Apprenticeship training course

Junior grip (level 2)

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Information about Junior grip (level 2)

Build, maintain and move grip equipment during productions.

• Knowledge, skills and behaviours:
  View knowledge, skills and behaviours

  Knowledge

  • The workflow for grip activity and its impact on production schedules and budgets.
  • Roles, responsibilities and dependencies of departments involved in the production process and their interactions with grip activities.
  • The impact of own work on the productivity of grip team and other teams involved in productions.
  • Methods to identify and resolve conflict with other people.
  • Production protocols for clarifying instructions and requirements, offering suggestions and alternative solutions and alerting others to hazards.
  • Set etiquette and expected behaviours and protocols for working on a production in both a studio or on location.
  • Health and safety legislation, production-specific policies and procedures while handling, fixing, moving and operating grip and grip related equipment.
  • Protocols and recording requirements to ensure a safe working environment for self, crew, performers and the public.
  • The purpose, format and content of equipment safety certificates. Which equipment requires a certificate. How to assess if a certificate is valid. How and where to store information about certificates.
  • The limits of own expertise and when it is appropriate to consult with or refer to others.
  • The range of floor types, frames, boards and decking that might be used to support track and their construction methods, weight limits and strengths. Situations in which they might be used and who might assemble them.
  • The range of track. Its design limits for surface type, incline and the size and weight of equipment and people to be carried, including circumstances when different types of bracing should be used.
  • The range of dollies, tracking platforms and trailers, their uses, capabilities and design limits.
  • How to operate dollies, camera cranes and jib arms, including those with electric or pressure systems.
  • The range of camera cranes and jib arms, their uses, differences and design limits.
  • The effect of weight, balance, payload, cables, types of mountings and methods and types of fastenings when rigging grip equipment, cameras and remotely controlled heads.
  • The purpose of special earth bonds and how to secure them so that cables cannot foul mounts or other parts on the rig.
  • The range of materials and consumables required for assembling, rigging, dismantling and cleaning grip equipment.
  • The uses and design limits of tools required to assemble, rig and dismantle grip equipment.
  • Storage requirements for tools, materials and consumables.
  • Policies and practices to keep grip equipment and rigs secure, safe and protected from the environment.
  • How to meet freelancing requirements for income, expenditure, cash flow, invoicing, insurance and tax.
  • How to use techniques to secure employment in the industry including networking, interviews, and keeping up to date CVs. How to evaluate their effectiveness.

  Skills

  • Comply with production specific policies, practices and agreed risk assessments for health and safety.
  • Identify, mitigate and report any incidents or risks to self, the public, crew or performer safety to the appropriate person.
  • Select suitable equipment, materials and consumables for the work to be carried out.
  • Complete role related paperwork to obtain and return grip equipment, materials and consumables.
  • Check grip equipment is complete, clean and in appropriate and safe condition, both for use and for return to suppliers.
  • Lay track that is stable, silent, safe and sufficiently level for tracking, providing additional support which gives sufficient strength over gaps or overhangs when required.
  • Calculate safe working loads for the equipment taking account of its use and prevailing environmental conditions.
  • Use tools to assemble, position and dismantle track and rigs, checking them for safety before use and storing them correctly after use.
  • Fasten cameras and accessories in non-complex situations using appropriate camera mounts, materials, ropes, knots or strops and without damaging static mounts, camera dollies, camera mounts, cranes, jib arms, vehicles, tracking cars or trailers or causing injury to people.
  • Produce rigs of dollies, static mounts and on overhanging walls and ledges.
  • Comply with policies and practices for the protection, security and safety of grip equipment, securing rigs when left unattended or in adverse weather conditions and applying environmental protection when required.
  • Obtain and carry out work on an ongoing basis that is within their area of skills and experience and on which they can deliver, referring to others when required.
  • Lay basic floors with subframes or decks that are strong and stable enough to support the equipment and have sufficient space to operate the equipment and achieve smooth tracking.

  Behaviours

  • Works with a high level of sustained concentration and attention to detail, producing work which meets safety and production requirements within agreed deadlines.
  • Works as part of a team, offering and accepting support from colleagues without conflict so that production requirements are met.
  • Displays professional behaviour and respect to both grip colleagues and the wider production team in line with accepted set etiquette and equality, diversity and inclusion standards.
  • Applies an appreciation of the value of the equipment to their work, using appropriate handling, packaging and cleaning techniques to maintain the safety and security of equipment.
  • Works safely to ensure a safe working environment, for themselves and others, in line with health and safety requirements at all times.
  • Thinks creatively and logically to solve technical issues, identifying appropriate approaches that meet production requirements.
  • Maintains a key interest in new and emerging innovations and developments in grip equipment, technology and approaches, including viable sustainability options; regularly evaluating their effect on their skills and planning ways to increase their experience.
• Apprenticeship category (sector): Creative and design
• Qualification level: 2; Equal to GCSE
• Course duration: 24 months
• Maximum funding: £15,000 ; Maximum government funding for ; apprenticeship training and assessment costs.
• Job titles include:
  • Crane grip
  • Dolly grip
  • Floor grip
  • Grip
  • Rag grip- blue and green screen
  • Rigging grip
  • Truck grip

View more information about Junior grip (level 2) from the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education.