A Post on Props

Initial prop concepts and designs for my film. These included a miniature rubik's cube; a somewhat contentious piece to figure out in terms of sizing and functionality. I created a small one that featured a functional top layer (two very tiny magnets inserted between the top layer and the rest of the cube that allowed some swivel). For all purposes though of a close-up, I had to make a much larger one in order to get the framing and lighting (and capability of movement) that I wanted. More on that later.


A variety of props. As a note, the freezer was a lot of fun to make as I aimed to endow it with features of the typical family freezer - around here at any rate; freezer burn, rotten bananas (these are for baking purposes and every time we clean out our freezer we find about 10 of them), and vegetables stored in milk bags.


As a solution to the rubik's cube problem I created two larger ones (a little bit bigger than actual size) out of three pieces of styrofoam each. The first version turned only horizontally, and the second one, turning only vertically, was made to match up visually with where the first one ended so that I could replace it halfway through and create the illusion that it was a fully functional cube. The fingers were made of clay and alternately pinned to the cube or propped up with one of those helping-hand mechanisms. The cubes themselves had a piece of brass stock inserted into the bottom, and could be slid onto another one held in the gripstand.


Overall I think the transition worked pretty seamlessly, as can be seen in the final shot: