Meet The Gaffer #40: Cable Wrangling Tip

[@AdrianWongKen]

binge watched your entire channel, thank you.

[@sebp400]

awesome tips. funny anecdote: on my first base camp set up, here in montreal, the two other guys ''training'' me were arguing about which side to start unrolling from! I guess I now have my answer.

[@JamieJobb]

Love the "two-shot" angle with you leaving frame for truck and set. Are you SURE you don't want to direct?!?

[@meetthegaffer]

😂

[@polymoth]

looking at this makes me love my cable truck more and more.

[@markblanch2905]

Love your opening comments/concept

[@jibclimmer]

F the truck. That made me laugh.

[@cg5436]

Lovely video as usual Luke! Keep up the good work!

[@sethholston4142]

This might be my favorite channel

[@meetthegaffer]

I'm glad you like it:-)

[@rmack350]

Awesome. As I understand it, 4-ought cable is about a pound/foot. If you've got 100' runs and 5 strands in the run then you're looking at some serious weight. Cutting it in half like this makes the whole wrap possible. And once you've tried to stuff it all back into a jockey box you'll see that cart as the best thing EVER!

[@kirkpflaum]

Enjoying watching your channel Luke. Very informative. I'd be interested in an episode on your approach to night exterior type set ups if you do any.

[@meetthegaffer]

Kirk, I don't do a ton anymore, but it happens from time to time. Anything in particular you'd like to know more about?

[@kirkpflaum]

Just keen to know about emulating moonlight in an large open field (football size) and what kind of sized lamps you've perhaps used in the past. I'm hoping with digital camera's ISO sensitivity these days and newer LED fixtures, I might not need to go as big and keep power draw down.

[@meetthegaffer]

Got it. You're right, in the past, if production couldn't afford a Mussco or BeeBee truck, we used to put up a few condors with whatever the biggest lights were currently available... from Maxi's to 18K's. I guess it depends what's in your scene and whether you want a broad, overall ambient and then maybe some harder light to act as a scratch/liner/greaser. If it's just an actor or two having a heart to heart in a large expanse, you could get away with a M90 as a 3/4 Back for on one of those super-high American crank up stands and then just bounce in the front fill to suit. So many ways to go...

[@kirkpflaum]

Thanks for the info. Look forward to seeing more videos and I'll let you know if this night shoot ever goes ahead and how it went.

[@lachlanstamp4203]

@@kirkpflaum any update mate?

[@Speedman19]

Great Tips!!! I'll put that one to use soon

[@watchlearn708]

Sir v good and so love your work

[@chogoris952]

Nice, quick et usefull tip ! Thanks !

[@Beaukester]

This is genius. Thank you sir

[@sebp400]

Actually, I'd like to get tips on how to cable in a real environment. Yesterday, while setting up distro for mirror kits and power bars for HMU stations (I'm a swing p.a. on a Disney movie rn), I was wondering if I could've made the job better. It's easy with a regular a/c cable. I just keep the bundle/coil in my hand and unroll by small sections and keep my cable from twisting by turning cw or ccw my bundle in my right hand, while unrolling with the left hand. But in this particular situation, and with bigger cables, I don't split the bundle, I start at the blackbox(distro) and pull on the cable to where I want to plug in my plum box. So I was pulling a 50 feet joy under tables by myself. My questions are: Is it better to do this with another person? And, is there a better way?

[@meetthegaffer]

Not exactly sure what you are referencing. Maybe get someone to take some iPhone footage of what you are doing and email it to me?

[@wrightcubbins]

Back tip: Let y'r Best Boy handle it!

[@meetthegaffer]

Ha, ha!

[@felipehenaovideo]

Thanks!!

[@kampen212]

beautiful

[@elisakamke2391]

Seriously, you are doing a video about cable wrangling and not mention the over-under-wrangling? I'm doing the over-under even with 63 or 125A (we do not use the multicore cables very often in Germany) and there is no problem at all... I put it on the ground like you and wrap it up without any lifting.

[@meetthegaffer]

That's great el! I'm glad your method works for you. I am just showing how I work with single conductor copper that is 100 feet long and can therefore be on the heavy side and create strain over time. This happens to be ~230 amp 2/0. I would wrap 4/0 in a similar way. It would be great if you would shoot a short video that shows how you approach this task. Thank you for contributing!

[@MidWestConcertVideo2]

Seriously? He's not doing over-under?

[@meetthegaffer]

LOL!

[@MidWestConcertVideo2]

In video, wrapping a cable in any way other than over-under is a fireable offense.

[@meetthegaffer]

MidWest Concert Video, what kind of video production are you referring to... broadcast or live events or something else?

[@MidWestConcertVideo2]

We shoot concerts - 15 of them so far this year. All audio and video cables are wrapped "over-under" where one loop is made overhand, followed by a loop made underhand. If you make a continuous series of overhand loops like you were doing in this video, it adds a 180 degree twist to the cable for each loop. Over-under creates one 180 twist for the overhand loop, followed by a reverse 180 twist from the underhand loop - allowing the cable to not flip around. I've worked as a stagehand, and over-under wrapping is even more important with lighting cables as it allows you to pay cables directly out of a case and lay flat with no twists.

[@meetthegaffer]

Agreed, many folks do it, especially sound people in my experience. My rule of thumb is to do it the way the owner of the cable wants it done. My good friend, Alan Steinheimer coils his cable over-under. When I work with his gear that's the way I'm going to coil it... well, except for banded and above:-) I was taught on movies to coil "Hollywood Wind", so that's how I coil my own cable. I can do it either way, but that's my preference.