how best to become a specialty prop maker for film,TV,and commercials.

[swgeek]

Imgill has a lot of great information and great advice but this one...

Don't act like you know something when you don't. Ask questions. Look up words you don't know (or ask).

But, they lie to themselves and then to their supervisor about their skills. This is brought on by fear, fear of appearing stupid. (or desperately wanting a job)
When asked to do a specific task, they say they know how to do something and perhaps in their limited experience, they think they do know how. The results are often an inferior item, or worse, a ruined item and a loss of time.
It is difficult to "know what you know". Be honest with yourself, and the skills you have.

This drives me nuts! If your supervisor asks you to do something and you don't know how to do it or don't understand the directions, ask. It's really frustrating to run a job and delegate tasks to people who say they can do something to later find out they can't, or didn't understand what you wanted. It's a huge waste of time.
I've been doing this for 30 years and I'm still learning new things almost every day.
No one is going to expect you to know everything. You might get judged for not knowing what a chip brush is but who cares? On the other hand, if you're mixing up silicone and you don't know which catalyst to use or what proportion and you screw up because you didn't ask, that's a huge waste of money time and money.

 

[Mackaiver]

dose anybody know a prop maker i can talk to about this subject?

 

[LtPinkerton]

I was in the same boat dude. I always wanted to work in tv and movies and have literally always been obsessed with props. Majored in theatre and changed my major the second year of college to accounting. Almost done with it now actually.

I did not want to be out of work out of college. I talked to my advisor and professors who encouraged me to look at another major as a fall back.

The guys here giving you advice are more expiernces and know waaay more than me. I just wanted to let you know that it’s not impossible to do something else in school and work on props. You could volunteer at your university’s theatre department, a community theatre and build a portfolio. You’d always have a degree to fall back on.

Just thought I’d share the advice I was given that I think helped me a lot so far.

 

[Mackaiver]

thanks i was planning on gong to collage to become a machinist, so i would have that to fall back on.

 

[TazMan2000]

dose anybody know a prop maker i can talk to about this subject?

Know what you're getting into. I talked to my advisor and professors who encouraged me to look at another major as a fall back.

....I talked to my advisor and professors who encouraged me to look at another major as a fall back.

Best advice ever. Follow your dream, but realize that not all dreams come true. Have more than one plan for life.
I've had 6 different careers. Initially I thought that the first job will be what you will do for the rest of your life, but rarely does that happen.
Schools can show you methods and techniques but creativity has to be bred in the bone.

TazMan2000

 

[Mackaiver]

i will take your guys wonderful help and keep it with me. but if anybody knows a prop maker i could talk to about this. that would be amazing.

 

[swgeek]

Um...I think you're talking with a few of us in this thread.
Also one little nit pick, I think what you want to get into is specialty props, not just standard prop making.

 

[Mackaiver]

oh ok well is really nice talking to you guys you guys are really amazing.
and thanks for the that advice swgeek. i think your right.

 

[chazzychaz]

As you follow the other advice about practicing your skills on small projects you might also practice your problem solving and time management skills. The type of work you are looking to follow can have very short time constraints and limited budgets. Learn how to work quickly but carefully. There is often just enough time to perform a task but not enough time to fix an error or enough budget to start over. Even as you practice try to first estimate what it will cost and how long it will take. Then try to keep to your schedule. If you miss it, try to determine why so you will improve on the next project. If you are like most your estimates will start out way too short and too cheap . And injuries are the worst complications of all. Being able to improvise is also an important skill. For example how can you make a piece of carboard look like another material such as leather, wood, marble, metal, a liquid surface, etc. Run through the exercises again with plaster or wood. Try to obtain quality tools and more importantly learn how to use them to their full capacity and how to maintain them. Being able to sharpen, setup, or calibrate your tools as necessary will make you more valuable than other artists who cannot do this themselves. Even tools as simple as a framing square has many capabilities that most modern "makers" do not know such as how to use it to draw an arch, an oval or even create a protractor. If you enjoy this type of learning and discovery I think you will enjoy this type of career.

This, so much this.

 

[chazzychaz]

You need to start small and be patient. Learn everything you can about creating patterns and mold making, it will cost a fair amount of money to start this, RTV and Resin and what not. Modeling board like renshape is good to use for pattern making. 3d cad is a great tool to learn. fusion 360 is free for students. Its a steep learning curve but there are facebook groups to help through this. Just use the resources you have, the internet, libraries and groups like this. good luck, don't give up.

 

[Mackaiver]

thank you for helping me everyone you guys are so forthcoming with information. i cant thank you enough

 

[scarf man]

Fighting the pressure to specialize

Greetings! One of the biggest draws for me to practical effects and prop building was that it required skills that were unique but also that it drew from so many different disciplines / industries. I love going into the hardware store to find something for a project that is about as far...

www.therpf.com

A good read if you haven’t read it already.

 

[Mackaiver]

i will, thanks for giving me the heads up.

