On Location: Part 19
Hangin? With The Riggers
Summary by: Don Keefe
(Please note that the following comments are my opinions and speculations regarding the production of Episode II and do not necessarily reflect those of TheForce.net)
We are back in the studio for this On Location. Interesting that a child with a group of children in the background introduces this clip. Are these future Jedi or extras for Mos Espa, Coruscant or maybe even Alderaan? This clip is 1 minute and 55 seconds and features a rigger named Gilly Huxley. This is Ahmed?s first interview that takes place 50 feet up in the air!
Ahmed: Ahmed Best here with www.starwars.com. We are here 50 FEET IN THE AIR! We are talking to one of the riggers on starwars.com.
Hello, how are you?
Gilly: Good.
Ahmed: What?s your name?
Gilly: Gilly Huxley.
Ahmed: Gilly Huxley, you are a rigger. What does a rigger do?
Gilly: A rigger works on high or on the ground. They hang anything that can go up basically.
Ahmed: Approximately how many things have you hung for Star Wars?
Gilly: Ohh, about 700 lights and approximately 800 kilometers of cable.
(That?s 497 miles! That?s longer than driving from Boston, Massachusetts to New York City roundtrip, which is 380 miles.
Now that?s a lot of cable!)
Ahmed: Is it difficult to become a rigger, especially on Star Wars?
Gilly: On Star Wars yeah, it?s a very refined type of rigging. Whereas being a rigger is not so difficult. You can take a course, which takes about 4 weeks plus a little bit of money. But it?s all about using your brain; so all that math you learned in school is useful.
Ahmed: Right on. What kind of math do you do here for rigging?
Gilly: Things like physics. If you need to raise something at two points the angle of that is very important. If you start spreading the angle too far it starts to fall. It actually changes the amount you can hang, the strength of it.
Ahmed: You?re an electric rigger right?
Gilly: Yes.
Ahmed: Approximately how many lights do you rig per day?
Gilly: About 20 ? 50 lights.
Ahmed: 20 ? 50 lights! She rigs all day long, hanging lights from the rafters, Gilly Huxley.
Ahmed: I have to get down now cause I?m going to wet myself. Ahmed Best, starwars.com, check her out, check me out, check it out on the web. Who you callin a rigger!