rig breakdown

rig breakdown

Title:

Title:

8x8 Softbox / Moonbox on a Gradall

Short Film

Short Film

Short Film

Short Film

about the rig

8x8x4 softbox / moon box on a JLG 1255 gradall.

Built with ModTruss 6” & 12”. Built the upper skeleton of the box out of 6” and beefed up the carriage attachment points with 12”. 12” vertical allowed for pipe triangulation to the box corners.

Strapped it together with 2” ratchet straps, chalked behind the 12” to sit securely against the carriage. Taped the chalks in place to make sure they didn’t fall. Hard mounted SK’s to the carriage and secured to the 12” vertical with short pipe and hollaenders.

Diffusion was full grid and box contained 6x Skypanel S60’s. Duve side was removed to turn it into a moon box for some setups.

Behind the Scenes

Telehandler Rigging

Lighting

key grip

Brendan Riel

the crew

DP:

Franklin Ricart

Grip Crew:

Carlos Mancilla, Adam Patterson, Bryan Lee, Jim Recznik, Allen Robinson, Lance Flowers, Tim Chapin, Wes Ahl, Paul Yeager, Wes Stanton

built with

ModTruss™, Speedrail, Hollaenders

by:

Brendan Riel

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The structure measured 14’x14’ OD and held two 12x12 frames: one with 1/2 grid and one with bleached muslin. The bleached muz was rigged with a pulley system, allowing us to raise or drop the rag when we needed to bring it into the scene as a ceiling element. We punched LiteTile through both rags for soft, consistent coverage.

For mobility, we mounted the whole rig on C&C Studio Services tri-casters.

rig breakdown

ModX Rolling Soft Toplight

by:

Brendan Riel

We built this mobile toplight softbox using 6" ModX truss to serve four different sets inside a tight studio space with limited overhead clearance. The goal was to keep costs down and avoid building duplicate overhead rigs or ground units for each set. So, we designed a rolling, double-layered softbox that could easily move from set to set—and double as an in-frame ceiling piece when needed.

The structure measured 14’x14’ OD and held two 12x12 frames: one with 1/2 grid and one with bleached muslin. The bleached muz was rigged with a pulley system, allowing us to raise or drop the rag when we needed to bring it into the scene as a ceiling element. We punched LiteTile through both rags for soft, consistent coverage.

For mobility, we mounted the whole rig on C&C Studio Services tri-casters.

rig breakdown

ModX Rolling Soft Toplight

by:

Brendan Riel

We built this mobile toplight softbox using 6" ModX truss to serve four different sets inside a tight studio space with limited overhead clearance. The goal was to keep costs down and avoid building duplicate overhead rigs or ground units for each set. So, we designed a rolling, double-layered softbox that could easily move from set to set—and double as an in-frame ceiling piece when needed.

The structure measured 14’x14’ OD and held two 12x12 frames: one with 1/2 grid and one with bleached muslin. The bleached muz was rigged with a pulley system, allowing us to raise or drop the rag when we needed to bring it into the scene as a ceiling element. We punched LiteTile through both rags for soft, consistent coverage.

For mobility, we mounted the whole rig on C&C Studio Services tri-casters.

rig breakdown

ModX Rolling Soft Toplight

by:

Brendan Riel

We built this mobile toplight softbox using 6" ModX truss to serve four different sets inside a tight studio space with limited overhead clearance. The goal was to keep costs down and avoid building duplicate overhead rigs or ground units for each set. So, we designed a rolling, double-layered softbox that could easily move from set to set—and double as an in-frame ceiling piece when needed.

The structure measured 14’x14’ OD and held two 12x12 frames: one with 1/2 grid and one with bleached muslin. The bleached muz was rigged with a pulley system, allowing us to raise or drop the rag when we needed to bring it into the scene as a ceiling element. We punched LiteTile through both rags for soft, consistent coverage.

For mobility, we mounted the whole rig on C&C Studio Services tri-casters.

project BTS

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project BTS

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by:

Brendan Riel

8’x25’x4’ seamless bleached muslin softbox provided most of our soft top daylight ambiance for this spot. ModX top frame with pipe bottom frame. We wrapped the bottom pipe with plastic to protect the muslin from dirt. Seamless was important for car reflections. We baffled the inside of the box with 1/4 grid for added softness.

