Midwest winters can take a toll on a lighting and grip rental company. I was out taking a stroll after lunch today to assess the impact of this winter on our grounds. We fared pretty well aside from a few landscaping tasks. As I was walking along I noticed a crawdad who was apparently just waking from a long winter nap. I picked him up and noticed that he was missing a claw. As I examined the claw I realized how much some of our grip equipment looks like that claw and how strong both can be. Pound for pound, that little crayfish is probably way stronger than any grip clamp. However, it's hard to get a truck load of crayfish to work and they small far worse than a bunch of grips (hard to believe, i know). So, your only consolation is to call us. We have grip trucks from 1 ton to 5 ton and a couple in between. They're loaded with clamps, pipe, wood, and a whole lot of other goodies just waiting to hang, clamp, span, dangle, or suspend anything on your next job. Think of us as the "do anything that anyone else on the crew can't" guys. Yes we're grips. No, we don't smell like crayfish.
Well, It was a long cold winter here at Hammer Lighting & Grip! I'm staring out my office window at green grass, new leaves, and trash! It's time for some spring cleaning. That reminded me of something you might not have known about us. It's a small thing but I think it says big things about how we roll. I looked around a film or video set that we were lighting one day at all of the trash and it disgusted me. For some reason the lift gate on the grip truck collects all sorts of empty water bottles, gel scraps, tape, you name it! So, we found these handy little collabsible 20 gallon trash cans that neatly store on every truck. Viola! Clean. No more empty water bottles on the camera dollies! I always want us to be known as the "clean" lighitng rental house. I said it was a small thing. But I think it says big things about our phiosophy.
Well, we have a cage but its not for fighting. Its our return cage for late night shoots! Think of it as a night drop box at your local video store, but bigger and a CAGE!
We all know that in the Film business shoots will always go past the time allowed to return gear. We have this system that if you just give us a simple code we will make it easier for you to drop off or pick up your gear over night or in the wee morning hours. So if you know you won't make it between our weekday hours 8:00 to 5:00 please let us know and we will be happy to set up a simple code for you.
We all know that in the Film business shoots will always go past the time allowed to return gear. We have this system that if you just give us a simple code we will make it easier for you to drop off or pick up your gear over night or in the wee morning hours. So if you know you won't make it between our weekday hours 8:00 to 5:00 please let us know and we will be happy to set up a simple code for you.
Hey Everyone!
I know its been a long time since I wrote any blogs. We have been so busy. One minute its Christmas and the next its the end of March! The weather is turning for the better. So we are excited to be able to open our doors and feel the spring air!!!
Our last two months have been so busy with work locally and out of state. We have done some pretty cool jobs. Like going to Mississippi to shoot World War reenactments, Music Video shoot and we will be doing some independent films soon.
I wanted to let everyone know that we all have been working really hard on getting our full warehouse inventoried and all our Lighting and Grip trucks lists up to date. We wanted to be able to make it easy for everyone to just go on our website, choose the package you want and call me with your order. I can't wait to hear what's coming up next in the film business right here in Indianapolis, Indiana!!!
I know its been a long time since I wrote any blogs. We have been so busy. One minute its Christmas and the next its the end of March! The weather is turning for the better. So we are excited to be able to open our doors and feel the spring air!!!
Our last two months have been so busy with work locally and out of state. We have done some pretty cool jobs. Like going to Mississippi to shoot World War reenactments, Music Video shoot and we will be doing some independent films soon.
I wanted to let everyone know that we all have been working really hard on getting our full warehouse inventoried and all our Lighting and Grip trucks lists up to date. We wanted to be able to make it easy for everyone to just go on our website, choose the package you want and call me with your order. I can't wait to hear what's coming up next in the film business right here in Indianapolis, Indiana!!!
Did you know that at Hammer Lighting & Grip we can put both of our 60kw (500 Amp) LitePower genernators on one flatbed truck to make a 1000 amp capable power system? Our F550 Flatbed has the capacity and capability to haul both plants and more! The generators are not phase-matched (synchronized) but they sure do make a convenient package! We have generators from 2000 watts (20 amp) to 60,000 watts and with this capability we have an effective 120,000 watts available in one compact package. Call us to see what we can do to power your next job!
This week the Groundhog has decided that we will get 6 more weeks of winter!!! Who really listens to the Groundhog anyway?
Not us at Hammer Lighting and Grip we have already been working hard on revamping our Lighting & Grip trucks and doing some spring cleaning. So come rent our Lighting Trucks, HMI, Dollies what ever you might need for that next commerical or Video shoot.
Wanna come check out our gear first? Call me in the office and I will set up an appointment we would love to show you around or 10,000 square foot warehouse.
