FIGURE 4.2
Alternative stand configurations. Table 4.1 Stands
Name Type Risers
Minimum height Maximum height RM leg Brand Low baby stands
Low blade stand Al 2 1500 38⅞" Mole Mini-preemie St 2 2000 3900 Matthews Preemie baby Al 2 3100 501000 Matthews Mini-baby St/Al 2 2200 5000 X American Low low baby Al 2 2000 30300 Norms Low hefty baby Al 2 3300 50700 Norms Baby stands
Steel maxi St 3 3400 100 Matthews Beefy baby standard Al 2 3700 80300 Matthews Beefy baby, 3-riser Al 3 4500 1 X Matthews Baby, 2-riser St/Al 2 4000 90400 X American Baby, 3-riser St/Al 3 4400 120500 X American
Continued
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Stands
Table 4.1 Stands—cont’d
Name Type Risers
Minimum height Maximum height RM leg Brand Baby light, 2-riser Al 2 4400 90400 Norms Baby light, 2-riser St 2 5200 100600 Norms Hefty baby, 2-riser Al 2 4700 901000 X Norms Hefty baby, 3-riser Al 3 5000 1201000 X Norms Low junior stands
Runway base only
0 1100 1100 Matthews Low boy St 2 3300 60900 X Matthews Low boy Al 2 3700 60900 X Matthews Low combo, 1-riser St 1 2900 40000 X American Low combo, 2-riser St 2 3200 50600 X American Low combo, 2-riser St 2 3300 50700 X American Low boy 2 3600 50800 X Norms Rolling folding
stand
St 1 221/400 3200 Mole Junior stands
Combo St 2 4800 1100 X Matthews Sky high St 3 5200 140 X Matthews Mombo combo St 4 7600 270 X Matthews Light duty combo St 2 4800 100500 X American Heavy duty, 2-riser St 2 5000 110300 X American Heavy duty, 3-riser St 3 5100 140300 X American Alum combo, 2-riser St/Al 2 4800 100300 X American Alum combo, 3-riser St/Al 3 5100 130900 X American Mombo combo St 4 50800 230500 X American Standard 2 5400 110200 X Norms Sky high 3 5800 130 X Norms Sky high Al 3 6100 130 X Norms
Notes: “RM leg” stands for “Rocky Mountain leg.” “St/Al” means the stand has steel legs and aluminum risers.
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CHAPTER 4 Stands and rigging
Junior stands
Combo
The junior combo stand is so named because it was designed to handle both lighting units and reflec- tor boards. Larger fixtures, Studio 2k and larger, have a l⅛-in. junior pin. A typical two-riser combo has a maximum height of 11 ft. A three-riser combo has a maximum height of 14 ft. Figure 4.3 illustrates the junior stand and some common stand accessories: the baby pop-up pin, the angled drop-down offset, and the baby pin adapter.
Low boy
The minimum height of a typical combo stand is 48 in. If the light must be lower than that, you need a low-boy junior stand, which has a minimum height of around 33 in. If you need to mount a light lower than 33 in., you have to under-hang the light from an offset or use a turtle stand or T-bone.
T-bones and turtle stands
A T-bone is simply a metal T fitted with a junior receiver (Figure 4.4). A T-bone can be nailed or screwed into place. It sits flat on the floor, providing a low position for larger lights. A turtle stand is nothing more than three legs joined in the center to a junior receiver. Matthews’s Cþ stand has removable legs, which serve as a turtle stand. The riser section of the Cþ stand can be used as a stand extension. Matthews and other manufacturers also make wheeled turtle stands. Matthews calls theirs arunway stand.
FIGURE 4.3
The 1⅛-in. junior pin fits into the receptacle on the stand. The T-handle should engage the indented part of the pin. Some stands have a baby pop-up, which allows the junior stand to support either a baby or a junior fixture. An angled drop-down offset allows a light or reflector to hang lower than the lowest height of the stand. The 45angle holds the light away from the stand. In the absence of a baby pop-up, a junior stand adapter can be used.
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Stands
Mombo combo
A mombo combo is a very substantial four-riser steel stand with a very wide base (no wheels), which allows a maximum height of more than 26 ft.
Offsets, side arms, extensions, and right angles
Offsets
Figure 4.5 shows various types of baby offsets that can be used to locate the head out from the stand. They are useful when some obstruction, such as furniture or a set piece, prevents the stand from being placed under the light. Note that an offset or side arm puts the stand off its center of balance. Use sandbags on the legs as counterweights.
