C-stand

At Lizardland Film Video HD we have many, many C-stands. C-stand is short for century stand. Some say that is how long it will take you to master it's many uses. When set up their three legs are staggered in height. Some have sliding legs so the legs can be placed at different heights. These legs are called Rocky Mountains. While handling these be careful! These are real ankle bruisers which I can attest to. On the set they are used to support many things. Lights, flags anything that changes the light. When my husband and I do table top pours we use a C-stand to hold a funnel.  A C-stand has a 5/8" pin on top and has two sections which can be raised higher. If you are not using it for a light you almost always need an arm and a head. The head is a clamp to hold whatever you put in it. The arms come in different lengths. The head has a knob or knuckle that you use to tighten the head. The knuckle should always be put on the right. Let's say you have a flag. The weight will pull the knuckle and tighten it. For safety you should always put a sandbag on one of the legs. We also use tennis balls with a hole in them to put on the ends of arms so no one gets an arm in their eye. C-stands come in two heights. The shorter one is called a Gary Coleman. The other day while working in the Phoenix Video Production community on our set I got to see two non-grips try to set up a C-stand. We were filming a music video for a Miss Krystle for free so we were running with a skeleton crew. They never got the legs apart. It really was hilarious. The director finally grabbed it and opened it. I would have done it but I didn't get the chance to. LizardlandVideo.com signing off.