We helped art hang an 18’ tall 60’ length translight with some truss and motors. Went motors down so we wouldn’t have to run too much cable and picked to beams above with beam clamps.

We planned on doing everything with truss and motors but had to cut some because of budgetary reasons. So we went old fashioned with 2 runs of ladder truss, pipe and pulleys for more lighting points. The pulleys just served as line redirects and provided no mechanical advantage.

project BTS

Seamless Muslin Softbox

by:

Brendan Riel

8’x25’x4’ seamless bleached muslin softbox provided most of our soft top daylight ambiance for this spot. ModX top frame with pipe bottom frame. We wrapped the bottom pipe with plastic to protect the muslin from dirt. Seamless was important for car reflections. We baffled the inside of the box with 1/4 grid for added softness.

We helped art hang an 18’ tall 60’ length translight with some truss and motors. Went motors down so we wouldn’t have to run too much cable and picked to beams above with beam clamps.

We planned on doing everything with truss and motors but had to cut some because of budgetary reasons. So we went old fashioned with 2 runs of ladder truss, pipe and pulleys for more lighting points. The pulleys just served as line redirects and provided no mechanical advantage.

project BTS

Seamless Muslin Softbox

by:

Brendan Riel

8’x25’x4’ seamless bleached muslin softbox provided most of our soft top daylight ambiance for this spot. ModX top frame with pipe bottom frame. We wrapped the bottom pipe with plastic to protect the muslin from dirt. Seamless was important for car reflections. We baffled the inside of the box with 1/4 grid for added softness.

We helped art hang an 18’ tall 60’ length translight with some truss and motors. Went motors down so we wouldn’t have to run too much cable and picked to beams above with beam clamps.

We planned on doing everything with truss and motors but had to cut some because of budgetary reasons. So we went old fashioned with 2 runs of ladder truss, pipe and pulleys for more lighting points. The pulleys just served as line redirects and provided no mechanical advantage.

Case Study

Frames, Ladder Pods, and Westerns On This Commercial

by:

Brendan Riel

Lots of fun on this 3 day commercial shoot with a couple of different locations for a well known popcorn brand. Our first location was at Air Hollywood. We shot both inside in an airplane buck and outside in the parking lot. For our first setup outside in the parking lot we built a Modulus-X 9” truss rig and secured it onto a 12054 telehandler to hang a hot air balloon basket. I wanted to get the pick point out a little further away from the carriage which is why we didn’t just pick it off the bottom hook of the carriage. We used Modulus-X 9” because I co-own Division and we have it readily available. When building a rig that sticks out further than the telehandler it’s generally good practice to integrate a vertical member into your rig. This distributes the force in the components (in this case a singular piece of truss) sticking out. We secured the vertical portion of the rig to the carriage as well with both a basketed 2” ratchet and SK clamps. The load rating of 9” ModX is insane, so it was never really a worry, but it’s good practice. A 6’ stick of the 9” boasts a roughly 15,000# uniform center load WLL just to give you an idea.

The hot air balloon company took care of attachment for the balloon to the telehandler - they have a special rig they use all the time with film productions.

It was overcast and drizzly but we set up so that if the sun did peak out it would be backlit. Popped a 20x20 chroma blue behind the basket for vfx as they were supposed to be way up in the sky. Whenever I’m worked with a 20x20 frame that doesn’t work tabled I like to put it on either black bird cranks or long johns. It makes it way more manageable to work with. We shaped in some negative fill with a 12x20 water solid and angled a 20x20 water solid swatter overhead. Gaffer Mathias Peralta key’d talent with an M90 thrown through some color and diffused through a 12x grid. He backlit with an 18k on a 60’ articulating boom and blasted through some color on that too.

After we got rained out we finished off a bit of the balloon basket inside still against blue screen and transitioned over to the airplane. We lit with more warm sun to match the hot air balloon look and injected some day blue ambience into the cockpit to simulate the clear sky.

