Lets talk Gobo's! :)

[Satsuki Murashige]

Freya, are there really no film expendables shops in London that you can visit? Most of them here have c-stands for sale lined up on the showroom floor. I think they're around $200. It's one of the most useful bits of kit that you can own, you'll use it for everything. I sometimes use them around the house to set a courtesy flag for myself while grilling in the backyard on a sunny day...?

[Edward Lawrence Conley III]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/PIXAPRO-SuperHeavyDuty-300cm-METAL-SOLID-Double-Riser-C-Stand-w-50-Boom-Arm-Set-/171444391125?hash=item27eae1ccd5

[Gregg MacPherson]

Freya, are there really no film expendables shops in London that you can visit? Most of them here have c-stands for sale lined up on the showroom floor. I think they're around $200.

 

 

I'm guessing that the Mathews/Avenger will cost more in the UK. If you go the Chinese route, I followed Phil's link to those Combo stands on eBay and the same company had two C-stands with arms for 207Pound (USD322) and free shipping. Couldn't quite believe the free shipping, but who knows.

 

I would rather have a ratty looking old Mathews than a clone import.

Edited September 18, 2015 by Gregg MacPherson

[Phil Rhodes]

So would I, but the choice is not clone import or old Matthews, it's clone import or brand new Matthews, and remember, if you're not on a Bond movie, in the UK, nobody is paying a rental for this stuff.

 

Actually the clones aren't as bad as I feared. Steel tube is steel tube, and the aluminium castings look surprisingly clean. I'm sure the chrome plate will turn out to be a bit basic in a few years, and the way the baby pin clamps is a bit basic, but they're not absolutely horrible.

 

P

[Stuart Brereton]

Phil,

 

Manfrotto make all kinds of grip heads and other clamps. In fact, much of the ARRI branded stuff is made by Manfrotto.

[Stuart Allman]

Phil,

 

Maybe since you're in L.A. you can pick up some used stands and export them to the U.K. Then you'll be one of the few people renting c-stands inexpensively in the region. Sounds like a business opportunity to me. Life before using c-stands was rather difficult.

 

S.

[Phil Rhodes]

 

 

Manfrotto make all kinds of grip heads and other clamps.

 

And they're actually more expensive than Matthews, in my extremely limited experience. I must admit I more or less stopped looking at "real" grip gear a while ago.

 

 

Maybe since you're in L.A. you can pick up some used stands and export them to the U.K.

 

I can just imagine staggering back through the green channel with an armload. Gasp, choke, "nothing to declare."

 

 

 

Then you'll be one of the few people renting c-stands inexpensively in the region

 

Most people in this region barely know what a C-stand is, let alone to budget for one.

[Stuart Allman]

You have my curiousity. What is commonly used for lights, such as a 1k, in the UK? Surely not those flimsy starter photographic stands (I hope). I'm pretty sure my photographic stands would collapse under the weight of some of the sandbags I use with c-stands.

 

I remember a well known cinematographer describing his work in India where he said the grip gear was basically a bunch of guys showing up in a truck. When you wanted a light place somewhere they would grab it and hold it there. Not tall enough?...they would hop on someone's shoulders. Hopefully it doesn't come to that in the UK.

 

S.

[Freya Black]

You have my curiousity. What is commonly used for lights, such as a 1k, in the UK? Surely not those flimsy starter photographic stands (I hope). I'm pretty sure my photographic stands would collapse under the weight of some of the sandbags I use with c-stands.

Heh heh! I can answer that one!

On the little stuff there would normally be no 1K or 2K lights. Way too expensive.

I tell a slight lie tho because I used to have a tiny 1K light a bit like a lowel tota, very small but I mostly used 500w work lights for blasting light.

 

On bigger shoots they have special support stuff. For instance I worked a student film once where they had a huge HMI blasting though a window from the garden. The stand was made from thick steel more like scaffolding or something only telescopic. It was something to marvel at. No c-stands tho.

 

Freya

[Freya Black]

 

Maybe since you're in L.A. you can pick up some used stands and export them to the U.K.

 

I can just imagine staggering back through the green channel with an armload. Gasp, choke, "nothing to declare."

 

Actually it's a good suggestion.

I was thinking that if I went to the USA I would pick up one or two of these:

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/IMPACT-KCP-200-2-5-GRIP-HEAD-LOOK-/161696278826?hash=item25a5d9692a

 

They are not even 3 times the price of the plastic ones and look good, easy to carry and probably not even expensive enough for customs. You might even find them cheaper over there.

 

Actual c-stands you would have to post and I would advise some prepaid customs thing.

 

Freya

[Freya Black]

Phil,

 

Manfrotto make all kinds of grip heads and other clamps. In fact, much of the ARRI branded stuff is made by Manfrotto.

 

Yes I stumbled across some cheaper Manfrotto stuff too and have already picked up some second hand bits. It's a good call.

 

Slightly weirder stuff, like a different evolution but easier to get.

 

Freya

Edited September 19, 2015 by Freya Black

[Freya Black]

The C-Stand arm has a 2 1/2" Grip head at one end but instead of the T-handle it is secured by an allen screw.

 

This arm then slides through another 2 1/2" grip head which uses a T-handle that mounts on to the C-Stand riser top which is a baby size = 5/8".

 

The shaft of a C-Stand arm is 5/8" as well. This is Tube not solid round stock so as to keep the weight down and we don't really need a solid rod.

 

The C-Stands are "clever" in that they have a small footprint where regular light stands will take up more floor space due to how their legs spread out. They stack nicely and fold up to fit on carts that can hold 20 at a time.

 

Hey Edward!

