Shopping for Props: The Weird Stuff Filmmakers Buy

You know, as a filmmaker, we tend to buy some pretty weird stuff. This all depends on the needs of the film and story you are trying to tell of course. But I am pretty sure I confuse the amazon algorithm on a weekly basis. This week, I had to buy a wedding dress, a creepy alien mask, an hard drive, and some security hats for our upcoming film, The Guard Room. The algorithm is probably sitting there confused like, "What are you doing with your life?". Anyway, today, let's talk about props. A prop is any inanimate object that an actor interacts with in a film.

Movies need props, and have you ever thought about all the work that goes into securing and organizing props? Some movies need a lot of props, maybe some need just a decent amount, but no matter what any movie has props. (Has there ever been a movie that didn't use a prop?). The props play an important role in helping to bring the story to life. After all, if your movie has a birthday party without any decorations or gifts, it's just going to look plain weird. During pre-production, we'll go through the script and figure out all of the items we need. We'll then make a big check list and make sure everything is accounted for.

An Checklist for props needed for the Guard Room

Then we'll hit the store, either locally or online. This is the part where I am sure a few filmmakers have confused their local cashiers. This week, I had to buy a lot of snacks, drinks, beer and cleaning supplies for our upcoming movie. But to curious onlookers and the cashier, I am sure he thought I was having a big party. Was I using the cleaning supplies before or after, who can say? But none of them know the truth, that these items are destined for movie glory. These items will be part of a grand story. They will live a life higher than their other lifeless friends.

For Scorned Waifu, I had to buy a bunch of body pillows and order custom designs to go onto the body pillows. Some of these designs were a bit creepy and weird, since that is what the film demands. I am 100% sure who ever was customizing and printing out the custom design was hecka confused some days. They were most likely like, "What kind of weirdo wants this design? He's going to be sleeping with this?". But only if they knew, it was a prop for a movie. Now maybe, just maybe, there are a few smart cookies out there who figure out what we are doing. These few enlightened people may exist, but to most people, we must appear crazy.

An Shopping Cart filled with Props, or party supplies. Only you can decide.

Not every item we shop for is new either. Sometimes we need sometime that looks used or even broken. For my upcoming film, The Guard Room, I need an old and used looking monitor. So I had to get a tech company and ask to bowser their recycling for anything that could work. Luckily for me, they had a ton of stuff to look through. A big bin filled with old computer monitors and laptops. The guy who helping me out, Roland, was even asking "You sure you want that, it's broken and old.". Yes, my man, that's the look I am going for here.

Then there's the odd case where you need a prop that you can't buy, but have to make homemade style. This is usually an item or object that does not already exist, and be crawled out from the realm of imagination. Such as the lightsabers from Star Wars, or the Golden Idol from Indiana Jones. These are the hardest props to do, since you have to build it yourself, but they are often the most rewarding prop to use in a film due to their uniqueness. After all, anyone can buy a broom to be use as a prop in a film, but making your own magic wand will give your a film a character all its own..

Some movie props even go onto to become bigger legends than the movies themselves. I'm sure more people know of the snow globe from Citizen Kane than the plot of the movie. Or the Ruby Slippers from Wizard of Oz. It's cool to see props get a life bigger then own.

You to, can have a giant boulder be trigged in your room if you try to remove this prop.