Flag

What this is about

Flagging is how a lighting setup stops being a wash and becomes a composition. The grip sets a panel between lamp and wall so the background falls off, or between lamp and lens so the flare goes away, and the position is fine — a hand's width often decides whether the shadow line lands on the shoulder or across the eyes. Because every flag needs its own stand and a sandbag, the count in the grip package tells you more about the schedule than the lamp list does.

A term only helps when everyone on set means the same thing by it — so what follows is how it is used, not a dictionary definition.

What runs differently here

Where this differs from the general case:

• A flag blocks light on its way to a place; negative fill absorbs ambient that would otherwise bounce back into a face.
• Long narrow flags are called cutters and are the standard tool for keeping light off a wall behind an actor.
• Each flag occupies a stand and a sandbag, so a heavily flagged setup takes floor space the camera also wants.

With TillyGen

TillyGen's equipment list counts flags and stands as their own positions, so a heavily shaped setup shows realistic build time in the schedule.

Change one constraint and the consequences travel through the whole plan: affected shots are flagged, the call sheet is regenerated, and nobody keeps working from yesterday's version.