Best Boy You thought: – The producer’s gimp.

Actually: Responsible for running the rigging and lighting department, including crew hiring and schedules, liaising between the electrical crew and the other units on a film, booking rented lighting and grip equipment in and out, loading production trucks and setting up lighting. Term dates back to the apprentice system. Not always a boy.

The Gaffer You thought: – Vague authority figure – Some old guy.

Actually: Known sometimes as Chief Lighting Technician, the gaffer is the head of the electrical department and will oversee the construction of (and often design) practical lighting set-ups. Works closely with the director of photography. The term ‘gaffer’ is thought to derive from ‘gaff poles’ used to move a film studio’s mirrored panels into usefully reflective positions back when movies could only be shot with available light. The need to provide adhesion by wrapping the poles with tape is one possible explanation for the term ‘gaffer’s tape’.