Props and replicas

Film and TV props

So you watch something on the big screen or on the TV and think... 'I want one of those'. The slippery slope has begun.
My list of props to build it never ending.
Some of them are ridiculously huge and costly and will probably never see the light of day (for example, a full sized Stargate in my garden).

But, its fun nonetheless. Sometimes I build items that are similar to the film, and other times (usually for customers), I will be 100% accurate to the source (or as close as can possibly be achieved). The prop community especially thrive on accuracy.

The beginnings of the PASIV case from Inception

It takes time...

Research. Some more research, and then more research.

Prop building has become a rabbit hole you can disappear down these days, with vast quantities of information available on the internet.
But, that also means there is a vast amount of data you can acquire.

Forums are a great source of information, and you quickly realise what level of detail these guys will go to.

I have spent days on Google trying to track down switches, lights, motors and parts to make screen accurate replica parts.

Budget.

You need to set a budget and from that, you can be realistic on what results you will attain.

I will never start a project until I am happy that the project is achievable within the set budget, and to a level of accuracy the final owner will be happy with.

The budget has to allow for build research, materials research, assembly and delivery. That last one sometimes being more difficult than you would imagine.

Some parts are just not available, and this is where the research comes in. We usually have no idea how the original was made, and so we may never find the original part.

This is where you either decide on a 'similar' looking feature, or spend the time and money replicating the exact item from scratch.
All possible, but this method can prove expensive unless quoted for accurately.

You will find that due to CGI, sometimes the actual working prop that is envisaged is more difficult to reproduce than the actual original film prop.
This might be due to the fact that a digital panel or screen was actually blank and overlaid with CGI graphics, rather than being a working display.

I have also found reasonably large discrepancies between the same item throughout the film or TV show. This might be because different companies were involved the making different versions during filming, or some may have been non-working stunt props.