Risers
Risers come in many sizes; typical sizes are 6, 12, 18, and 24 in. A riser is a handy piece of hardware when a light mounted to a plate or clamp is not quite high enough. A 36-in. junior stand extension essentially adds an additional riser to a stand. It can also be inserted into the receiver on the dolly or the crane when a light is to ride with the camera.
Using stands
• See Chapter 2 for the checkout procedure for stands.
• Remember: “Righty tighty, lefty loosey.” The T-handle tightens when turned to the right (clock- wise) and loosens when turned to the left.
• Extend the top riser first. If you extend the second riser first, you will raise the first riser out of your reach and look like a bonehead. However, if the light is heavy for the stand, you can add strength to the stand by not using the first riser or using only part of it.
• Bag any raised stand. A good rule of thumb is one sandbag per riser. If the light were extended all the way up on a three-riser stand, you would use three bags. Place the sandbags on the legs so that the weight rests on the stand, not on the floor.
• Get help when needed. As a rule, use two people to head up any light 10k or larger. Depending on the height of the stand and the awkwardness of its position, heading up an 18k or Dino can require three or four people. Don’t hesitate to round up the other electricians and grips when you need them. A heavy light can get away from you and cause injury and damage. Lifting equip- ment is not a contest; the lighting crew works as a team.
FIGURE 4.4
Three ways to place a light near the ground. A T-bone can be nailed or screwed into place in green beds or on parallels.
Crank-up and motorized stands
Crank-up stands provide a mechanical advantage needed for raising heavy lights. Table 4.2 gives the weights and weight capacities of crank-up and motorized stands. They have a chain-, cable-, or screw-driven telescoping extension system with a crank and clutch so that the crank does not reverse and spin out of control under weight. Do not crank up a stand without some kind of weight on it, as this can cause problems in the inner mechanisms. The Avenger stands have a number of notable fea- tures, including a very safe gear system (Figure 4.6).
The Cine-Vator, Molevator, and similar motorized stands power the telescoping mechanism with an electrical motor that is operated by a single up/down toggle switch (Figure 4.7).
• When rolling a large light on a crank stand or motorized stand, push the stand from the back with the swivel locksunlocked on the two rear tires and the front tire locked. Steer by pushing the back wheels left or right. This way you are less likely to catch it in a rut and tip over the whole stand. FIGURE 4.5
Offsets, side arms, double headers, and triple headers are available in baby and junior sizes.
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Stands
• When the stand is in place, prevent the stand from rolling by swiveling each wheel straight out from the stand and locking each swivel. Additionally, wedges in the tires and cup blocks under the tires prevent them from turning (grip department).
• Before raising the stand, make sure it is totally leveled with cup blocks, wedges, and apple boxes, if necessary (grip department).
• Use your strong arm to turn the crank to raise and lower the light. Never release the clutch with- out having a good grip on the crank. A properly adjusted crank should not spin when the clutch is released. However, they often do. If the crank gets away from you, there is a good chance you will not be able to get hold of it again before the lamp hits you in the head. There is also a good chance you’ll hurt yourself trying to grab hold of the spinning crank. If you lose control, let go of the clutch and get out of the way of the light.
Table 4.2 Weight Capacities of Crank-up and Motorized Stands
Floor Ceiling Capacity Type American
Roadrunner 220 40200 110300 220 lb. (100 kg) Crank Big Fresnel Lamp Stand (BFL) 40200 120600 300 lb. (136 kg) Motor Avenger
Long John Silver Junior, 3-riser 40000 110000 265 lb. Crank Long John Silver, 4-riser 50900 180800 264 lb. Crank ARRI
Baby 2-section Supercrank 30200(97 cm) 50500(165 cm) 220 lb. (100 kg) Crank Short-base 3-section
Supercrank
40800(153 cm) 110300(345 cm) 154 lb. (70 kg) Crank 2-section Supercrank 401000(147 cm) 70700(232 cm) 198 lb. (90 kg) Crank 3-section Supercrank 50500(165 cm) 110500(348 cm) 176 lb. (80 kg) Crank 4-section Supercrank 501100(182 cm) 150700(477 cm) 154 lb. (70 kg) Crank 5-section Supercrank 70900(237 cm) 200400(620 cm) 154 lb. (70 kg) Crank Matthews
Lite Lift 40100 80600 85 lb. (38 kg) Crank Crank-O-Vator 401100 120 150 lb. (68 kg) Crank Low Boy Crank-O-Vator 30200 50500 150 lb. (68 kg) Crank Super Crank 50900 120600 200 lb. (90 kg) Crank Cine-Vator 40600 120 300 lb. (136 kg) Motor Mole-Richardson
Folding Crank-up Litewate Stand
40500 100 — Crank Molevator 50100 110100 250 lb. (113 kg) Motor
Grip stands
For the most part, the grip stands are used for flying overhead sets and setting flags, nets, diffusion frames, and so on. However, in special situations, they are needed as light stands.
