Putting the motion in pictures with Adam Kuiper

Recent cinema releases The Fall Guy and Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga featured some of the most impressive action scenes audiences will see on the big screen this year, including a Guinness World Record for the most cannon rolls in a car performed by a stunt driver by stunt driver Logan Holladay in The Fall Guy. But what goes in to capturing these epic sequences?

Adam Kuiper is one of Australia’s most experienced grips and as key grip on both The Fall Guy and Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, both of which were shot in NSW and supported by Screen NSW’s Made in NSW Fund, helped ‘put the motion’ in these high-octane movies.  

To find out more about what a grip does, Screen NSW visited Adam at his workshop to interview him about what it was like working on two of this year’s biggest blockbuster films, how technology has impacted the grip role over the years and what he looks for in the next generation of grip technicians. You can read the full interview below, plus watch a video of Adam walking us through some of his equipment.

Can you describe what a grip does?

The simplest way I can describe what a grip does is we put the motion in the picture. Depending on the size of the project, a grip department consists of a large or small team, and we put the motion in the picture through mounting cameras on tracks and dollies, we operate camera cranes and car rigs, we put cameras on the front of vehicles or helicopters. It all depends on the project’s requirements.

You recently worked on Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga and The Fall Guy, can you tell us a little bit more about your work on these films?

Stylistically, they're both very different. The style of each film changes a lot depending on the mood of the actors, where they are and what they're doing in each scene. As a grip, it's my job to work out what pieces of equipment can create and help support that style, while working with the continuity of the film.

When we start on a project, grips will work closely with the Director of Photography (DOP), who has input on equipment, to see what will work best for the scenes we are shooting. For us certain pieces of equipment will do the same job but do it differently, and they look different when you watch it on the screen, so we work through that. For instance, if we're shooting something on a stabilised head, the image is going to be very stable and smooth, whereas, if the camera is handheld, it's providing an extra energy for that scene. So, for instance for a fight scene it can look a little odd having a picturesque and clean image from a stabilised head for something that's kind of gritty and violent. These are all things we ask before shooting starts to make sure that the equipment flagged for each day is what the production want. There could also be a variation of both stabilised and handheld needed, depending on the style.

So, what you use on one film is not cut and paste on another one. It's basically a fresh lay every time.

Were there any challenges you came across working on Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga and The Fall Guy?

The coverage for the stunts is always a tricky one. You need to work out how much of the background will be shot and appear as is on screen and how much is going to be CGI extended in post-production. Then you need to work out where the cameras are going to be, and how to get the best coverage possible with minimal chance of destroying equipment. That's where our job gets tricky. We ask ‘Can the scene be shot back on one longer lens for that extra safety? Is it still going to look right?’ If we do have to put a camera in a vulnerable position, we will generally pick a lesser value piece of equipment, knowing that there is a chance we're not going to get it back. Of course we want all the cameras back, but we don’t want to be so conservative that the cameras aren’t where the action is or close enough to the action to get the right shot.

These are all the questions and conversations we will have with the DOP and the safety officer when choosing the equipment. So, they're all the little challenges we can come across - trying to predict the unpredictable.

What do you enjoy most about working on large-scale productions?

On some of the smaller shows where there's only three or four grips, we have to use our time to get the job done and don’t have the ability to set time aside for training or if you do it happens after hours.

So the number one thing I most enjoy about working on large-scale productions is they give us the ability to keep our craft alive in the industry for future generations. The numbers on set on larger projects are generally higher so we can bring in trainees, who don’t have a lot of experience, and we can take extra time to teach and train them. The ability to be able to train people and give them hands on experience on larger-scale productions is tenfold for these jobs. It enables filmmaking in Australia to continue with fresh talent.

What do you look for in somebody that you're going to train?

I generally look for some kind of mechanical knowledge. In my experience the people who I have trained up most efficiently and reached where they want to be in their apprenticeship, have prior knowledge of tools and mechanical repair work. Of course, there are some people who don’t have these skills initially and they have had to upskill during training - it's just taken a bit longer and they've had to put a bit more work in while they are learning.

In CVs from applicants, I’ll look for things like the ability to use hand tools and understand how they work. It can even be helpful if you can put together Ikea furniture. I know it sounds weird but it’s all the process of planning ahead with the tools you’re using and not just rushing to use the first screw you find in the packet. That applies itself well in our industry!

Since COVID-19 I’ve seen a fair bit of interest from women looking to get in to gripping which I’m glad to see. I didn’t find this as much prior to the pandemic.

Do you have any advice for people looking to get in to grip work?

In the last couple of years, I feel like I'm training a record amount of people and there’s a lot of people interested in getting into the industry. My advice to people wanting to get into the industry is if this is something that you're passionate about and you're not just here for the money, there's a lifetime of opportunity, training and things to learn in the gripping world. Part of that is sustained by having the additional pieces of equipment that we work with that lead into other areas on a production. It's up to the individual to choose what their strengths and weaknesses are, and which way they want to pursue that. 

How has technology impacted your role?

In my role as a grip I don't believe we ever get bored in our job. We never stop learning. Technology keeps bringing new equipment in, so we need to keep purchasing and using new equipment. By bringing in the new equipment, it means we are able to provide projects the latest equipment all the time, but this comes at a cost. We do have a high turnover of equipment and the ability to be able to keep up with new technology is based on the  number of projects coming here for us to work on.

Can you share with us some of your favourite locations that you’ve worked at?

There's a couple of ways that I can answer that – it depends on what is needed from a location.

My favourite big scale location, that provides a great background, is the Harbour Bridge and Sydney Harbour. My favourite location from a film crew perspective, where we can build what we want from scratch is Kurnell, in the south of Sydney.

Then my favourite location for diversity in the background would be Sydney City. At locations around the city, you are able to turn the camera 90 degrees and you get a completely different look and backdrop. There aren’t many places in the world you can do that. And then when you put them all together and you get maximum flexibility from Sydney.

What do you think makes NSW such an appealing location for productions?

I think NSW has a significant amount of equipment and film technicians here. This amount is important because it means there is the availability to do multiple projects in the state at once and not run out of crew, so that is also attractive for producers - knowing that they don't have to put extra crew on planes and accommodate them here. I think as a state, it also has a lot to offer from a location point of view as you don’t have to travel too far to find different looks. The weather traditionally has been quite good here, and I think the broad scope of population here and the ability to get materials quickly, so we can build sets quickly, is definitely favourable.