike ads constitute most of his projects, says Nayampally.

“However, during the rainy season there are less opportunities and our salary can drop to about half a lakh,” adds the 40-year-old from Santacruz.

There is no formal training for the job as it relies majorly on experience and practice.

Like the rest of the film industry, grips work odd timings. So, next time you watch a film or ad without having to recognize the motion or tempo between shots, then grips like Nayampally have done their job.

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