How To Setup A C Stand
C stands are handy tools to have on set, but they can also be dangerous or downright deadly if not set up correctly. So let's go over these extremely important tips, so you know how to set one up safely.
First, make sure you wear gloves when setting up a C stand, as your hands can get easily pinched like this. You can be setting it up and the weight can make your hand slip, and the whole thing can come down right on your hands. So wearing gloves helps protect your hands. Also when grabbing a C stand, make sure you grab it around both poles. This helps prevent your hands from being pinched like this. So I could be holding the C stand like this, passing it off to some other crew member and they could grab it around both poles and pinch my hand, right like that. So make sure you grab around both poles when carrying a C stand.
Next is you want to make sure that you place the biggest leg pointed forward in the direction of the weight. So I'm planning on putting all the weight on the C stand this way, and so therefore I have the biggest leg pointed in that direction. And you also want to make sure to place a sandbag on it, like so. This creates a stable support and prevents your C stand from falling over or hitting someone in the head. So making sure that it's on the biggest leg that is supporting the weight is super important because that is going to create the most stable support.
Next, when you're setting up your C stand and you're standing behind it, you have the large leg pointed forward towards the weight, you want to make sure that you have the knuckles on the right. And that's because of righty tighty, lefty loosey. So as you remember things that go right tighten and things that go left loosen. So because of this setup with the knuckle on the right, any weight that I put on the C stand going this way is only going to tighten. So it's not going to loosen. It'll just tighten the knuckle. So that way it'll stay in place, so in case it isn't tightened all the way, this will stop it from falling versus if I did it the opposite way, and I'll show you here, move them over there. And I put the weight this way, any weight that I put on this will just loosen the knuckle, which can be extremely dangerous. It means if you put something heavy up, it could fall and hit somebody super easy. So make sure that you have your knuckles always on the right you're standing behind it.
Next pro tip, is make sure when you're raising the C stand, you start from the top first and on down. So what I mean by that, as you can see, there's two extenders here. I'm going to start with the very top one, go up and then next one and so on. And this is because if I had started with the bottom and then I got here and I decided I needed it to go even higher, it's now super hard for me to raise this c sand because it's up so high already. So make sure you start from the bottom first and then work your way up. And then the arm of course can get you some more range, but it's also mostly to get you distance this way.
And this moves me on to my next point. So when you have your arm extended like this, and I will turn it just for demonstration purposes, so you can see here. You can see that the end of it can stick out and this can be extremely dangerous on set. People are moving around. They're super busy. Hey, can you get me that prop over there? And they might not see this. So pro tip, when you have a C stand, that's pointed out like this, especially if it's eye height, make sure that you put something on the end to flag people's attention. So one example is you can use tennis balls. You can cut a little notch in the tennis ball and put it right through the end of this arm, and that will make it safe, so if anyone bumps into it, it's just a harmless tennis ball. You can also use gaffers tape, like a brightly colored gaffers tape, just to flag people's attention. I've seen red used very commonly and this way people will notice the point.
So now that you know how to properly set up a C stand, your set and crew will be safer and you'll look like a real pro.
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