Behind the Scenes

ave you ever wondered, when the credits roll at the end of your favorite movie or television show, what do all those funny titles mean? Gaffer, Key Grip, Best Boy? Now you're going to find out as CoA steps behind the camera, the action and lights - wait, hold the lights! That's exactly who we are going to spotlight, the Gaffer or in this case, Dan Kerns, the Chief Lighting Technician for Angel. Cinepars, MiniBrutes, and Midget Mole Fresnels may sound like some new species of demon for Angel to battle this season, but in reality they're all basic lighting equipment used by the Gaffer. Dan has the unique credit of being one of a very few people left on the series who have actually worked on every single episode. He's a very open person with a playful sense of humor, and very gracious when it comes to complimenting and appreciating his fellow workers. We caught up with Dan just as he completed the first days filming of this season's episode, "Spin the Bottle" to learn everything we could about what it is like to be a Gaffer. To make the learning curve a little bit easier, here are just a few of current technical credits for this season of Angel with who and what they do. You'll be reading more about them during this feature, although there are many others of course, very few actually make it to the ending screen credits of the show.

ROLL CREDITS

Just some of the Gaffer's equipment

The Director of Photography (DP or Cinematographer), Ross Berryman, is responsible for the process of recording a scene in the manner desired by the director. Other duties include: selection of film stock, cameras and lenses; designing and selecting lighting, directing the gaffer's placement of lighting; shot composition; film developing and printing.

The Assistant Chief Lighting Technician (Best Boy Electric), Jerry Mandley, is the assistant to the Gaffer and is responsible for 'men and equipment'; meaning, how many 'grips' to hire for the next days shooting, how much equipment will be needed, along with keeping the inventory in order.

The Key Grip, Andre Sobzcak, the chief of a group of Grips, is responsible for the rigging (carpentry) and for moving and readying the sets and camera dollies. They create shadow effects with lights and operate camera cranes, Often doubling for a construction co-coordinator and a backup for the camera crew.

The Chief Lighting Technician (Gaffer), Dan Kerns, is responsible for the design and execution of the lighting plan for a film or television production. He works with the Director of Photography or D.P. to develop the particular look required for a scene or effect. Whether the job is a feature film or an industrial video on a low budget, the Gaffer has an extensive knowledge of the film stock or video equipment being used, lighting equipment and techniques, and effective leadership principles. It is of paramount importance that he is able to accurately estimate the time required for a particular setup in order that actors and others may be scheduled accordingly. The term "Gaffer" is derived from the word Grandfather and its use in the motion picture industry is most often traced back to the longshoremen hired to move and place the extremely heavy lights used in the early days of the cinema. Interestingly enough, most, if not all, these terms originated from sailing references, as sailors-due to their experience as riggers-where often used in early theatrical stage productions. Today the term "Chief Lighting Technician" is often replacing that of Gaffer, but the duties are the same. He heads the lighting department, and is one of the most crucial people on the set. He and his crew, referred to, as Electricians, Electrics or Lamp Operators are responsible for running all the electrical cable and placing the lights. Like every other member of the production team, his job is to help the viewer "suspend disbelief", and get lost in the manufactured reality of the film or video production.

Dan grew up in Port Carbon, Pennsylvania, a small coalmining town known for its Anthracite (hence the name) and steeped in history with patriotic participation in the Revolutionary days, the War of 1812, and the Civil War. This past July 4th the town celebrated its 150th anniversary, but more importantly to Dan, he remembers it as his steppingstone to the movie industry. While attending college in Pittsburgh, where he had several friends who were filmmakers, he became a 'stock actor'. "I was always helping them out with their student films," he begins telling us. "I would act for them and pretty much do anything for them. I was probably in about maybe a dozen student films in college, most of which I've never seen," he admits laughing. "Hopefully they're not going to come back to embarrass me at some point."

Dan Kerns (standing) and his crew.
Back row, l-r: Jerry Mandley, Jason Beck, Tom McGough, Jeff Noble
Front row, l-r: Ray Ortega, Matt Little

Following graduation, he moved back home for about a year and a half and then Hollywood came to this very small area of northeastern Pennsylvania. "I was one of the few people who applied for any kind of job who had any kind of film experience at all. My first job was actually driving the cast around. It was a film released directly to video called: Made in the USA [1988] staring Chris Penn, Lori Singer and Adrian Pasdar and it was actually a miserable movie, it was awful," he admits. The tagline for the film was: 'They hit the road in search of thrills and excitement . . .' Ironically enough, that offered an opportunity for Dan, "When the movie left town and went back to California, I went with it and I've been here ever since. That was 17-years ago."

When looking at Dan's credit listing, you would think that when he stepped off the plane he walked straight into the proverbial pot of gold. He has worked on no less than five highly successful major motion pictures, and certainly while working his way up through the ranks in the lighting field has perfected his craft by learning from some of the best people in the industry. This list includes Dan's work as a Rigging Gaffer on Get Shorty (1995) starring John Travolta and Gene Hackman; The Fan (1996) featuring Robert De Niro and Wesley Snipes; and The Game (1997) with Michael Douglas and Sean Penn. He was also the Electrician on the 1998 film Mercury Rising starring Bruce Willis and Alec Baldwin. Pretty impressive for a kid from a small coalmining town. "I got very lucky," states Dan modestly. He credits his early success back to his driving job on Made in the USA. "Drivers sit around a lot and I didn't like sitting around, I wanted to get out there and find out what was going on. At the end of the day I used to go help [the crew] wrap their gear up and put it in the truck. I got to be friendly with those guys," he says "and when I moved to LA they hired me on as a full-time electrician. After that I got a reputation as a very hard worker so even if I didn't quite know what I was doing, I would work hard at it and I learn quickly. After about five years I eventually got into the Union and then the big stuff opened up."

