Archive · Rigging glossary
The specialised rigs working stunt coordinators actually use, catalogued with mechanism, safety considerations, and the SAG-AFTRA bulletin that governs each one. Cross-linked to the sequences in the archive that put each rig on screen — so you can read about a cannon-roll, then jump straight to every Bond, Mission, or Mad Max sequence that depends on one.
Descender rigs
Vertical fall arrest — fan descenders, decelerators, pole-cat ejectors, the airbag standard. The spine of every controlled-fall sequence.
The standard catch for free-falls above roughly 25 feet. A pneumatic bag whose deflation curve absorbs vertical energy progressively rather than abruptly.
A controlled vertical descent rig where a centrifugal fan brake regulates rope payout. The reference rig for the Burj Khalifa work in Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol.
The hydraulic ratchet rig used to arrest a high-fall in the last 6 to 10 feet, replacing or augmenting an airbag for daylight exterior work where the bag would be visible to camera.
A pneumatically-actuated telescoping pole used to launch a performer or stunt dummy through a window, off a rooftop, or into a fall in a controllable arc.
Wire rigs
Wire-flying harnesses, ratchets, controlled-rappel rigs. The post-Hong-Kong tradition that put performers in the air for sustained takes.
The pneumatic-pull rig that yanks a performer backwards or sideways at high speed to sell an explosion, gunshot, or vehicle impact.
The harness-and-pulley system that lifts a performer through prolonged airborne action — the workhorse rig of the post-Crouching Tiger martial-arts era.
The single-line rig used for sustained vertical descents at narrative speed — the rig under most "elevator shaft" and "skyscraper window" frames.
Vehicle rigs
Cannon-rolls, pipe-ramps, pod-cars, the Russian-arm camera platform. The rigs under every modern car-chase sequence.
The pyrotechnic-driven barrel roll that sends a picture-car flipping end-over-end. The signature shot of the Bond and Mission: Impossible chase tradition.
The buried steel-ramp gag that lifts a moving vehicle into a barrel-roll without a cannon. Lower-budget cousin of the cannon-roll, used for chases where the rotation is less violent.
A picture-car driven from a roof-mounted pod by a precision driver while the actor sits inside, free to perform without operating the controls.
The gyro-stabilised camera crane mounted on a fast camera-car. The standard tracking rig for vehicle chases since the early 2000s.
Fire rigs
Gel-suit layering, propane-bar costume routing, partial-burn techniques. The thinnest margin of safety in working stunt coordination.
The protective layer worn under flammable garments for full-body burn gags. The standard rig for any "stunt performer engulfed in flame" frame.
Costume-routed propane tubing that produces a sustained, controllable flame for shots where the performer must remain on-camera and burning for more than 30 seconds.
Fall craft
Pad arrangements, breakaway glass, stair-falls, contact technique. The sub-rigging craft that lets a fight read as violent without injury.
The choreographed layering of foam, airbag, and pad elements behind set walls and props that catches a performer hitting an unrehearsed surface during fight choreography.
The sugar-resin glass substitute that shatters dramatically without lacerating, used for window-breach falls and bottle-strike fights.
The choreographed multi-step tumble that sells a violent fall down a staircase. Performed by trained tumblers, not improvised — every contact is rehearsed.
A small angled mini-trampoline used as a launch aid for stunt jumps — the workhorse rig under any "long jump across a gap" frame.
Fight choreography
Reactive-camera technique, gun-fu, padded weapons. The choreography languages — not just the props — that define modern action style.
The post-Bourne / post-John Wick choreography style where camera motion is choreographed alongside the fight itself, so impact reads through camera shake and proximity rather than wide framing.
The combat-shooting choreography style codified by 87Eleven on the John Wick franchise: extended one-take sequences blending firearm handling with martial-arts striking and grappling.
The non-functional fight weapons — foam cores under skinned costume, balsa-and-resin breakaways — that allow contact strikes without injury.
Aerial rigs
Helicopter external mounts, wingsuit BASE, fast-rope and cable transfers. Performance work above the ground line.
External hard-mount platform on a stunt-rated helicopter, used for sustained aerial performance work — Tom Cruise's helicopter chase in Fallout, every modern airbase boarding sequence.
High-altitude wingsuit performance — Mission: Impossible has used it; almost no other narrative production has.
Water rigs
Underwater performance tanks, dump-tanks, water-cannons. The rigs underneath any storm sequence or sustained underwater set-piece.
Purpose-built underwater shooting tank — the rig under Avatar: The Way of Water and Wakanda Forever's underwater work.
Large-volume controlled water release used for storm sequences, hull breaches, and engineered tidal moments — see Master and Commander, Kon-Tiki.