ASK & DISCUSS INDEX

9 years, 6 months ago - Paddy Robinson-Griffin

Absolutely! Gosh, I'd been thinking the same myself recently (I used to be a keen digital electronics hobbyist, just don't have the time or concentration span any more), here are a couple that come to mind (which you might sell or frankly build well and lease out)...

* Analogue clocks that go forwards and backwards, fast or slow, show fixed times with the seconds hand still turning, maybe individually controlled hands.
* Generic fake bombs with digital countdown that can be easily set and reset for multiple takes
* Bedside alarm 'clocks' that can also display words (replacing the LED 7-segment displays with text-friendly ones)
* Digital 'thermometers' which can be overridden to show things getting colder or warmer

None of these is particularly tricky, can be made in a day or two, and frankly would be handy to be able to rent easily and cheaply. And they are all things I've needed or may need from scripts I've dealt with.

9 years, 6 months ago - Jon (Jack) Gritton

Hi Paddy, wow, those are some great ideas. I'll admit I hadn't really thought of things from an "ease of shooting" perspective. I guess the best idea would be to produce a handful of working examples and then tout them somewhere on the web.

Bedside clocks seem to crop up in virtually everything and one you could control in various ways, perhaps even remotely via BlueTooth, could be very popular.

9 years, 6 months ago - Paddy Robinson-Griffin

Absolutely. Make filming easier, and people will love you. There's so much to worry about on set anyway, that simple is good. In fact I'd go so far as to go for robust over fancy (ie predictable instead of bluetooth features, for instance). You can always add features later!

I would also say rental is a good way to go - you could probably hire a unit out for more or less the build price, and I know I'd rather hire a unit than buy one as I'd use it for a few days but then have to deal with storage, asset depreciation, etc., whereas you could continually refine and upgrade your range.

What you would need to do is to make the props look convincing and DEBRANDED - I cannot have a Sony bedside alarm clock say KI:LL, for instance, or a bomb with an Apple logo ;-) The debranding will also mean the form factor might need to be twiddled with if distinctive.

There's another class of prop that would be useful - things for computer monitors to show. Things that look like 'work', things that look like ATC, things that look like... well you get the idea. Yes, it's all easily doable with a laptop connected remotely or whatever, but similar problems get solved afresh over and over again. If instead we could plug in some Raspberry Pi-sized boxes and press the 'look like a (debranded) spreadsheet with mouse movements' or 'look like a debranded YouTube-style site and play the video on the SD card' button, that would save a heap of grief. As you say, yes, we can (and do) do it in Post, but if there was a cheap and effective practical solution, I could see it being a popular thing.

9 years, 6 months ago - Jon (Jack) Gritton

Of course, if it was an Apple bomb, it'd be very sleek and stylish, though perhaps overpriced.

I guess the problem with the computer stuff is that you often need the characters to interact in some way, which would complicate the setup, but it's certainly something worth looking at.

At the moment I'm most interested in clocks as they seem to be the most common prop to be used and even if they're used "normally" I can see the advantage of being able to say "Always show 3:15" or "go from 5:59 to 6:00 and flash when Bob presses this button off camera".

9 years, 6 months ago - Paddy Robinson-Griffin

Hope you have fun with the clocks :-) It's certainly a great starting point.

The computer screens thing - this isn't for protagonist interaction, this is more for where you have a room with extras and computer monitors, and actually setting them up with laptops etc is a big deal. As with all film things, the more you can do in advance overnight, the less grief on the day. If I can turn up at someone's office and plug a few fag-packet sized boxes in to the monitors they already have on desks, leaving their papers and computers untouched where they are, it's massively better than turning all the computers containing personal information on, trying to log on getting through passwords and timing out to screensavers, and trying to manage that amidst all else. Yes, it's a bigger problem to solve than the clocks, but if you want a direction to go afterwards, this is still a very real problem that technology can solve inexpensively :)

9 years, 6 months ago - Alève Mine

I've just painted a toy gun black as a prop. And now it looks like... a painted toy gun. :) It would be great to have something on it with some intriguing lights, and why not, sounds, and, why not, vibrations, or impulses that would make it "jump", and also something you could stick on your skin or clothing with similar properties. Can you also make these, then the "content" with the controllers?

9 years, 6 months ago - Jon (Jack) Gritton

Hi Alève, for the gun, all of that is possible, and exactly the sort of thing I'm talking about. LEDs are dead easy to control, can be any colour (even change colour in the same LED). Vibration can be supplied via a little pizo device. Making it physically jump as in a recoil could be trickier as you'd need to move a lump of mass to do this (in a way that would look "real"), but if you put a buzzer of some kind in the handle this could cue the actor. Making smaller elements of the whole thing move could be done with simple servo motors.

For clothing, what you're talking about is known as "wearables" and there's a whole hobbyist movement for that. See here:

https://learn.adafruit.com/category/wearables

I put together some simple stuff for my local pub staff to wear at Christmas (hats with colour changing lights round the fur rim, flashing badges, etc.).

9 years, 6 months ago - Dan Selakovich

There is a big market for cheap props, and a cool idea, Jon. I would also look into what would be possible if you combined your electronic talents to SFX makeup and traditional prop making. For example, an ET worm under someone's skin. The worm would need to move (your job) and a latex appliance on an actor (makeup's job). Taking Aleve's gun as an example of traditional prop making; typically a mold is taken of a real gun, then you can make the prop out of rubber, resin, or whatever. The trick for you would be that the gun would need to be cast so that it's an empty shell to add any electronics on the inside. I guess I'm saying that you can push this as far as you want to, depending on your skills.

You might also look into places like The Prop Store Of London.

http://www.propstore.com

They have many replica props (props not from the original movie, but replicas of those props seen in the film). They have stores in London and Los Angeles, as well as on-line. Possibly a nice little side business building replica props if that's something you'd be interested in.

For inspiration, you might want to take a look at Adam Savage's youtube videos. Adam was a practical effects man before he had his show, Myth Busters. Tons of videos on "one day builds" where he'll make a prop from a TV show or movie. Here's a tour of his "cave".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9AqYaSRjw0

If you're interested in expanding on model making skills, you might want to take a look at Brick in the Yard. Tons of tutorials on prop casting and the like:

https://www.youtube.com/user/brickintheyard

Anyway, awesome idea.