Gaffer tape for biceps and chest

Very interesting read guys... noticed the tape in the screen grabs before but never thought about actually adding! I guess this is what makes the LSD what it is guys...! keep it up.

stukatrooper wrote:

Welcome to the world that is L.S.D,its what we do !

Yes... Not many people wants to go accurate all the way. I have been dreaming of doing this for some time now. Just haven't found the time to do it.

Anyway, what I really meant was that I don't see much people, if ever, actually mentioning that duct tape and gaffer's tape are not the same thing.
Therefore, I think duct tape (white, black or whatever color) could be not 100% accurate
:D

Saludos.

Mojo wrote:

Very interesting read guys... noticed the tape in the screen grabs before but never thought about actually adding! I guess this is what makes the LSD what it is guys...! keep it up.

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cheers

Hey Juan,
there is a sandtrooper that had gaffer tape on his calves too. I just cant find the screen capture. arrggg. It is one of the TDs that are searching for the droids at the Mos Eisley spaceport.

Yep...


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And, also some black tape on the Move Along Trooper shoulder.

I will try to do it that way soon.

:D

Saludos

This thread is awesome in that it proves/discussed that most if not all of the troopers were kinda thrown together 'on set' when things popped when it shouldn't have..

locitus wrote:

This is off topic, but I just noticed that Mr No Stripes in this pic that Stuka posted has regular purple(?) rubber band or something to hold his shoulder strap down instead of the white elastic.

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I just noticed the other guys strap is taped up with white tape too.

A bit off topic but on a very recent troop I had a disaster, as I put my chest on the shoulder strap snapped clean off.

Well with the help of Pete & Billy a little plastic weld and a lot of gaffer tape my armour is now looking more screen accurate buy the day!

Although I will leave the elastic bands till the next disaster!

In a nut shell I was going to fix it but I think I will leave it as the tape gives the armour a sense of charm.

Yep the old gaffa tape shoulder strap is a Set for Stun classic.

Just yesterday I was on production shooting a commercial. Got to chat witha gaffer (the person) and now I have some info about gaffer's tape that might not be new, but I have not seen discussed on any board.

Thing is there is a very wide collection of tapes used on production, as one could imagine. Being the most famouse the Gaffer's tape which is not plastic but textile like material. It is textile but very similar to paper in behavior.

This might come in gray, white, blue, green and black mainly.

It is all mate finished cause it is important that it does not reflects any light at all.

In filmaking, they also use a wide viriety of tapes includding: masking tape in black, white, blue and some other colors; plastic electricians tape in many colors; scotchs tape; and some other clothe like tape in many brilliant flourescent colors (similar to sports tape).

But one thing was clear, it is not a common pracive on the film industry tonuse any tipe of duct tape. This cause it is not easy to handle with gloves on or in a hurry, it is too sticky and damages equioment and filters, and it is too reflecive. Not plastic or duct tape is used by gaffers for their main duties at work at all.

i also got different samples of different tape, including gaffer's and I plan to share it and maybe even try to match it with screen grabs or whatever.

Dont know if this is common knolwedge but for me it was very interesting.

Hope you find it interestin too.

Saludos.

Thanks Juan!

In Sweden we pretty much exclusively use the word "gaffatejp" when we refer to the silver coloured gaffer tape made from fabric/textile. So for me gaffer tape has always been a fabric tape backed with glue on one side, and a pastic water resistant silver-ish top. Or any tape with similar properties but in other colours.

OK... so maybe I am pushing it to far here, but, this is what this forum is for, right? Research and discuss all the little obsessive details...

So. I want to share with you the field research I made last week on Gaffer's tape. Just to clear some stuff here, in the film industry, a gaffer is an electrician. The electricians staff use all type of tapes to do their job. Fixing, connecting and positioning lights, filters, cables, and the like.

Also, in film production, the art, audio and video departments use all kind of tapes to do their jobs.

But the most famous and commonly available tape on set is Gaffer's tape.

Other tapes used on set are masking tape, electricians tape and scotch tape. All in different wides and colors. But for tape that are going to be presented to camera for one or another reason, a very important thing is that it does not reflects light. So plastic tapes are a no go for camera appearance.

