
Arguably, the most useful and inexpensive movie-making tool is the Clothes Pin. Called in the biz a "C47" or a "Bullet," these can be used to attach gels to lights, remove scrims from lights without burning your fingers, and all sorts of other great applications. I sometimes used them to tie my hair back or make impromptu cable ties with some folded over camera tape. You can use them to create a clipboard and keep gels organized. They're even great for keeping your potato chip bag closed...
No one can decide on the exact origin of the term, "C47." One rumor is that the name originated during World War 2 and the requisition number for a bag of clothes pins. I've also heard it said that the name comes from the number of pins that came in a standard bag. C47 also sounds manlier. It's hard to imagine a burly electrician in the 1950's asking for a clothes pin, but a C47, that's a man's tool!

I’ve heard that the name "bullet" comes from the fact that movie production people attach clothes pins to their tool belts so there is always one available - like a gunslinger with a lot of bullets.
A great game to play on set is to "tag" people with "bullets." When bored, you surreptitiously clip a "C47" to the back of someone's shirt. The objective is to laden an unsuspicious grip or camera assistant with a lot of clothes pins in odd places. These kinds of games help to pass the time on an 18-hour day.
The best part about a clothes pin is that you can buy them at the grocery store. Did you know you can hang up your clothes with these things so they can dry? Who knew!
Responses and Conversations
Who knew that the ordinary clothes pin could offer so many other possibilities then hanging up your clothes? Now I do. Great article, nicely informative. I’ll definatally remember this..
Comment by Mike on November 12th, 2006 at 12:30 pm
Ha, I have bags of these things that I use for everything. I have a bunch figuring that they’d be expendable and would get lost as I used them. Wrong! Unlike my expensive clips, these things always find their way home again. Maybe I can find a Grip to clip them to and they’ll walk away…..dunno.
Comment by JimmyD on November 14th, 2006 at 7:39 am
Ha, or you could just clip them to random strangers and start a whole tagging phenomenon across the land!
Comment by Stephanie Simpson on November 14th, 2006 at 9:26 am
I spent two decades working in the production field, and as such have used many a “CP47″, which is what I was told they were called. The reason, as explained to me, was so they could be charged and deducted for tax and billing purposes. The legend is that nobody in finance would ever pay or even envision a use for something as mundane as the ordinary clothespin. I’ve heard this several times over from a variety of lighting and production people, grips, gaffers, and bestboys, if you will. Given the absurdity of the things you do in the course of recreating life for pictures in motion, it sounds about right.
Comment by bfdl on May 6th, 2009 at 11:42 pm
Over here (I’ll let you guess where that is), we call these “ping-a-lings”. Derived from the french name for clothes pegs: “Épingle à linge”.
Comment by riggersofwinter on May 10th, 2009 at 12:04 am
Another story is that “C47″ was the designation for a bin where clothespins were kept in the studio. It also is easier to get a tax deduction for purchasing C47 wood clamps, rather than the household variety.
Comment by Jason P Hunt on October 3rd, 2009 at 8:16 pm