Christmas disaster!!!!! Oh no!!!!!.... Gripology 101 to the rescue!!!!

David G. Smith

David G. Smith

Steak Knife Member
My roommate comes to me with her sad puppy dog eyes and tells me, "Oh no! The Christmas tree base* is broken!!! WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO?!!!" Without breaking a beat I went and screwed a Matthews baby plate to a board, attached a grip head to the baby plate, braced it with sand bags and inserted the Christmas tree into grip head.... VOILA!!!! My roommate said that she is so happy that I am film geek!!! CHRISTMAS IS SAVED!!!!! Thank you Gripology 101!!!


I didn't tell her that I actually had spent part of the afternoon today sawing up a long board to make a high hat and several baby plate bases! Shoosh!!!! Just between us!!!!



*Our Christmas tree is an old artificial tree that has been my roommates for a long time and has a strong sentimental significance to her. It is pretty beaten up but it has a lot of charm in the "Charley Brown Christmas" Christmas tree and kitsch kind of way. The base was one of those faux bowl type things with the three securing screws and very spindly legs. It has been a POS for a long time. When we set up the gripology base, I made sure that it was straight. However, we are so used to the tree being "Cock eyed" from seeing it in the POS base for so long that I had to give the tree a little dutch in the grip head to make it look right!!!! :2vrolijk_08: Ha, Ha, Ha!!!


HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYBODY!!!!!!!
 
I'm glad that you didn't have to resort to gaff tape. A more elegant solution will get you some extra gifts for sure.
 
*musters his best Vince Guaraldi*

Gripmas time is here,
indie films and beer.
Work for all that gaffers call
their income for the year.
Arris in the air.
Producers everywhere.
Crafty by location side
and frosted gels to spare.
 
HorseFilms said:
Nice work! :beer:
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Thanks Horse.

Alex H. said:
*musters his best Vince Guaraldi*

Gripmas time is here,
indie films and beer.
Work for all that gaffers call
their income for the year.
Arris in the air.
Producers everywhere.
Crafty by location side
and frosted gels to spare.
Click to expand...

Too funny Alex... too funny.

A filmmaker buddy/Director I know from LA (By way of Detroit) saw the pix above and went and made disparaging comments about my Southern roots (I grew up in the mountains of southwest Virgina and I went to school just up I-81 from you Alex at ETSU in Johnson City)... But ya know, there is a lot of "Redneck Engineering" to Gripology. I bet there were a fair amount of Hillbillies working in the shops around the old studios back in the day. Shoot, gaff tape and a grip head make duct tape and vise grips look like kiddie toys!!!
 
David G. Smith said:
A filmmaker buddy/Director I know from LA (By way of Detroit) saw the pix above and went and made disparaging comments about my Southern roots (I grew up in the mountains of southwest Virgina and I went to school just up I-81 from you Alex at ETSU in Johnson City)... But ya know, there is a lot of "Redneck Engineering" to Gripology. I bet there were a fair amount of Hillbillies working in the shops around the old studios back in the day. Shoot, gaff tape and a grip head make duct tape and vise grips look like kiddie toys!!!
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ETSU is a great school!

By the way, when I was with my last company, we had two brothers - both West-by-God Virginians - working as grips/gaffers. They were two of the most creative people I've worked with when it comes to gripology. I learned quite a bit from them. They're two of 5 siblings, and all 5 work in the industry somewhere.
 
Alex H. said:
So, David, does this modification mean that the tree is a May Fir?
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faildrum.jpg
 
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