C-stands
Q: How do you drive an electrician crazy? A: Lock him in a small room with a C-stand.
The Century stand, orC-stand, is a versatile, all-purpose rigging gadget that is the centerpiece of the grip’s equipment. Its components are like the parts of an erector set, and setting C-stands is a little- FIGURE 4.6
Avenger Long John Silver (shown here) and Long John Silver Junior (by Avenger Lighting) are high-capacity crank stands with some unique features. The Junior version has a loading height of 48 in., significantly lower than most crank stands, making it much easier and safer to head up big heavy lights. The taller version of the Avenger is a four-riser light stand with a maximum height of almost 18 ft., 7 in., making it the tallest of its type. The avenger stands feature leg pistons that help in folding and unfolding the stand, which is quite heavy. Unlike other crank stands, it has a leveling leg. The winch-type crank provides two crank handles, so the user employs both hands to crank. The gear box is designed so that all the risers work simultaneously and has a manual
safety block, as well as an internal one, and internal friction, which greatly reduces the danger of the crank getting away. The wheels also have very good brakes and the wheel swivels lock in a variety of positions.
(Photo by Damon Liebowitz.)
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Stands
appreciated art form. Given enough time and enough C-stands, a grip could build a scale model of the Eiffel Tower. Grips normally use the stands for setting flags, nets and diffusion, but they are also very handy for electricians for rigging small lights, like fluorescents, especially when the light needs to be cantilevered out on an arm (Figures 4.8 and 4.9).
Knowing the proper technique will save you much embarrassment; grips like nothing better than to heckle an electrician who is making a mess of a job with a C-stand:
• Place the longest leg under the extended arm. This helps stabilize the stand. Always sandbag the legs when putting weight on an extended arm (Figure 4.8).
• Work with gravity, not against it. When you are standing behind the stand with the arm pointing away from you, the knuckles should be on your right. In this way, when weight is put on the arm, gravity pulls the grip head clockwise, which tightens it. If the knuckle is on the left, the weight will eventually loosen the knuckle, and the whole rig will collapse (very bad form).
• Avoid configurations in which the back end of the arm sticks out, especially at eye level; it could hurt someone. There is almost always an alternative configuration that eliminates the hazard. If it’s unavoidable, place a tennis ball or Styrofoam cup on the end of the arm so people will see it.
FIGURE 4.7
A Cine-Vator stand. These stands can handle the heaviest lights made (up to 300 lb.). The motor is usually 115 V AC (at about 6 A) but can be 115 V DC, 220 V AC, or 220 V DC.
(Courtesy Matthews Studio Equipment, Burbank, CA.)
FIGURE 4.8
(A) C-stand supporting a light fixture. (B) Orient the knuckle so that gravity tightens it (“righty tighty”). (C, D) The grip head accepts various sizes: a⅝-in. hole for the gobo arm or a baby pin, and a ⅜-, ½-, or ¼-in. hole for nets and flags. (E) The light fixture shown uses a bar clamp adaptor (used on furniture clamps) to attach to the gobo arm.
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Stands
• Place the sandbag on the top leg so that the weight is on the leg and not resting on the ground. • Always place the C-stand on the “off-camera side” of the light—the outside, as viewed from the
camera. This helps keep grip equipment out of the movie.
Medium, Hi, and Hi-Hi rollers
A medium roller stand is slightly taller than a junior combo, about 14 ft. maximum, and has wheels, which makes it easy to move around. The wheels have brakes that should be locked once the stand is placed. In addition to a junior receiver, roller stands typically provide a 4-in. grip head for mounting overhead frames, large flags, and other grip gear. A hi-hi roller is especially useful when height is required; it has a maximum height of 20 ft.
Booms
Boom poles allow a fixture to be cantilevered over or behind the actors in places where it could not be mounted by other means. These are best used for lightweight fixtures such as hanging a lantern light between two actors. Booms vary in size and strength. The small ones mount on a baby stand and provide about a 4-ft. arm with almost as much counterweight length. The larger ones mount on a junior stand, have more length and more counterweight, and provide either a junior or a baby mount for the light. Sandbags can be added for additional counterweight.
FIGURE 4.9
Some special uses for C-stands: (A) to place the light in a low position; (B) to arm the light out over the action (here, two gobo arms coupled together); (C) to work with a bounce card rig like this, which uses a single stand to support the light, bounce card, and a net.
