Meaning of "Hero"

selkies09

New Member
Hey guys. I've been lurking around here for about a year and I'm an avid user over at the 405th. I have been looking for some screen used props and I see the word "hero" used a lot in describing items. Upon doing much research, I can't find an answer as to exactly what this means. If someone could answer exactly what this means, that would be awesome. Thanks in advance!!!!


p.s. sorry if this is in the wrong section. Feel free to move it as necessary, mods.
 
A "hero" is someone who while facing seemingly unsurmountable obstacles can turn a situation to the better by overcoming his/her own limitations while risking and being prepared to lose everything.

But I guess that you mean "hero prop"? A hero prop is a prop that is used on screen for closeups and has all the necessary details so it can be shown up close on camera without giving away that it is fake or specifically created for a movie. This means that it has e.g. working features like lights or moving parts, opposite to a static or stunt piece.
 
Yeah. Normally, I see a hero prop as something that is truly seen in all angles and has a lot of screen time. Let's use Back to the Future as an example.

The DeLorean Time Machine. The hero would be present in a majority of the scenes, such as the DeLorean's introduction at Twin Pines Mall, after its first trip. Basically when the car is driven normally, any interior shots, upclose shots and even when its sitting still in some scenes. That vehicle is the one that is the hero.

"So, where are the stunt versions?" Basically, the stunt version is seen in scenes with Doc controlling the DeLorean by remote, the chase sequence, the crashing into the barn, and the four-to-the-floor escape from Peabody farm, the sudden stop outside of Lyon Estates construction site and the climatic return to the future clock-tower run. I also think the stunt version was use for Doc's takeoff after dropping Marty off (I mean the one that is seen roaring by before going through time, while the Hero was used to drop Marty off and then pulling off screen).

ManfromNaboo is right: Normally, the hero has most detail work, while stunt versions are constructed differently and often with the lack full detail. There are also set pieces or background pieces, where they are used in a scene, but are in the background to where they retain some detail, but only enough for it to sell like its just as good in detail as the hero. Look at Larry Clark's helmet from Defying Gravity as an example, which (the last time I recall), he planned on turning into an authentic replica.
 
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Glad to see someone else was as uncertain as this as I was, I was looking around for the answer earlier this week.
 
Another good example of Hero Props would be Star Trek. There were many versions of the TOS Phaser and Communicator. The Hero Phaser had working lights, the rising site and all of the other details that would be shown when a close up was needed. The stunt versions did not have any of this. The Hero Communicators had the spinning moire controlled by a stopwatch where the many stunt versions just had different static moires.
 
I think this adequately covers it. Of course, since props are very different, the hero versus "not hero" gets very subjective.

Trek: a phaser rifle might light up, have electronics like a display, be made of resin, and be used in a close up. That's hero.

a similar phaser rifle (i own one) might be made in resin, look almost identicaly, but not have the light up components. I would not call that a hero but am not sure what term should be used.

a similar phaser rifle (i sold one) might be made of rubber, and be designed to crash or fall onto the ground. I would call that a stunt.

So its a bit it in the eye of the beholder, but its pretty clear that the hero items are meant to be used by the principals/used in close ups/have all the lights and gizmos/and not damaged given they are hard to reproduce.
 
Some people define it differently. I define it as the best made example, with lights or metal or what not if its a scifi weapon. Some auctions describe the "hero" item as just one used by the main character. So they can sell a "hero" comb, or "hero" pair or glasses or something else.
The term is often misused too. The main actor or "hero" often will not use the main detailed up close scifi weapon or what not for most of the time they are using it. Often they too use resin ones for most scenes and only the nice one for up close scenes or for a cut away where they might not even hold the "hero" item.

For me hero items are detailed custom made items with electronics or other uniqueness not found in a rubber stunt version. I am not a big fan of saying hero just by its usage, like a hero metal knife if its just an off the shelf product. I would say knife used by this actor in this scene instead.

Also when there are variations how do you define what is hero or not.
Like with the original V series, they had visitor rifles with light up scopes,
ones that lit up for effects to help line up laser blasts added later, solid ones with no electronics, and rubber stunts. Is the effects one a hero, the one with a light up scope a hero, or the not illuminated one used most often by main actors? Most sellers just safely call everything hero in that case except the rubber stunt which they might also. The hero term is way overused, and it means nothing if you have no vantage point as to what all was used in a given production.

Some sellers even use hero to mean the prop that was used even if ordinary and the others as backups. Thats where we get things like hero combs and other such nonsense.

Also in many instances years later one can not safely know if an item was used by a stunt double, background actor or main actor. Yet every xena sword that sells of xena's main design is going to be sold as used by lucy lawless by most sellers for example, rather true or not.
 
I would think that a "Hero" or "Beauty" prop is one that was created to be "as fully functional as it would ever need to be" in multiple close-up shots.
HERO/BEAUTY prop = All the functions/details in a single prop (or two if it morphs).

As soon as a prop of this type is built on the bench, it would be concidered to be a HERO, all though it had not even seen screen time at that point. I think the purpose and design of the prop makes it a HERO.

