boom stand

[Bruce Watson]

I've got an application that's tight on space. I need to put a light right on a wall, and I can't put a light stand underneath it (no room). The "logical" way would seem to be to boom the light. But (and there's always a "but" isn't there?) the boom would need to go across a doorway.

I was looking at a Manfrotto 420B, but I hear that the max height for the grip head that holds the boom is around 137cm (54" or so). This would put the boom arm chest high, right in the middle of the shot. Not good.

Are there any boom stands out there that can put the grip head at, say, 2 meters (about 6'6")?

The light in question with all it's misc. junk attached is less than 4.0 kg (8.8 lbs) -- it's just two fluorescent biax bulbs. Boom needs to extend around 1.5m (60") to put the light where I need it.

And no, I can't nail the light to the wall (I wish). The wall contains a pocket door, so there's literally nothing to nail to. Sigh... It's never easy.

 

[stuckfootage]

Check out wall spreaders:
http://www.msegrip.com/mse.php?show=product&cat=297&products_ID=24191

You cut a piece of 2x4 to fit, and then you tighten the spreader to press the plates
against two opposite walls. You have the option of using nails on the plates,
or you could add two more 2x4s at each end for safeties.

You'll need to clamp to the 2x4 to get a stud for your light.

If you're really lucky and there's a suspended ceiling, you can use scissors clamps:
http://www.msegrip.com/mse.php?show=products&cat=289
You can use regular safety cables with these.

Both of these solutions have worked well for me in tight situations.

 

[RyanT]

You can also build a menace arm. While this is something I wouldn't exactly recommend if you haven't done it before, it's a good thing to keep in mind. These are the things you need...

1 Combo Stand (or Low-boy if you want to go lower.)
1 Lollipop
1 Pipe ear
1 Cardellini
1 Ratchet Strap
1 8" piece of speedrail

Setup the combo stand and put the 8 foot piece of speedrail in the pipe ear and that into the lollipop. At this point, you have what is essentially a really long C-stand arm, but if you were to just put the light at the end, it would sag down with all the weight so far out. So, use the cardellini at the back end of the piece of pipe, grab the ratchet strap onto the cardellini and then hook it onto the bottom of the stand. The cardellini's function is just to keep the ratchet strap from slipping all over the place. The pipe hanger I listed was for putting your light on the end of the pipe.

Once you got this all setup, get it into place and ratchet the ratchet strap down until the light is where you want it.

Here is someone showing off their 20 ft menace arm:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAJAdHJ7E0U

You should show us a picture though, I'm sure we could think up much more creative solutions than what we've got so far.

 

[slondon]

Menace arms are good. If you can't find 1 1/4" speedrail you can probably use the pipe that's used along the top of chain link fence.

Would an autopole work?