Gaffer (VT, film, BT) is the most senior electrician on the crew.
Gaffer tape (VT, film, BT) is heavy-duty electrical insulating tape, about 2 inches wide. In theory, parts of the gaffer’s domain but in practice one of the most highly praised bits of tools in the business. Many are the problem that can be solved with good old gaffer tape, particularly in business theatre. Gaffer tape sticks wires and cables down to carpets, walls, etc., so viewers and crew don’t trip over them, and white gaffer tape stuck on the bases of light stands and other protruding ironmongery prevents untold bruised shins and embarrassing crashes in darkened meeting venues.
Gag (all) any joke which is introduced into a script, rather than one which arises naturally out of the subject matter concerned.
Gallery (VT) in big videotape studios the gallery is the main control room located above and overlooking the main studio floor beneath. Production crews in the galley look on through soundproofed windows and communicate over the talk-back system.
Gate (film, ST) the part of the projector or camera through which the movie travels at the time of projection on display or of photography. Also applies to a slide being projected.
Gel (ST) is abbreviation for gelatin, although in fact it means section of translucent color movie. In slide-tape production a colored gel can be inserted into a slide mount behind, say, a lith word or other graphics. Lith, pro9hected on its own, comes out as white lettering, etc.; with the gel it will project as whatever colors the gel consists of.
Generation (ST, VT, film, and sound) is the stages of coping a recording, program of movie beyond the master. For example, a VHS copy of a videotape program, copied from a U-matic edition which has been taken from a 1-inch master, would be third generation. If you copied some more VHS tapes from your original VHS, they would be fourth generation. And the class would be lousy, too – the more generations, the worse it gets.
Generators (VT, film, BT) see genny
Genny (VT, film, BT) is abbreviation for the portable electrical energy generator used to power lights and other tools on location or at a venue. Usually gennies are mounted on a truck and are driven by diesel motors, which can make sound problems.
Get in/out (BT) the occasion and procedure of getting all presentation tools in and out of the venue. Sometimes includes to rig
and be-rig, plus building and striking the set. This can involve as small as a couple of well-muscled men and a van or as much as a whole theatrical crew including chippies, sparks, a dozen more able-bodied individuals, a twitching set designer with an armful of plans and a producer trying to set the whole thing to music. Strictly speaking, in theatrical terms, the get-in means physically getting the tools in and that’s it, but in business theatre it overspills as there’s seldom time for get-in and rigging to run consecutively. The get-in is usually the time-consuming part of the operation, and is especially fraught when there’s only a limited amount of time before the show. This explains why clients often see red eyes in unshaven faces among meeting crews, for whom one, two or even three all-night stints are just part of the job. Get-outs don’t take as long because by this time everyone knows which bits go where and which cases should contain what tools.
Ghost (VT, film, ST) with videotape and movie, this is a faint secondary picture which appears adjacent to the main one. The videotape problem is caused by a mistiming of the signal; the movie edition is usually a hiccup in projection. With slide-tape, ghosting will happen when a projector doesn’t dim properly or when there’s a design fault in the optical tools.