Useful Sites

Props on the Agenda

The Collaborator Party 2018 – This Sunday is the Tony Awards, which means it’s also the 4th annual Collaborator Party. Be sure to attend if you are in NYC or one of the satellite venues. One of the co-hosts this year is Jay Duckworth, props director at the Public Theater. Props people are finally getting their due!

Prop Master Russell Bobbitt Reveals Movie Secrets Behind Iconic Props – This short video is mostly an ad for Zippo lighters, but it is still great to hear Russell talk about how props are used in movies. Russell is the props master for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, so he is responsible for such modern-day icons like Captain America’s shield, Thor’s hammer, and the Infinity Gauntlet.

How Peak TV and DVRs Raise the Stakes for Period Props – The Hollywood Reporter talks with Ross MacDonald, Hollywood’s “go-to” for graphics props.

Zer0 Sword Build - Casey Gartung writes a step-by-step guide to building this glowing sword from the Borderlands 2 video game.

Did You Know Lex Luthor and Obi-Wan Kenobi Shared a Prop? – Now you do. The trunk that Obi-Wan kept his lightsaber in is the same trunk that Lex Luthor used to store Kryptonite.

Useful Sites

Forging Ahead with Props

Stormbreaker – Avengers: Infinity War – MAN AT ARMS: REFORGED – If you’ve seen the new Avengers film, you know that Thor gets a pretty awesome new axe. And if you watch “Man at Arms”, you know they forge famous pop culture weapons from real steel. So buckle up as the team at Baltimore Knife Company fabricates this mythological axe/hammer combo fit for a god.

Hong Kong Court Convicts Props Master for Possession of Fake Cash – A judge in Hong Kong has convicted two film crew members for possession of fake cash from a film. Though the bills were clearly labeled as film props, and were not even attempted to be used as real currency, the crew members were still given prison sentences. This is a chilling verdict for members of the Hong Kong film industry, which is seeing more and more interference from the Chinese government.

“Costume-making Is Dying. We Can’t Get the Skills.” – The head of costumes at the Royal Opera House in London is finding it hard to staff her shop with skilled artisans. I have heard similar rumblings in the world of props. Despite the rise in hobbyist prop makers, actual professional positions are getting harder to fill. Do we, as an industry, have an obligation to train the next generation of prop artisans?

An Award For The Best Prop? - Aurelie Gandilhon asks why there is no category in any of the major performing arts awards for best prop.

New Behind The Scenes Look At The Art And Practical Effects Of ‘Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom’! – Check out all these photos and video of the animatronic dinosaurs used in the new Jurassic World films. Even though they do a lot of CGI replacement for the final film, they still build full-scale dinosaurs for filming.

Reprints

Supers Must Eat, 1907

The following comes from a 1907 news article:

The supers used in big stage productions have the appetites of elephants. No food or drink used on the stage is too mean for them to neglect—provided the property man isn’t looking. They drink the cold tea as though it was really wine instead of the fake vintage. They devour the ginger cake that passes for paté de foi gras. They have even known to attack realistic papier maché grapes and ices made of cotton batting.

The play on this particular night was “Romeo and Juliet” and the scene in Juliet’s garden the pièce de résistence. The stage was filled with apple trees in bloom. White petals were scattered thickly on the cocoa matting greensward. They were not really apple blossoms, but white, pulpy popcorn, substituted for muslin flowers after many experiments, because they looked just as well and lasted longer. The fake blossoms differed from the popcorn of the candy stores in one particular. The firemen thought the pulpy corn increased the danger from fire and ordered the manager to squirt a fireproofing mixture on them.

The prompt book had this stage direction at the climax of the third act: “Romeo fights Tybalt. Murmurs off L. changing to yells. All on.” On this evening there were no murmurs, no yells, no “all” to go on. As the curtain fell, Romeo went to the stage manager, beside himself with rage.

“What the—Beg pardon—Good—Ah—,” he yelled. “Where—was—that crowd?”

“Out of business,” replied the stage manager. “They’re lying in a row down in the cellar. They ate the popcorn.”

“Supers Must Eat.” The New York Times, 16 June 1907, p. 9. New York Times Archives, https://nyti.ms/2LIYL5x.

Useful Sites

Prop Stories For You From Me

Quirky work: U of A props master makes her cake and caulks it too - Jane Kline, the props master at the University of Alberta drama department, shows off her work in these pictures and video.

Japanese Prop Maker Creates a Magic Gun Without any CGI – I’m sure you have seen the video floating around of the “real life” Dr. Strange spells. Here is a bit more on FriskP, the Japanese maker behind the magic.

Inside the Amish town that builds U2, Lady Gaga, and Taylor Swift’s live shows – Fascinating longread about Tait Towers, the company that has been building concert sets for the world’s largest rock and roll bands since Michael Jackson. This is literal cutting-edge performance technology; often, the technology to achieve a design is not invented until after construction has already begun.

Ultimate Workbench + 10 Shop Storage Solutions - April Wilkerson made this video showing how she built a quick and easy 4×8 shop workbench, a common size found in prop and scene shops. She also adds some great storage ideas which you can adapt for your own shop.

96-Year-Old Woman Puts Home Up For Sale And People Go Inside To Find It Untouched After 72 Years – Do you want to see some pink 1950’s interiors? Because this is where you can see some pink 1950’s interiors.

Useful Sites

Want Some Prop Stories?

Alabama man crafts props for ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ - Kenneth Spivey builds props for the Marvel movies in a warehouse in Alabama, just a few hours from Pinewood Atlanta Studios. His work includes repairs to the Infinity Gauntlet as well as Captain America’s Wakandan shields. So jealous.

Humble Book Bundle: Cosplay 2.0 – One of the latest Humble Bundles has a whole slew of cosplay-making books up for grabs. Here is how it works: you donate a certain amount and get a whole bunch of e-books for free. Donate larger amounts to get even more books. You only have until the end of May for this Bundle.

Celebrate Star Wars Day with These 12 Projects – Okay, this is kind of misleading since eight of these are yarncraft projects, but there are still a few prop projects here to keep you busy.

Best Chicago Prop House: Zap Props – SEE Chicago takes a video tour of Zap Props, one of the largest prop rental houses in the Midwest.

Making and finding props for theatre, film, and hobbies