A NEW WORLD

Ross Berryman with Dan at work on the set of the Hyperion

"My first gaffing job on Angel was last season. I was knocking around as a Best Boy, as a rigging Gaffer and as a set technician for 15 years before I got the opportunity to be the gaffer. Some guys just get luckier than others; it's about who you know," he admits. "The joke goes: 'there are only three things you need to be a Gaffer; a [light] meter, a button-down shirt and a director of photography and the first two really don't count.' When a DP leaves the show, generally the technical crew goes with him because they bring in a new director of photography and he likes to have his own guys. It's his prerogative to hire his own people, so it's not like you really want to leave." After Herb Davis, the first DP on Angel, left following the first two seasons the producers liked Dan enough to suggest him to the new DP: Ross Berryman. Ross had just come back to LA after two seasons in Chicago and had lost most of his contacts in L.A. "I had a meeting with him and he decided to give me an opportunity. That's why I went from the Best Boy up to being a Gaffer, which was a whole new world."

Luckily for Dan, and probably to his advantage, the transition between directors of photography was an easy one, much to the credit of how Joss Whedon and David Greenwalt run their productions. "I think Ross had a mandate to try to match what had been done on the show the first two seasons. Herb was very good and he was a very nice guy and he worked very quickly. There was no animosity, he just decided to leave and move on. They really liked what Herb had done and they hoped we'd just continue it and since I had a lot of familiarity of what had already gone on--a lot of sets were still established--I had a leg up on anybody else who would have came in." Dan's experiences on the first two seasons were a tremendous help. "Oh yeah, but keep in mind that during those first two seasons, as the Best Boy, I'm rarely on the set actually lighting the scene. I'm always either in front of the company or behind the company; making sure everything is ready when they come in."

"Episodic television is very difficult; it's very long hours, it can be very hard, especially when you're dealing with vampires."

The transition between DP's may have been a breeze compared to the transition of going from Best Boy to Gaffer. "It was so not about lighting," he laughs. "It was more about delegating, learning how to operating and run a crew, and knowing what you had to have and when you had to have it. Essentially, when the lighting comes, the buck stops with you. It was a big responsibility; it was also a big change for me because I had a lot of trouble just directing guys to do what I wanted. I was so impatient," he explains, "if I need something done, I'm just going to go do it; and here I am running around the set, moving all the lights when I have four guys standing there, 'Would you please ask me to move a light for you, it's not your job anymore.' I had to start thinking about these things and let the other guys do the work because that's what they're paid to do." Delegation is a difficult word. "Exactly," laughs Dan as he admits he's still learning in certain aspects of the job. "I can start concentrating on doing the lighting. Of course Ross is very patient with me, he knew my limitations but he knew I had a leg up on everybody because I knew the way they did things. But he basically told me, 'This is what I need here, this is what I need there', and it was a couple months before I felt confident enough to start making my own suggestions, knowing what he was going to need and just doing it. And this season, so far, has been a lot better too. That first season was definitely an on-the-job learning experience."

Ironically, Dan also worked as an electrician on Alien: Resurrection (1997), which starred Sigourney Weaver and Winona Ryder. He knew that Joss had a writing credit on the film but he had never met him at the time, predestination not withstanding. "I didn't even know who he was." Dan admits, "That movie was so big I was just another face in the set and I honestly don't even remember even seeing him. The first time I met him was the first episode of Angel, which he directed." In this very much word-of-mouth industry, the random threads of fate seem to all tie together on occasion, especially on Angel.

"Demons in tunnels or sewers, we often used party gels."

The White Room from the episode "Forgiven" of Season 3

Herb Davis had been a camera operator and did some 2nd Unit [A small, subordinate crew responsible for filming shots of less importance, such as inserts, crowds, scenery, etc.] shooting on Buffy the Vampire Slayer during its early seasons. In 1998, Dan and Rick West had just finished a short-run series called Brimstone, featuring Lori Petty. The following year, Herb did the pilot for a series called Action, a half-hour comedy, where Rick happened to be the Gaffer. When Herb was offered Angel that same year, he brought Rick on board as Gaffer, who in turn asked Dan to Best Boy for him.

Herb had been familiar with Buffy and knew the world that Joss had created, but as for Dan, he knew nothing of what he was getting himself into. "Nothing, to this day I've never seen an episode of Buffy," he confesses. "And people would have to tell me when these characters would came over; I had no idea who Spike was. I wasn't even sure who Angel [David Boreanaz] was until they told me that he was on Buffy. I knew a lot of people who worked on Buffy and I knew it'd been going on for years. I saw the original movie that it was based on." But as far as his quality-of-life, Dan assures us that, "Episodic television is very difficult. It's very long hours, it can be very hard; especially when you're dealing with vampires, because you get to be one too. A lot of night shoots definitely. Which, this is odd, today was the first time we ever-left work on a Friday before 7pm. And that's only because Joss wanted to get home and watch Firefly," he laughs admitting, "Otherwise he'd probably still be working. I love the pace; it actually works well for me."

Go to Next Page