How to build a BOOKLIGHT with ONE C-STAND.

I've heard I may have put the Grip Head on backwards... guess thats what happens when you try to rush a video to keep to the one a week schedule! I'll do better next time😅 #safetyfirst

If you try to build this, make sure to check your grip head ("knuckle") direction! As shown here the grip head is on the wrong side of the stand. The weight on the grip head should be trying to turn the handle in the direction of the tightening action, not away from it. Especially for this build, where way more stuff is being perched on the cantilevered frame of the ultrabounce, make sure gravity is tightening your grip heads, not loosening! Also, nothing against this technique if you are down to one stand, but consider it a last-resort. Adding a second stand to hold the diffusion spreader doesn't add much time to the setup, and while spring clamps are great for some things, they shouldn't be the first choice for keeping overhead equipment up. If you don't have a stand and choose to build this, just be extra careful that the spring clamps can't slide around but a second stand will reduce the chance that someone bumps this and a spring clamp snaps loose. A second stand will also provide more support for dressing the sides of the book light which you generally want to do. While this room in the example is extremely bright already, spill from the book light onto other surfaces or glare into the eyes of the subjects and crew are considered important to avoid, so again, unless this is a last-resort with no more gear available, expect to either clip up duvetyne on the ends (more weight, so defintiely a two-stand build) or to add more stands to support floppies to flag the sides.

WOW! Thank you for the shout out in the video. I guess I did gloss over how big an impact my setup made for my viewers. Thank you so much for the kind words and support. Great video by the way!

That’s the most convoluted and genius use of 1 C-Stand I’ve ever seen, three thumbs up for this frankensteined booklight, loving it :)

Your Camera Operator in this is super talented, quick reframes, good compositions, and always sharp!

I saw that video too the other day and was blown away. Great set up but that one c stand book light was some next level genius.

Great video!!!!! Very helpful and I’m excited because I have all the stuff to do this (scrim Jim, floppy, etc) On your ‘I should have exposed for the outside’ thing. Don’t apologize. It looks fantastic with the white window….almost like a big practical. If there is something outside the window that actually makes sense that you are trying to Show (cityscape, etc) then sure. But if it’s just the ugly side of a next door building…..I say rock the look you ended up with.

I really like this setup, and the Cardellini solution is genius, the only thing I am missing is at least a bottom cutter to make it look more natural.

Genus, love this. "inside of this floppy looks like someone threw a coffee at it" hilarious

I just saw that video this week! It was gold.

I don’t mind losing the highlights in the windows, thanks for explaining the setup further!!

Great lightweight setup! Will definetely give this a try and maybe also add a fill bouncecard to the shadowed side for people that have strong facial contours. Using part of a butterfly frame is a great idea that I had’nt thought of and will save a good amount of space in the car and get a much better wrap than putting a 48” diffusion in front of the source bounce.

Absolutely love this style of video

Thank you for sharing your knowledge!

Now THATS a book light!

05:58 - you have locked that griphead incorrectly - if that were to come loose it would fall over. great info otherwise, thanks for sharing.

implementing this immediately- thanks for sharing josh!

JOSH! if safety is important to you, please follow the #1 rule of working with a c-stand: ALWAYS USE AND SET THE NUCKLE SO THAT WHATEVER YOUR HANGING ON IT HAS IT'S WEIGHT RIGHT CLOCKWISE SIDE OF THE KNUCKLE SCREW. The way you just set it on your video here is wrong because the weight of the floppy is hanging on the "unscrew" side of the knuckle.... if the weight makes it unscrew and it gives, it will fall on your guest or crew or whoever is in under it... In other words, use weight to tighten the knuckle, not loosen it.

This was brilliant, thanks for Sharing Josh!

I think you just solved my lighting problem! Thanks