Case Study

Frames, Ladder Pods, and Westerns On This Commercial

by:

Brendan Riel

Lots of fun on this 3 day commercial shoot with a couple of different locations for a well known popcorn brand. Our first location was at Air Hollywood. We shot both inside in an airplane buck and outside in the parking lot. For our first setup outside in the parking lot we built a Modulus-X 9” truss rig and secured it onto a 12054 telehandler to hang a hot air balloon basket. I wanted to get the pick point out a little further away from the carriage which is why we didn’t just pick it off the bottom hook of the carriage. We used Modulus-X 9” because I co-own Division and we have it readily available. When building a rig that sticks out further than the telehandler it’s generally good practice to integrate a vertical member into your rig. This distributes the force in the components (in this case a singular piece of truss) sticking out. We secured the vertical portion of the rig to the carriage as well with both a basketed 2” ratchet and SK clamps. The load rating of 9” ModX is insane, so it was never really a worry, but it’s good practice. A 6’ stick of the 9” boasts a roughly 15,000# uniform center load WLL just to give you an idea.

The hot air balloon company took care of attachment for the balloon to the telehandler - they have a special rig they use all the time with film productions.

It was overcast and drizzly but we set up so that if the sun did peak out it would be backlit. Popped a 20x20 chroma blue behind the basket for vfx as they were supposed to be way up in the sky. Whenever I’m worked with a 20x20 frame that doesn’t work tabled I like to put it on either black bird cranks or long johns. It makes it way more manageable to work with. We shaped in some negative fill with a 12x20 water solid and angled a 20x20 water solid swatter overhead. Gaffer Mathias Peralta key’d talent with an M90 thrown through some color and diffused through a 12x grid. He backlit with an 18k on a 60’ articulating boom and blasted through some color on that too.

After we got rained out we finished off a bit of the balloon basket inside still against blue screen and transitioned over to the airplane. We lit with more warm sun to match the hot air balloon look and injected some day blue ambience into the cockpit to simulate the clear sky.

Case Study

Frames, Ladder Pods, and Westerns On This Commercial

by:

Brendan Riel

Lots of fun on this 3 day commercial shoot with a couple of different locations for a well known popcorn brand. Our first location was at Air Hollywood. We shot both inside in an airplane buck and outside in the parking lot. For our first setup outside in the parking lot we built a Modulus-X 9” truss rig and secured it onto a 12054 telehandler to hang a hot air balloon basket. I wanted to get the pick point out a little further away from the carriage which is why we didn’t just pick it off the bottom hook of the carriage. We used Modulus-X 9” because I co-own Division and we have it readily available. When building a rig that sticks out further than the telehandler it’s generally good practice to integrate a vertical member into your rig. This distributes the force in the components (in this case a singular piece of truss) sticking out. We secured the vertical portion of the rig to the carriage as well with both a basketed 2” ratchet and SK clamps. The load rating of 9” ModX is insane, so it was never really a worry, but it’s good practice. A 6’ stick of the 9” boasts a roughly 15,000# uniform center load WLL just to give you an idea.

The hot air balloon company took care of attachment for the balloon to the telehandler - they have a special rig they use all the time with film productions.

It was overcast and drizzly but we set up so that if the sun did peak out it would be backlit. Popped a 20x20 chroma blue behind the basket for vfx as they were supposed to be way up in the sky. Whenever I’m worked with a 20x20 frame that doesn’t work tabled I like to put it on either black bird cranks or long johns. It makes it way more manageable to work with. We shaped in some negative fill with a 12x20 water solid and angled a 20x20 water solid swatter overhead. Gaffer Mathias Peralta key’d talent with an M90 thrown through some color and diffused through a 12x grid. He backlit with an 18k on a 60’ articulating boom and blasted through some color on that too.

After we got rained out we finished off a bit of the balloon basket inside still against blue screen and transitioned over to the airplane. We lit with more warm sun to match the hot air balloon look and injected some day blue ambience into the cockpit to simulate the clear sky.

Case Study

Frames, Ladder Pods, and Westerns On This Commercial

by:

Brendan Riel

Lots of fun on this 3 day commercial shoot with a couple of different locations for a well known popcorn brand. Our first location was at Air Hollywood. We shot both inside in an airplane buck and outside in the parking lot. For our first setup outside in the parking lot we built a Modulus-X 9” truss rig and secured it onto a 12054 telehandler to hang a hot air balloon basket. I wanted to get the pick point out a little further away from the carriage which is why we didn’t just pick it off the bottom hook of the carriage. We used Modulus-X 9” because I co-own Division and we have it readily available. When building a rig that sticks out further than the telehandler it’s generally good practice to integrate a vertical member into your rig. This distributes the force in the components (in this case a singular piece of truss) sticking out. We secured the vertical portion of the rig to the carriage as well with both a basketed 2” ratchet and SK clamps. The load rating of 9” ModX is insane, so it was never really a worry, but it’s good practice. A 6’ stick of the 9” boasts a roughly 15,000# uniform center load WLL just to give you an idea.