 

[Mackaiver]

if anybody out here knows something that they think will help me reach this goal dont be afraid to put it in the thread anything in welcome.

 

[Mackaiver]

hey i know most prop shops/ specialty prop makers are in LA
but are there any in San Francisco?

 

[Mackaiver]

so to everyone who wanted to know,
i am working on getting a job in specialty prop making and I want your guys opinion on my resume and portfolio
I have already sent them to the company that I'm looking at, but I still want to know what you guys think I still might need or a skill I should get.
also I blacked out my phone and address on both but they are there
thanks guys
-kai

 

[TazMan2000]

so to everyone who wanted to know,
i am working on getting a job in specialty prop making and I want your guys opinion on my resume and portfolio
I have already sent them to the company that I'm looking at, but I still want to know what you guys think I still might need or a skill I should get.
also I blacked out my phone and address on both but they are there
thanks guys
-kai

You may want to redo some of your Skills bullet points. There are so many grammatical and punctuation errors. Sorry, but if I read a resume and it has spelling, punctuation and grammatical errors, it goes straight into the recycle bin. As a first impression, you want to convey that you have attention to detail.

I'm going to be critical, but "I have, I have, I have" being repeated looks like you are trying to populate the skills with extra words and makes you look like you have poor writing skills. Use points such as "Adept at mill and lathe work", or even better, "Milling", "Lathing". People who are looking at resumes have about 10 seconds to look over a resume, and if they find a whole bunch of 'filler words', they won't see your true skills. Catch the reviewer's eyes with important points. If in those 10 seconds the reviewer finds a spelling, grammatical or punctuation error, I guarantee those won't work towards your favor.

Sometimes reviewers have several hundred (maybe even thousands) of resumes to go through. They aren't going to sit down for a week to review each one in detail. They are going to try and thin out the stack quite quickly, so you can probably guess which ones are going to get thrown out and which ones are going to go into a pile for more serious scrutiny.

While you're being honest, words, like "basic", "good", "small understanding" sound rather poor and it shows you have little confidence. Again, it sounds like you're trying to populate your skill set with bullet points for filler. Concentrate on what you are skilled at and leave the other points out. Everyone can say they have a "basic" understanding of anything.

In my previous career, while it wasn't my job, I reviewed hundreds and hundreds of resumes, since my manager wasn't confident that HR could find the proper candidate. I also have spoken to several people who professionally reviewed resumes for large firms and as well as reviewers from David Aplin Group.

TazMan2000

 

[TazMan2000]

Also, because it takes so long to find a proper candidate, a lot of companies are sourcing that work out. They are going to have a list from the customer exactly what they're looking for and also a list of items that are "nice to have". They are not going to risk their reputation on "giving someone a chance". They are looking for facts and concrete points.

TazMan2000

 

[greenmachines]

Sorry, late to this convo. I have taken many prop claases and have many more I can still take through Stan Winston School of Character Arts. They are the folks that built a lot of the props and characters for Terminator, Aliens, jurrassic and many others. I got the full year unlimited classes membership for 179 when they were having a 50 percent off sale. They let you ask your questions directly to the pros in the business. They cover a lot, guns, masks, suits, buildings, miniatures blalabla, literally hundreds of classes. They have special deals for students. If you can't find it or have a question, let me know. I don't work in the industry, I just want to build so I joined, just a student.

 

[Mackaiver]

You may want to redo some of your Skills bullet points. There are so many grammatical and punctuation errors. Sorry, but if I read a resume and it has spelling, punctuation and grammatical errors, it goes straight into the recycle bin. As a first impression, you want to convey that you have attention to detail.

I'm going to be critical, but "I have, I have, I have" being repeated looks like you are trying to populate the skills with extra words and makes you look like you have poor writing skills. Use points such as "Adept at mill and lathe work", or even better, "Milling", "Lathing". People who are looking at resumes have about 10 seconds to look over a resume, and if they find a whole bunch of 'filler words', they won't see your true skills. Catch the reviewer's eyes with important points. If in those 10 seconds the reviewer finds a spelling, grammatical or punctuation error, I guarantee those won't work towards your favor.

Sometimes reviewers have several hundred (maybe even thousands) of resumes to go through. They aren't going to sit down for a week to review each one in detail. They are going to try and thin out the stack quite quickly, so you can probably guess which ones are going to get thrown out and which ones are going to go into a pile for more serious scrutiny.

While you're being honest, words, like "basic", "good", "small understanding" sound rather poor and it shows you have little confidence. Again, it sounds like you're trying to populate your skill set with bullet points for filler. Concentrate on what you are skilled at and leave the other points out. Everyone can say they have a "basic" understanding of anything.

In my previous career, while it wasn't my job, I reviewed hundreds and hundreds of resumes, since my manager wasn't confident that HR could find the proper candidate. I also have spoken to several people who professionally reviewed resumes for large firms and as well as reviewers from David Aplin Group.

TazMan2000

thanks this was really helpful I fixed the stuff you said.