One of my recent frustrations, turned motivation, is that I often see our clients working too hard or spending too much to accomplish a task for which we often already have an easier and cheaper solution in our vast inventory of lighting and grip equipment. Hammer Lighting and Grip has all of the usual stuff youd expect to find at a lighting rental house, but, we also have all sorts of specialty items for rent that you might not think of us for. If you're a producer, you might need chairs, tables, heaters, fans, coolers, tents, or some other rather mundane item to keep your clients and crew happy. If you're a Key Grip maybe you didnt know that we have tons of specialty rigging (more than any other lighing and grip company in the Midwest). If you're a DP traveling in from ahother part of the country maybe you want to rent a tripod, anton Bauer batteries or a monitor from us to avoid some travel expenses (it's good, clean, newer gear) If you're a Gaffer maybe you didnt know that we have lights that don't even have a name for shooting high speed tabletop shots. The point is, we've worked very hard to get as much of our equipment as possible onto the website (www.hammergrip.tv) but it's impossible to get every item on it and we realize that you don't have all day to sit around and look at our web site either. So, ask, we'll help.
This Package is perfect for your next commercial or photo shoot...... Its our
1 ton Grip Package Truck. It may be small in size but, it is packed with all kinds of goodies!
This little guy comes with so many options. Its great for Lighting jobs that just need a few tungsten lights and grip gear. Its big enough to stand inside, it has LED lights for you to be able see the all the gear you may have rented for you next shoot. The lift gate is easy to use especially when you want to roll out the c-stand and flag cart. You may also rent a few HMI's and can even put one of our Camera Dollies on the grip truck.
Hammer Lighting & Grip is not only for film and video lighting........ We also carry a good amount of grip and lighting gear for all Photographers.
We have from items like apple boxes for all those high shots, Flag kits, even Reflectors. I also should tell you that we have these awesome Mole Richardson Wind Machines.
(http://www.hammergrip.tv/specialeffectspricing.htm) You can use them to get that dramatic shot for all of your professional pictures.
So, if you are local and looking to rent just apple boxes and some c-stands or you are from out of town and are just swinging thru Indianapolis we highly recommend checking out our 1ton Grip Package. It would be perfect for your shoots. Please feel free to call us to see what we can do for you!
All of our hard work has finally paid off! The new 5 Ton grip truck is done! ...and it is the BOMB!! It is wider, taller, and longer than the last one and it has the largest lift gate I have ever seen! You could drive a Smart car right up on it. Even better, it can hold the weight of 2 Smart cars!
It has more jockey box space than I could ever have imagined. I was able to pull grip equipment down out of the hard to reach places in old truck and put it in the extra jockey boxes of this truck. Plus, since this truck is longer than the last one, all of the carts that come standard on the truck now fit snug up against the walls. This, and the fact that it was built wider, gives us a very spacious isle to work with! You could fit 2 camera dollies side by side all the way down the truck!
My favorite thing about this new truck is the lighting! It has a white, fiberglass roof that lets an abundance of natural light in. Plus, the ceiling has been lined with LED lights running straight down the middle of the truck! There will be no more whipping out flash lights or dragging crates out to the gate to find what your looking for.
The list goes on and on... there are so many great features on our new 5 Ton! My words do not do it justice so you'll just have to stop by or rent it to see for yourself!
This past July in Indiana the Media Production Expenditure Tax Credit was passed!!! Please check the link on our website to see what that could do for you on your next Film or Video project.
So, we're wrapping up the grip truck build on our newest, latest and greatest truck! Hammer Lighting and Grip now has the nicest grip truck that Indianapolis film and video lighting has ever known! Midwest lighting and grip equipment rental will never be the same! This thing is 221 square feet of lighting and grip fun. It's an amazing 1878 cubic feet of 33,000 pound cargo carrying enormity! It's box is 2 feet longer, 6 inches wider and a foot taller than our old 5 ton. Then you say, yes but how well will this fit at my next location? Well, because International used modern technology when designing it, this truck is only 4 inches taller than the old 5 ton grip truck. The box is 2 feet longer but the overall length increased by only a foot and the old truck was a cabover versus the new, more comfortable traditional cab with air-rde. it has a shorter turning radius and is now equipped with a trailer hitch to tow your next generator rental! Tow a trailer behind such a big truck you say? Yes, thanks to the color, widscreen backup camera! It's loaded with every piece of grip equipment you could imagine (our most complete package for only $100 per day more) This is the truck I'd rent if I were a producer. All of the extra interior room leaves more space for add-ons, a camera dolly, or camera dollies, if you'd like (did I mention that there's a lot of room?). I saved the best feature for last too. This truck is lighter to start with than the one that it replaced AND we bumped up the Gross Vehicle Weight Rating to 33,000# from 30,000# for a total gain of over 4,000# of massive grip and electric rental hauling capabilty! This is no wimpy truck! Stay tuned for more details!