A big thankyou for your helpful postings! :)

Especially this one which is fantastic! It's definitely helping me get a better idea.

Yes the legs on the c-stand are quite special.

 

Freya

[Phil Rhodes]

What is commonly used for lights, such as a 1k, in the UK?

On the latest Bond movie, Harry Potter 17 and the biggest TV shows with infinite money, exactly what would be used in the USA.

Everywhere else - you think we have 1Ks? Ha.

I've said this before, but the thing to understand is the huge gulf between the super-low-end starter productions that most people begin on, shooting DSLR in someone's spare room, and the high end stuff. There is Spectre, there is a zero-budget shoot on the street without permits, and there is practically nothing inbetween.

In the US, there is a much finer graduation of budget levels. There are $100,000 movies. There are $200,000 movies. There are $1m movies. These things don't exist here. It's all or nothing. Most people will never move up from the level of ultra-cheap music videos. The fact that the very few people who manage it get all the attention means that this problem is not widely appreciated.

On the upside, I am now very good at lighting things with these. Naturally, we don't usually have any way of flagging them off anything, which is why I have, in desperation, started buying stuff, for which I will never receive a rental fee because "it's just a stand, why would I pay you for that?"

And for what it's worth I think that my smaller combo stands probably have about the footprint of a C-stand (and one adjustable leg, for uneven surfaces). They're a lot heavier, though.

P

[JD Hartman]

There is nothing particularly clever about a grip head or a C-stand, it's just the approach that happened to have been adopted.

 

P

 

Really? I thought it's called a C stand because there are about a hundred ways to use the stand and arm.

Edited September 19, 2015 by JD Hartman

[JD Hartman]

[Freya Black]

 

 

 

 

On the upside, I am now very good at lighting things with these. Naturally, we don't usually have any way of flagging them off anything, which is why I have, in desperation, started buying stuff, for which I will never receive a rental fee because "it's just a stand, why would I pay you for that?"

 

 

 

Luxury! I'm used to these! Although to be fair they probably do fit my shooting style more! ;)

I find cardboard works well for flags. Clip it to a chair or a spare tripod or something.

Maybe on the microphone boom even!

 

Freya

Edited September 19, 2015 by Freya Black

[Freya Black]

 

 

Good video!

 

Thanks JD, I liked that.

 

Freya

[JD Hartman]

No flags in the UK either or blackwrap? Can't buy Duvetyn or Commando Cloth and make (sew up) your own?

Edited September 19, 2015 by JD Hartman

[Phil Rhodes]

That's the approach I take. I just built an 8x8 frame out of inch tube and corners. At some point, light is light; what you do with it is what matters and a nonreflective opaque obejct is a nonreflective opaque object. Mine are made from bits of black tat recovered from discarded theatrical drapes, which appears to be a sort of black gabardine. It's black fabric. Who's counting.

 

The problem with this is that you turn up on jobs, whether it's your gear or someone else's, and you lack the immediate familiarity everyone has with the fact that, well, that's how a Matthews butterfly works and that's how a C-stand works and that's how an M18 works, or whatever. That slows you down.

 

Don't get me (or Freya, if she doesn't mind my speaking for her) wrong. This stuff exists. You just don't see it at anything but the highest levels.

 

Edit - there's actually not much wrong with those linear halogen floods. It's cheap, lightweight, high-CRI, hot-restartable light and if you're firing it into a reflector or diffusion who cares. They're a bit indiscriminate, so you end up needing more flags and so on than you would with better gear, possibly to the point where a proper fresnel would represent less actual money in the long run.

 

P

[Freya Black]

No flags in the UK either or blackwrap? Can't buy Duvetyn or Commando Cloth and make (sew up) your own?

 

Ah Blackwrap! I love that stuff!

We definitely have that here. I've played with it on film school shoots. Great stuff I wish I had a load. I've toyed with making some.

 

Well I probably shouldn't mention baking paper or shower curtains I guess if you are already in shock about cardboard flags.

 

Freya

[Freya Black]

Don't get me (or Freya, if she doesn't mind my speaking for her) wrong. This stuff exists. You just don't see it at anything but the highest levels.

 

 

Hey Guy Ritchie had c-stands on Rock n Rolla. There was a little grip truck with them all in neat rows on one side.

Lots of goodies in there.

 

Freya

[Freya Black]

Edit - there's actually not much wrong with those linear halogen floods. It's cheap, lightweight, high-CRI, hot-restartable light and if you're firing it into a reflector or diffusion who cares. They're a bit indiscriminate, so you end up needing more flags and so on than you would with better gear, possibly to the point where a proper fresnel would represent less actual money in the long run.

 

P

 

I actually love my little 500W halogens. (I only paid £4.99 for mine tho, that B&Q website it outrageous!)

In fact I still have them which means I must have grabbed them at the last minute whereas I suspect that 1K tota style light is in the category of "things we lost in the fire"

 

Anyway lots of exciting lamps on their way to me now! Yay!

 

Freya

[JD Hartman]

 

Ah Blackwrap! I love that stuff!

We definitely have that here. I've played with it on film school shoots. Great stuff I wish I had a load. I've toyed with making some.

 

Well I probably shouldn't mention baking paper or shower curtains I guess if you are already in shock about cardboard flags.

 

Freya

 

No place to buy blackwrap in the UK or you can't justify the expense? On most shoots, big and small in the US, it's just used once and discarded.

[Stuart Allman]

Freya,

 

Considering the cost and availability of equipment in the UK, it may be cheaper to export yourself to the US or Canada. ;) If you saw the rental prices for Wooden Nickle in LA your jaw would hit the floor pretty fast.

 

S.

[JD Hartman]

Freya, clear your inbox.