Boiling Point: The Prop Cup is Half Empty

Posted by Robert Fure (robert@filmschoolrejects.com) on February 2, 2009 Share

bp-stripperprops

Wait, that’s incorrect. It’s either entirely empty or completely full. Full of bullshit. What’s got me boiling over this week is shitty props. One of my biggest pet peeves in film and television is the “cup.” I’m just talking about your average beverage container. Coffee mug, soda cup, glass of water, tea cup, red cup, to-go travel mug. Whatever it is, it’s always empty. Is it really that hard to fill it up with some water? Give it some weight?

Did you ever notice a character with a “full” cup of something, swinging it around like it was weightless? Making big gestures without ever spilling a drop? Holding a mug to their lips with nothing going in? What the hell, man. I see this everywhere. From Law & Order to The Devil Wears Prada to basically everything else. Why can’t the prop guy, aka Property Master, just put a few ounces of water in the cup? I really don’t know why this drives me so nuts, I feel like a weirdo, but it is driving me crazy. Cups full of liquid have real weight to them. People just hefting them around like they’re empty looks like they’re just hefting around empty cups! And I’m right out of the scene.

While I’m ragging on props, geeze man, what do these guys do sometimes? I’d hate to see their budgets on some of these Sci-Fi gems. PVC piping with Christmas lights on it or High Tech Laser? You decide. Nerf gun painted black or righteous weapon of freedom? Give me a break. Let me also clue you in, lazy prop department: airsoft guns are cool, but they are not real. They don’t look real. The weight is all wrong. The sizes are often wrong. Never use an airsoft gun, especially in place of something like a shotgun. They’re tiny. Everyone who has ever been to China Town has seen that exact model on the outside sale table for $12.99 and we all haggled him down to $10 flat. When people whip around pistols, you can tell if they’re not heavy enough. Cheap plastic is not the same as steel. Damn.

I’m definitely a big supporter of horror, but just because Costumes & More! went out of business doesn’t mean that rubber rats and fake body parts are suddenly realistic. Better to shoot around the prop and ignore it then put something in there that is going to make the audience laugh at your abysmal attempt. When the prop shark in Jaws sucked, what did they do? Filmed around it. Tried not to show it. Made it work. You don’t have to show every little bit and if it’s important enough to be on screen, it’s important enough to get right.

Am I alone on this one? Someone please tell me empty cups annoys the shit out of you. Tell me you see tiny plastic guns and stifle a chuckle. I’ll forgive some cheap props if it at least looks like you tried. Inventing a bunch of Sci Fi weaponry is tough, got it. But renting an accurate replica of a gun rather than passing off your nephew’s toy collection is not. Give it some effort and for the love of cinema put some water in those cups or I’ll never be under my boiling point again.

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  • bachan
    They are banned in some cities because the first thing most people do is yank off the orange tip to make it look more realistic.
    These weapon duplicates started in Japan, where people were interested in guns that were totally unavailable to the common Hiro to purchase.
    airsoft pistols
  • There are websites dedicated to the sale of soft-air pellet guns that are so realistic that federal law requires they have a big fat orange thing attached to the barrel. They are banned in some cities because the first thing most people do is yank off the orange tip to make it look more realistic.
    These weapon duplicates started in Japan, where people were interested in guns that were totally unavailable to the common Hiro to purchase. They look real and they function in a real and convincing manner (Semi-auto pistols, for example, have slide blowback when fired and stay open after the last round). They cost around $100 a piece for decent models are have been modded on various sites to look like a good science fiction weapon.
    Yeah, but I guess those modders care what it looks like.
  • daviedave47
    I whole-heartedly agree about the prop cup thing. Far too often have I witnessed the poor handling of a supoosedly full "cup-o-joe." More often than not...full styrofoam/thick paper travel cups of coffee (i.e. Starbucks, Seattle's Best, etc...) are H-O-T when you get them...so much so, that those cardboard sleeves are required (or at least a double cup)...and I don't know about you, but when I walk with a full one, there are little bubbles of hot, yummy liquid that pop out of the sipping hole.
    I recently started watching the show NCIS...and coffee and "Caf-Pows" are vital plot componants. Gibbs (Mark Harmon) is never without a coffee, and to "grease the wheels" of his head of forensics, Abby (played by the ever-so-beautiful Pauley Perette), he brings her a huge "Caf-Pow," which, to its credit, DOES sound like ice shifting whenever it's placed on the counter/table. The coffees, however, always seem a little light...
    Annoying...
  • Fake props and blanks in weapons that don't allow the gun any kick have always ruined movies for me. Unless you look at a period piece and see a $100 knock off sword that looks like the cheap piece of steel it was made out of.
  • Jud
    Love the Zombies Zombies Zombies poster...one of my favorite one sheets I've swiped up at cons over the last year or so. As a PA I've always met a bunch of cool props people, so I can't hate and on my last show they always let me in their beer cooler at wrap, so at this moment Property is my favorite department. PROPS!
  • Fure, your concern for details is what makes you an asset on a shoot and explains why you can't meet women.
  • Empty cups annoys the shit out of me as well.

    I also dislike poor continuity.

    Bad props and poor continuity will almost 100% snap me out of a movie and be like.. WTF?
  • @Screen Rant, look at the words in the picture, it's all right there.
  • Uh, did you paste in a pic for a completely different post?

    Vic
  • There is a small caption on the picture which will draw you attention to that fake plastic shotgun. If you like it, why not own it for $36.90? It's called the "Crossman Stinger" and can be yours for that low low price!
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