Century Stands also known as "C Stands" are one of the most frequently used stands in the film industry. They are mainly used by grip and lighting and can support other things on film sets. There are many theories about who created Century

stands and how they got their name...

Some say these stands are called Century Stands because they can be used a hundred different ways.

In New York where films were born, one of the first

companies to manufacture studio and theatrical equipment was Century Lighting, hence any stand that they produced was called a Century Stand. Century Lighting later became Century Strand and eventually was changed to Strand Lighting.

Another popular theory states that back in the twenties when

sets were built to rotate and follow the sun. Tree branches and textiles were used to control the light. The light control

materials were positioned with studio built wooden easel type non telescopic stands to which they would affix the light

modifiers.

There were fifty inch, one hundred inch and other size models.

The slang for the more typical one hundred inch stand was the "century stand".

This is a wooden easel from the 1920's and is similar to the first century stands created by studios.

In 1974 MatthewsStudioEquipment became the first

company to create and build the first folding leg C Stands and

later became the first company to make the stands with

Spring Loaded Folding legs.

Now Matthews manufactures many different C stand models and continues to be a leader in the industry. Visit there website to see their latest designs at www.msegrip.com

This article was brought to you by www.gripsupport.com

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