Of course a prop with all the "bells and whistles" would eventually be used on camera (and gain screen time), that's the nature of the business and may or may not be used by the key charactors or held by anyone at all.
It may just be a prop that moves the scene along.....

propmaster2000

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And of cause the most important of all hero props is the ANH hero stormtrooper helmet,(middle)
Pics from another thread but I think there from starwarshelmets.com originaly
 
Likewise, I take 'Hero' to mean 'does everything'.

I tend to find it most in the case of replica props, wherein a Hero will be solidly built, have all the functions (where possible in the real world) of what it's copying and be as accurate as possible, often made with the same components as the original prop.

Example - Aliens 'Hero' Pulse Rifle:
Removable magazine, cycles M40 grenades*, safety and fire select switches function, counter lights up and counts down, stock moves, bolt moves, sling swivels bear the full weight, full aluminium shrouds, exact colour match and ideally built using all the real weapon parts.
100% accuracy not usually possible due to firearm restriction laws. Still weighs a feckin' TON!!


*with removable cap and working plunger, of course ;)
 
That would be a hero prop replica, of course -- as close a copy of the real McCoy as circumstances allow.

But to look at the differences between the actual hero vs. stunt props, that still works as a starting point:
  • A hero Pulse Rifle prop would have been built from real, firing M1A1 and M870's, with all the electronic and moving gizmos. These would have been used in the close-ups, e.g. when Hicks instructs Ripley in the use of the weapon or when Ripley loads up in the elevator, and anywhere the gun needs to be seen to fire.
  • Stunt props would basically have been cast in a single piece using a hero as master, possibly with some added detail when needed, and in the case of Aliens, been used at any point when people just carry the weapon around, run about with it, etc. In this case, they would also have been much lighter.

But the terminology is tricky. There are of course what I think most people mean by "hero props": the fully operational beauty props that look as good as they can, has all the working bells and whistles, and so on.

But then there are also "static heros": props that are finished to look just as great as the "working heros", but don't actually do anything. These might for instance be used when an item needs to look seamless when not in use, and openings on the working hero are impossible to hide. Or when the "working hero/-s" is/are at another shooting location, and you don't actually need the functionality at the secondary location, but you still need closeups.
Some props of course have no working parts, so any hero would by definition be a static hero.

Furthermore, there are also "working stunt" props -- stunt props that have some operating detail, such as a light or some pivoting/rotating/telescoping part, but are otherwise completely inert, and are made out of simpler materials.

And finally, there are the "static stunt" props, the urethane castings, wooden, vacformed, etc props that are used in background shots, carried around en masse by extras, action/fight sequences, dangling from a belt, etc.

Unfortunately, not even these definitions cover all the permutations out there -- far from it...


All in all, in the terms of our hobby, I don't think I've ever encountered the term "hero prop" being used merely to denote "a prop used by the screenplay's protagonist".
 
That would be a hero prop replica, of course -- as close a copy of the real McCoy as circumstances allow.

Forgot to add:

Hero Prop replica can also mean a replica prop that does everything the fictional one does in the movie, regardless of what the Screen Used prop actually does. Can also be better made than the SU prop.

ie

Prop A used by Famous Bloke in the film X is just a solid lump of painted wood.
In the film, the character used the A to laser-cut a door open.
Hero Prop replica of A actually does laser-cut a door open, making said Hero replica actually better than the SU one.
 
For the OP, it's worth noting that the term 'hero' is thrown around somewhat carelessly by many prop sellers (and also collectors) to enhance the apparent value of the specific piece. Not everything that is claimed to be a hero, is.
 
Prop A used by Famous Bloke in the film X is just a solid lump of painted wood.
In the film, the character used the A to laser-cut a door open.
Hero Prop replica of A actually does laser-cut a door open, making said Hero replica actually better than the SU one.

Has such a "replica" ever been made? In anything but a very superficial sense, I mean?

To me, that would no longer be a "prop replica," as such — at that point, we would have crossed the line from replicating film props to replicating the actual (originally fictitious) devices. It goes far beyond even idealised hero props...

A discussion on this terminology must perforce be one of semantics, and how we define the terms is very individual.
For my own part, a "hero replica" is a replica of a hero prop used in the production of a movie or TV show, nothing else. And my definition of "hero prop" is as I mentioned a couple of posts ago — it can never be e.g. "a stunt prop used by the actor portraying the hero".
But that is not to say that others share these definitions. And certainly, some people will ... bend definitions to aid in marketing their goods.
 
Has such a "replica" ever been made? In anything but a very superficial sense, I mean?

To me, that would no longer be a "prop replica," as such — at that point, we would have crossed the line from replicating film props to replicating the actual (originally fictitious) devices. It goes far beyond even idealised hero props...

I'm sure there's a few. Probably not the space laser type in my hypothetical example, but certainly prop replicas that do for real what the screen only bothered to do with CGI or cheap(ish) one-shot effects.

That's why I consider certain prop replicas worthy of the title 'Hero' - They do what the screen one does, but are designed and built to last decades as opposed to just a couple of takes.
Most of the vehicle replicas, for example, would be Heroes as everything would be securely affixed and the thing can travel at proper road speeds.

I personally don't draw much of a distinction between a prop replica and a device replica, since both are meant to portray a real device.... although I do recognise the difference.
 
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