Wire: ratchets, pulleys and loaded lines

Turnbuckles tension a boat's wire rigging beside a white canvas curtain and yellow rope

Wire work is not flying; it is unloading weight. Which forces the wire takes, which the performer still carries, and why that distinction decides what a shot can look like.

ManagesThe performer's weight
Turns it intoLoad into apparent flight

A ratchet handle beside a universal joint and several sockets of different sizes

The Ratchet

Sudden acceleration by stored energy — what it manages, why it is so tightly controlled, and what it turns a body's movement into on camera.

ManagesStored energy on a line
Turns it intoSlack into sudden acceleration

Empty swing chairs dangle from cables atop a tall carnival swing tower ride

The Pendulum Problem

Anything on a wire swings. How rigging plans for the arc, and how the arc shows up in the finished shot.

ManagesThe arc of a loaded line
Turns it intoA swing into a planned path

Television studio with a green screen backdrop flanked by two large broadcast cameras

Removing the Wire Afterwards

Paint-out and clean-up as part of the rigging decision — the rig is designed partly around how easily it disappears.

ManagesWhat the camera can see
Turns it intoA rig into a clean plate