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| The head of the electrical department, responsible for the design and execution of the lighting plan for a production. Early films used mostly natural light, which stagehands controlled with large tent cloths using long poles called gaffs stagehands were often beached sailors or longshoremen, and a gaff is a type of boom on a sailing ship. In 16th Century English, the term "gaffer" denoted a man who was the head of any organized group of laborers. | |||