The hot air balloon company took care of attachment for the balloon to the telehandler - they have a special rig they use all the time with film productions.

It was overcast and drizzly but we set up so that if the sun did peak out it would be backlit. Popped a 20x20 chroma blue behind the basket for vfx as they were supposed to be way up in the sky. Whenever I’m worked with a 20x20 frame that doesn’t work tabled I like to put it on either black bird cranks or long johns. It makes it way more manageable to work with. We shaped in some negative fill with a 12x20 water solid and angled a 20x20 water solid swatter overhead. Gaffer Mathias Peralta key’d talent with an M90 thrown through some color and diffused through a 12x grid. He backlit with an 18k on a 60’ articulating boom and blasted through some color on that too.

After we got rained out we finished off a bit of the balloon basket inside still against blue screen and transitioned over to the airplane. We lit with more warm sun to match the hot air balloon look and injected some day blue ambience into the cockpit to simulate the clear sky.

rig breakdown

Par Can Condor Rig

by:

Brendan Riel

Par can array rigged to a JLG 1250AJP. 3 rows of 5 par cans each, spaced out 33” apart. Uniformed height and width distances for a balanced look.

This lighting apparatus played in shot and was meant to simulate a fictional ship yard practical.

Frame built out of 1-1/4” speedrail and attached to the basket with steel pipe. Hollaenders for the frame connection points and cheeseboros for the condor connection points. Kickers on the ends added more rigidity and safety.

rig breakdown

Par Can Condor Rig

by:

Brendan Riel

Par can array rigged to a JLG 1250AJP. 3 rows of 5 par cans each, spaced out 33” apart. Uniformed height and width distances for a balanced look.

This lighting apparatus played in shot and was meant to simulate a fictional ship yard practical.

Frame built out of 1-1/4” speedrail and attached to the basket with steel pipe. Hollaenders for the frame connection points and cheeseboros for the condor connection points. Kickers on the ends added more rigidity and safety.

rig breakdown

Par Can Condor Rig

by:

Brendan Riel

Par can array rigged to a JLG 1250AJP. 3 rows of 5 par cans each, spaced out 33” apart. Uniformed height and width distances for a balanced look.

This lighting apparatus played in shot and was meant to simulate a fictional ship yard practical.

Frame built out of 1-1/4” speedrail and attached to the basket with steel pipe. Hollaenders for the frame connection points and cheeseboros for the condor connection points. Kickers on the ends added more rigidity and safety.

rig breakdown

Par Can Condor Rig

by:

Brendan Riel

Par can array rigged to a JLG 1250AJP. 3 rows of 5 par cans each, spaced out 33” apart. Uniformed height and width distances for a balanced look.

This lighting apparatus played in shot and was meant to simulate a fictional ship yard practical.

Frame built out of 1-1/4” speedrail and attached to the basket with steel pipe. Hollaenders for the frame connection points and cheeseboros for the condor connection points. Kickers on the ends added more rigidity and safety.

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legacy grip

We demonstrate unique rigs &

practical solutions in the world of gripping.

play video

we Are

legacy grip

We demonstrate unique rigs &

practical solutions in the world of gripping.

play video

we Are

legacy grip

We demonstrate unique rigs &

practical solutions in the world of gripping.

play video

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community

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Join our newsletter & stay up to date

By subscribing you agree to with our privacy policy and provide consent to receive updates from our company.

Legacy Grip 2025 All Rights Reserved

Consent Preferences

Website Links

Upcoming

Shows

coming soon

Shop

coming soon

Podcast

coming soon

community

coming soon

Join our newsletter & stay up to date

By subscribing you agree to with our privacy policy and provide consent to receive updates from our company.

Legacy Grip 2025 All Rights Reserved

Consent Preferences

Website Links

Upcoming

Shows

coming soon

Shop

coming soon

Podcast

coming soon

community

coming soon

Join our newsletter & stay up to date

By subscribing you agree to with our privacy policy and provide consent to receive updates from our company.

Legacy Grip 2025 All Rights Reserved

Consent Preferences