Stand maintenance
Modern stands are made of stainless steel and aluminum. Stainless steel stands are extremely weather-resistant. A well-made stand will not rust or corrode. When stands get muddy, they should be cleaned so that dirt does not get inside, between the risers. Wipe each riser down with a rag or towel. If a riser starts to bind, lubricate it with silicone spray.
Occasionally, the Allen screws that secure the bonnet castings and the riser castings to the tube parts of a stand get loose and the castings come off. It is a simple matter to push the castings back into place and tighten down the Allen screws. Be sure to keep the castings tight. If the casting comes off while you are raising a light, the riser will separate from the stand and you’ll wind up balancing the light on the riser like an acrobat with teacups (except that a 4k par costs a little more than a tea cup when it shatters on the ground).
RIGGING HARDWARE
Baby and junior nail-on plates
A nail-on plate, also called a wall plate or pigeon plate (Figure 4.10), mounts to a surface with screws. Use a cordless electric drill with a Phillips bit and wood or drywall screws. The plate can be mounted to a horizontal surface, a wall, or a ceiling, but be sure that you are screwing into some- thing solid. If you are screwing into a set wall (usually¼-in. plywood), place a piece of cribbing on the other side of the wall to give the screws something to hold to.
FIGURE 4.10
Plates and hangers for set walls.
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Rigging hardware
The grips usually prepare several apple boxes with nail-on plates. When mounted on an apple box, a nail-on plate provides a stable lighting position that is handy for setting a light on the floor or on a counter top.
Set wall mounts
Figure 4.10 shows a variety of set wall mounts.
Set wall bracket
A set wall bracket is a right-angle plate that mounts to any right-angle corner, such as the top of a flat.
Crowder hanger
A crowder hanger fits over the top of a door or on 2 4 lumber. It can be used with a baby adapter that provides two mounting positions—one above and one below the hanger.
Edge plate bracket
An edge plate bracket is similar to a crowder hanger. It is used to mount lights to the side edge of a green bed (explained shortly).
Wall sled
A wall sled is suspended on rope from the top of a set wall. The weight of the light holds the sled in position against the wall without screws or tape. Wall sleds are available with either a junior or a baby mount.
Trombone
Like the crowder hanger, a trombone also fits over the top of the set, but it is adjustable to any width of wall. It provides an adjustable drop-down position for the light. Use a rubber ball on the telescoping arm to prevent it from scraping the wall. A trombone can have either a junior or a baby mount.
Clamps
C-clamp
C-clamps (Figure 4.11) come in various sizes: 4, 6, 8, and 12 in. Each one has two baby pins or a 1⅛-in. junior receiver welded to it.
With any of the clamps shown, to prevent puncturing or marring the beam and to increase the surface area of the clamp, insert two pieces of 13 cribbing between the clamp and the surface. Wrap the cribbing in duvetyn cloth when it is important not to scratch the finish.
A common problem when mounting lights to a C-clamp on top of the set wall is that the light cannot be tilted down far enough. Use the angled pin on a C-clamp to get around this problem.
Furniture clamp and bar clamp
Furniture clamps and bar clamps are normally used by woodworkers to clamp work pieces together during glue-up. Furniture clamps come in various sizes (6, 12, 18, 24, and 36 in.); standard bar clamps are 48 in. (but can be any length), all of which are adjustable. Furniture clamps are typically
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CHAPTER 4 Stands and rigging
used to undersling lights from ceiling beams or square pillars that are too wide for a C-clamp. As with C-clamps, use cribbing to increase the surface area of the clamp and to protect the surface to which you attach the clamp.
Gaffer grip
A gaffer, or gator, grip is a spring clamp with rubber teeth. It is used to mount smaller lights to doors, pipes, and furniture.
Mafer
A mafer (pronouncedmay-fer) is a versatile mount, small but strong. A cammed screw mechanism closes and opens the rubber-lined jaws. It can attach to any round surface from⅝ to 2 in. in diameter and any flat surface from1⁄
16to 1 in. thick. The baby pin snaps into place with a spring-loaded lock.
The removable pin can be exchanged for accessories, such as a flex arm, a double-header offset arm, or a right-angle baby pin.
FIGURE 4.11 Clamps.
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Rigging hardware
Vice grip
The adjustable width of a vice grip provides a strong grip. As with any vice grip, the clamp is released by pressing the unlocking handle.
Chain vice grips and “Candlesticks”
Figure 4.12 shows a correctly threaded chain vice grip. A chain vice grip provides a very solid mount to any pipe up to 6 in. in diameter. It is used to mount a light to a standing pipe or pillar. Using a chain vice grip is preferable to using a clamp in this application, because a clamp can crush a pipe; a chain vice grip, on the other hand, applies force evenly around the diameter of the pipe. Chain