About
Technical craft, built by hand
CFS Grip is the grip and camera movement company of Grupo Collider. Based in Bilbao, Basque Country, working on features, series and commercials across Spain.
Where we come from
We started in Bermeo, a fishing port in the Urdaibai reserve, with an idea nobody in the north had at the time: a production shooting here should not have to bring its grip department up from Madrid or Barcelona. Two things from those beginnings still show on set — a respect for the sea, which is why we run our own camera boat with nautically licensed grips, and the habit of solving things where they happen. Today the warehouse is in Bilbao, the fleet runs from a full grip package to a 38 ft crane, with our own dollies, camera car and camera boat, and the kit also travels to the rest of the peninsula, the islands and southern Europe.
How we work
A shoot is not won in the quote, it is won at six in the morning on location. That is why kit leaves checked item by item with a detailed delivery note, the grip knows the equipment he is rigging, and whoever picks up the phone in the office knows what is on the shelf. Quotes go out within 24 working hours.
The workshop
We run our own workshop because the catalogue does not solve every shot: there are mounts, adapters and parts that have to be built for a specific job. That same capability is what keeps a crane in service for fifteen years instead of replacing it. Repairing before replacing started as a matter of cost and availability; today it is also why the fleet stays current without being renewed every season.
Safety and logistics
Height rigging and water work leave no room for improvisation. Our grips hold rope-access and nautical certifications, and every mount is checked before every take. On logistics, we plan transport with production so the kit is where it needs to be without eating into the schedule.
We are from here
We know the locations, the coast and the crews that work here. When a production lands in the north from elsewhere, that saves days.
Credits
Productions crewed with CFS kit
Features
Series
From set
Our own photographs, taken on set.
DoP Javier Salmones AEC
16.02.24
DoP J. Sebastián Vásquez AEC
11.11.24
DoP Hermes Marco AEC
12.11.24
DoP Michael Timney
05.11.24
Crew
The kit does not move itself
A grip department is people before it is machines. These are the positions we cover with our own crew, listed under the name that appears on an international call sheet.
Key Grip
Jefe de máquinasRuns the grip department on set. Works out how each move is achieved with the DoP, specifies the rigging and is accountable for the safety of everything that goes up. Single point of contact for production and the camera department.
Best Boy Grip
Segundo de máquinasThe key grip’s right hand. Manages crew, kit and rigging times, and stays a set-up ahead so the camera never waits.
Dolly Grip
Maquinista de dollyOperates the dolly. A precision craft: the move has to start and stop on the exact frame, repeat identically take after take, and go unnoticed. Lays and levels the track, working in direct coordination with the focus puller.
Crane Grip
Maquinista de grúaRigs, counterweights and operates the crane. Calculates the load, checks the base is properly seated and coordinates the arm move with the head operator. Every crane we supply comes with a grip: we do not send one out on its own.
Rigging Grip
Maquinista de rigging en alturaRope-access work: façade mounts, suspended structures, camera positions with no access. With IRATA-certified crew in-house, we take this on ourselves instead of subcontracting an outside height-work company. Certificates go out with the quote, so they can go straight into the safety plan.
Marine Grip
Maquinista con titulación náuticaWater work: rigging a crane on the vessel, tracking on water and clearing it with the harbour authority. Skippered under a PER licence. The same person who rigs the arm runs the boat, which removes the usual gap between the shoot and an outside boat crew.
Precision Driver
Conductor de camera carPrecision driving with the arm rigged and the camera outside the vehicle envelope. Sets the run with the camera department and the action coordinator, working alongside the grip operating the arm from inside the car.
Grip
Auxiliar de máquinasThe muscle and the hands of the department. Lays track, sets flags and diffusion, moves kit and keeps the set running. It is where the craft is learned, and where our key grips come from.
The two certifications marked — IRATA for rope access and PER for water work — are not common in the sector. They are what let us say yes to a façade rig or a water sequence without bringing an outside company into the safety plan. Certificates go out with the quote: in safety, what is not documented does not count.
Grupo Collider
Part of Grupo Collider
CFS Grip S.L. is the equipment-owning company within Grupo Collider: the fleet, the workshop and the warehouse are its own. The company that deals with production is Berdis — the trading name of Urdaibai Eco Service S.L. — which quotes, contracts, delivers and invoices, and which also sources lighting and camera packages from specialist houses, handles shoot transport and takes care of the production's environmental accreditation. Collider Ventures S.L. is the holding company of both. For production, the point of contact never changes, and the invoice comes from Berdis.