So, duct tape, the plastic one most commonly seen in silver color, is not used on film production. Cause, plastic, specially silver, reflects light a lot and can not be "Erased" that easy.

As I said before, duct tape is also not used cause it is too sticky and damages equipment, gels, filters, etc. And it is also difficult to handle in a hurry, specially when wearing gloves.

So... here is a sample of different tapes used in production, at least, in the last shooting I had. I guess not much has changed since 1976.


From left to right:
-Duct tape (not used on filmaking)
-Black Gaffe's tape. Textile but paper like behavior (also available in blue, green, gray and white)
-Black masking tape. Paper
-Black electricians tape. Plastic (not use for in camera appearance)
-White electricians tape. Plastic (not use for in camera appearance)
-White masking tape. Paper
-Blues masking tape. Paper (used mostly by art department, not by gaffers)

There are many other tapes in green, blue, pink, orange and other bright colors used by the camera and video crews to set marks and spot rendering and animating cues. I did not got those, cause it never appears on ANH.



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Also, check the different textures from one tape to another.

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And finally, the sticking capacity is different from tape to tape. Being the less sticky electricians tape, then blue masking tape, then white and black masking tape, then gaffers tape and the most sticky without a doubt is duct tape.

Also, electricians tape and duct tape leave a lot of residue, specially in hot conditions and film sets are HOT. Blue masking tape and gaffer's tape, leave the less... white and black masking tape are ok, leaving few to none residue.

Finally, gaffer's tape is the most expensive tape, electricians tape is the cheapest and duct tape is in the middle.

Oh, and one more thing. Gaffer's tape can be used a few times before it looses stickiness. And it does not tear or loose shape when removing it from surfaces or whatever. Masking tape and electricians tape are not the best to use and re use due to tearing or losing stickiness. Maybe blue masking tape can be re used a few times, but not as much or a good as gaffer's.

So...

My idea is try and find out what king of tape was used to keep armors in place. My guess is black gaffer, and either white masking tape or white gaffer. Thinking more about white gaffer since it is probably more commonly available in a film set.

What do you guys think?

Saludos

Great post Juan, lots of good info there!

White gaffer sounds good to me.

I think they used everything that was available and didn't reflecting lights
We can see there's a lot of residues on the recently found screen used armor :D also if the electrical tape theory for sandtroopers backpack were true(and my guess also on the move along trooper because its thin),it proves that residue issue was not their concern. it's hard to narrowed the search,because if all its true they didn't use a single type of tape on each location and costumes.......unless if you want to narrowed a specific trooper :D

Yeah! I too think the art, prop and costume departments used what they had in hand for on set repairs. Thatbis why I did this research. To better understand and gather facts on what could be actually foundon a movie set. Not on the local hardwear or stationary store.

Justto clarify, gaffer's tape is what elevtricians and technical crew use on set cause itdoes notleaves residueson equipment as cameras, lights, dollies, tripods, etc... There are a lotof other tapes used on set that do leave residues... Like electricians plastic tapes and oter stuff. But they dont use duct tape cause it is too difficukt to work with.

Art, prop and costume departments usually use these same kinds of tapes during shooting, the same used by technical crews.

I know the are signs that show some kinds of tape other than gaffer's used on armor and props. But I am 100% in favor of the idea that wite tape used on armor is white gaffers tape and not white duct tape. And that mostlikely, black tapeused on TD gear is also gaffers tape, just black.

I have collected a few feet of black gaffers tape but about the with of regular electricians tape in my last production. I will share the references to see what everyone thinks.

Again, tjis all is what i hwve found while researching and talking with actaul film production crew men and gaffers. I have no proof of these being what was done in SW production owther than film production standard procedures and common sense.



Love to agree and disagree with Oter people. I believe this kinf of constructive discussion leads to more accurate knowledge.

Saludos

:D

Yes,it is interesting,I wonder which one is the hardest to tear apart? It got to be a strong one to hold up the armor against the actor's movement
I don't know if I should mention our local scene,because on set,black duct tape was all over the place :p and its available for sale on most places with various qualities