C-stand

Extended C-Stand holding a 2000 W filmmaking light. The gobo arm can be used to hold flags or other devices

In film production, a C-stand is a piece of equipment used by the grip department to accomplish various rigging and light modification tasks.

The name comes from the official term "Century stand", which in turn comes from the earliest days of filmmaking, when the Sun was the only major source of lighting; reflectors were used to keep the light on actors. The most popular size of reflector was the 100-inch "Century"; a progenitor of today's C-stand was used to hold it up.

The Century stand is near-ubiquitous on motion picture sets because of its modular nature and versatility. Its primary purpose is to position various flags, color gels, bounce cards, and silks in front of light sources to block, direct, or modify the nature of the light. However, it can also be used to mount small lights and rig anything that can be made to fit on the stand.

C-Stand retracted without lamp. This C-Stand is adjustable from 4 ft to 14 ft (1.2 – 4.3 m) tall

The stand is constructed almost entirely of metal and consists of a tripod base, and a riser column with a pin or pin receiver. The legs of most stands are designed to be nested, so many stands can be stacked together in a small space. The stand itself is extensible by a number of risers which allow the stand's height to vary from 40 inches upwards. A "gobo" arm, "gobo" head, fixture or other piece of equipment gets mounted to the pin. The arm and head are easily detachable from the stand, allowing them to be used with the other stands and clamps available to the grip department. All the parts of the stand are loosened and tightened via applied torque.

One leading manufacturer of C-stands is Matthews Studio Equipment; their 1974 design introduced the adjustable parts of the C-stand, greatly increasing the stand's usefulness. Other manufacturers include American Grip, Avenger, Modern Studio Equipment, Mole-Richardson and Norms Grip.

A variant of the C-stand is only 20 inches at its shortest height; it is nicknamed a "Gary Coleman" or a "Billy Barty" stand and a "shotgun" in the UK (a reference to the stand having been "sawn off"). Also known as a "grip stand."

Adjusting a C-stand head