I've been absent for a couple of weeks from blogging. We took delivery of the new 5 ton grip truck just before Thanksgiving. We had already emptied and sold the old truck in anticipation of the delivery. When we got the new truck I discovered that the lift gate installer (who shall remain nameless) had installed the gate incorrectly and it took a chunk out of the concrete on te shop floor the first time I lowered it! Yikes! Sooo. They had to take it back for another week, cut it off, reweld it (correctly yhis time) and in the process, back us up against our deadline for the IMIN holiday auction. I worked long days for two weeks straight to get ready for the Dec 11th event.
Who said the office manager couldn't pick up an electric sander or a paint brush to help finish the 5ton Lighting truck?? Well, not me! We have been working so hard on our Newest Lighting Truck the past two weeks that we needed everyone here to pitch in.
So I was offered a paint brush for my first task. Ahhhh..... equipment racks. We had to pull all the old racks from our old 5 Ton Lighting and Grip truck, do some welding, which meant next, painting!!! That took two days to finish by the way!!
Then came the sanding! First time for everything right.......it wasn't much but it was a task I was willing to do safety glasses and all. I wanted to be a part of building this truck as much as everyone else. Of course I had the phone on my side the whole time for our next client to call in!!
So I was offered a paint brush for my first task. Ahhhh..... equipment racks. We had to pull all the old racks from our old 5 Ton Lighting and Grip truck, do some welding, which meant next, painting!!! That took two days to finish by the way!!
Then came the sanding! First time for everything right.......it wasn't much but it was a task I was willing to do safety glasses and all. I wanted to be a part of building this truck as much as everyone else. Of course I had the phone on my side the whole time for our next client to call in!!
Well, We have had a wonderful year here at Hammer Lighting &Grip. The year is almost over and we would all like to say a big Thanks to all of our clients. Plus all of the hard working crew we have here in Indy!!
We take a lot of pride in the quality of our work. Here at Hammer Lighting and Grip we have our latest new 5ton Lighting Grip Truck!! What can I say about it, well its the next best thing in our line of trucks. Please come check it out! Plus, all of the new changes coming up on our website www.hammergrip.tv and more!!
As with our 4 ton grip truck (which is now 2 years old) our new 5 ton grip truck will have LED rope lights in all of the underbody boxes. These allow crew persons to quickly find cable, adapters and other small (and usually black) items whether we are setting up in the dark for a beautiful Indiana sunrise or working into the night. All of our trucks come with amazing 12 volt interior and exterior work light setups and large battery banks. We can plug the on-board charger into the generator or shore power to keep the batteries toped off or we can run independently for a fixed period of time without running the truck engine. This furthers our committment to the environment by not unnecessarily idling grip trucks on set.
Last Friday we took delivery of our new 5 Ton grip truck. Over the next couple of weeks I'll be writing about the trials and tribulations of building this new truck from the ground up. It's a process I've been working on since late August. Our new 5 Ton grip truck will be very different from what you've seen in the past. It's cargo box is 2 feet longer, 1 foot taller and 6 inches wider. While the box is taller, the new air-ride suspension makes it only a few inches taller than the old 5 ton. We'll be ading some cool new features like a much larger lift gate, onboard air hose reel (great for on-set maintenance, art dept, cleaning, etc) all new integrated LED lighting, and more. This new truck will take lighting rental to a whole new level. Check back often for more updates about the newest addition to the inventory at Hammer Lighing and Grip!
When putting in your next lighting and grip rental order at Hammer don't forget about our Black Jack 400 HMI!
It's a 400 watt HMI fresnel that does so much more. The Black Jack is one of the most compact and lightest of its kind. It is the ideal tool to light an interior. This HMI has a selection of 2 lenses: Fresnel Spot or Fresnel Flood. Or it can be used without lenses turning it into a beam projector. Beam projectors can be used for projecting a direct beam with very sharp shadows for "streaming sunlight" effects or to accentuate atmospherc fog.
It has 4 holes on the front door to attach lightbanks or lanterns thus avoiding the need for a Speedring. The recommended lightbank for the Black Jack is a Video Pro XS or S.
NOW YOU KNOW!
There comes a time in every company's life that you have to break down and do a little inventory. For this Midwest Lighting and Grip Rental company, the time is now.
I began this thrilling task by counting all of the shot bags on the grip trucks and in the warehouse. I was amazed to discover that Hammer Lighting and Grip possesses approximately $18,400 worth of 25 pound shot bags! So you're thinking we must have thousands of bags then, right? Nope. We only have 197!
The cost to get 5 thousand pounds of bagged shot to Indianapolis from LA will bury you. We come across this problem too often. Buying and selling grip equipment as an Indiana lighting and grip rental company is much more difficult than as a Los Angeles rental house. We must ship everything and everything we must ship weighs a ton.
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