Props to Props! 5 Props We Love
Over the years, we’ve designed some pretty fun sets complete with some pretty quirky props. We went through the archive of our past shoots to recall some of the weirdest props we’ve had to bring to set.
Here’s our list of 5 props we love:
1. Wads and wads of toilet paper
When we made a video for our friends at Potty Pack, they sent us several dozen packages to film with. Our shoot involved showing off the contents of the Potty Pack, among which is a strand of toilet paper. Since we always want to get the best possible shot, we did more than a few takes, leaving us with heaps of toilet paper.
2. A 2L-Pitcher “cup” of coffee
Our commercial for Freenters, a company that provides free printing to college students, highlighted a series of people who “Freented” and how they (comedically) benefited from the service. Our Production Coordinator Ashley played a small part as the stressed college student who used Freenters to print her term papers on a budget. To add to the humor, we filmed Ashley typing away and chugging coffee – out of a 2L-pitcher. Ashley didn’t drink coffee at the time but decided to be “method” and gave it a shot. Her scene turned out great, but Ashley surely did not sleep that night!
3. A glass paperweight
For our founder Megan St. John’s first film Broiled, we wanted a paperweight to class up our mise-en-scène. We checked one out from our friends at a local prop rental warehouse. Unfortunately, the weight was lost in the confusion of our first narrative film shoot, leaving us with a several hundred dollar bill. Funnily enough, years later our Production Coordinator Ashley worked for a paperweight auction house and confirmed that the weight was worth nowhere near that amount. We have never misplaced a prop since!
4. 10 Tube TVs from the 90’s
When we filmed Black Plastic’s music video for the song Savage, our team looked high and low for not just one 90’s tube television, but 10. We needed them in all different sizes and we needed them to work, so we sourced them from various different places including thrift stores, pawn shops, and Facebook marketplace. Over the course of one weekend, we drove all around the Chicago area and piled over a dozen different TVs into our art truck. It proved to be a very good workout, and one of the TVs even came with a Barney VHS tape in the built-in VHS player.
5. Foot-tall playing cards, water guns, and cake
Jen Miller’s music video Fine was all about having fun, so we stocked up on props that would create entertaining scenarios for our actors to partake in, as well as add a bit of humor. Ever try poker in the desert with foot-tall playing cards and chocolate coins? How about a water gun fight against the Death Valley sunset followed by a mud bath… followed by a mud fight? Everyone’s favorite prop though was a cake that had the title of the song written on it. Unfortunately, no one got to eat the cake because it was used in – you guessed it – a cake fight.
