Limited Run Mission Impossible Leather IMF Folder (original series)

[DB537]

I'm going to try to go through some of the episodes and see if I can get decent screencaps of the various dossier images.
I tried once before but lost the images when the hard drive crashed on my old computer. I also was never able to find the
clear plastic holders with the silver edge trim.

 

[Indy Magnoli]

Yeah, I figured the best way to do the dossiers was using regular clear plastic holders and aluminum tape along the edges.

 

[temponaut]

Yeah, I figured the best way to do the dossiers was using regular clear plastic holders and aluminum tape along the edges.

The screen-used folders look like that to me -- regular clear plastic to which reflective silver tape has been added along the edges.

 

[DB537]

I have been going through screencaps and searching for the dossier images, and I found the alternate Bruce Geller photo which they used in season 2 episode 7. It seems to be the only photograph of him that even exists online. I also found a decent resolution image of what looks like one of the original dossier photos of Barney.

I believe that there are enough different somewhat close-up shots of most of the other main character photos (and even some of the other rejects), that they could all be remade in a decent resolution with some work. It will take a lot of time to do that many photos but it can be done. I also have found a recycled element from a newspaper clipping that matches a prop newspaper in my collection, and this can be used to determine the exact measurements of the holders.





I also have a very high resolution reprint of one of Rollin's yellow border photo variants that was used a lot in season 1 and 2.

 

[temponaut]

Outstanding legwork on the dossier photos, DF537!

In addition to your recon on the photos, I especially like this:

I also have found a recycled element from a newspaper clipping that matches a prop newspaper in my collection, and this can be used to determine the exact measurements of the holders.

That is AWESOME.

I really wish we could come up with the Elite and Lady Beautiful magazine covers of Cinnamon. I've searched for them off and on for years, with no luck. Likewise with the Willie "Sets New World Record" photo. As you wrote, there may be enough different close-ups for someone with skills to put together good-quality complete photos.

It sure would be nice to have the Collier Electronics brochure and the letter from the Department of the Air Force beneath it in the folder. The brochure is often at different angles in the clear sleeve, but my sense is that part of the text of the letter is always obscured. I wonder if we have any way to get the correct, complete text.

In any case, my hat's off to you on a great job! :thumbsup

 

[DB537]

Outstanding legwork on the dossier photos, DF537!

In addition to your recon on the photos, I especially like this:



That is AWESOME.

I really wish we could come up with the Elite and Lady Beautiful magazine covers of Cinnamon. I've searched for them off and on for years, with no luck. Likewise with the Willie "Sets New World Record" photo. As you wrote, there may be enough different close-ups for someone with skills to put together good-quality complete photos.

It sure would be nice to have the Collier Electronics brochure and the letter from the Department of the Air Force beneath it in the folder. The brochure is often at different angles in the clear sleeve, but my sense is that part of the text of the letter is always obscured. I wonder if we have any way to get the correct, complete text.

In any case, my hat's off to you on a great job! :thumbsup

The text should be easy for most of these covers and photos. I already have all the typefaces as fonts except the 'Elite' which should be fairly easy to draw.

The only really difficult thing about the Collier brochure is the odd logo at the bottom. Since it's already a small photo, it shouldn't be too hard to recreate from a couple of the better screencaps. The Air Force letter pretty clearly just had the header and logo pasted to the top and then recopied. You can still see the edges of the cut in the copy. It appears to be a copy of a real letter addressed to 'Mr. Fred Steifler, Aerospace Industries Association of America, Inc., 7660 Beverly Boulevard, Los Angeles", and is dated September 13, 1960. About 65-70% of the complete text is visible based on the screencaps I have reviewed so far, which is not quite enough to make sense of the rest of it.

 

[Indy Magnoli]

DB537, I'd like to see what you come up with for a size of the IMF folder. We're about to start this run, so maybe you could compare your clipping to the sleeve and the sleeve to the folder? It'd be good to get a second opinion...

 

[DB537]

@DB537, I'd like to see what you come up with for a size of the IMF folder. We're about to start this run, so maybe you could compare your clipping to the sleeve and the sleeve to the folder? It'd be good to get a second opinion...

The box around 'Transit Problems Given Airing at B-M-R Convention' and 'Newly Zoned Area Results in 150 More Building Permits' is exactly 1 15/16 inches wide. This is based on measurements of original prop newspapers in my collection that have the exact same recycled elements included.

In the Barry Atwater screencap, the measurement from the top border of the 'B-M-R' story box to the edge of the silver tape is approximately 2 5/16 inches.



The following three screencaps of the dossier photo for a guest agent include a standard size 3.5 x 2 inch business card.



This should be enough information for someone to calculate the approximate dimension of the holders, silver tape, and the photos.
I would do it myself, but I don't have the patience for pixel counting and I'm not really all that good at it.

The IMF folder appears to be only slightly larger in length and width than the photo holders, but the spine is somewhat thick to leave plenty of room for lots of photos.



The folder appears be just small enough to fit into a standard 1960s 18 x 12 inch briefcase.
I believe brand of the case was 'Presto', but I've had no luck in finding one, so this model might be very rare today.




Here's the Elite magazine title. The top is a vector tracing taken from a straightened screencap, and the bottom is from the retyped modern version of the typeface as a font.



Here is the rest of the cover text:



This is the text for one of the alternate covers:

 

[Indy Magnoli]

Ok, so based on these grabs and comparing to the business card, the photos are definitely 8x10. So, I think the clear sheets are legal sized of 9" x 14 1/4". So I think I'm going to increase the size of the folder to 9.5" x 15" ( 1" larger than legal). Also, that top view of the folder makes the spine look wider, so I'm increasing this to 3" as well. We're starting the run immediately and will keep everyone posted!

 

[temponaut]

Thanks, DB537, for the splendid intel and data, and thanks, Indy, for your intelligent conclusions and changes to the sizing of your folder. Excellent work, guys!

Indy, have you determined yet whether you'll be doing the dossier photos and clear sleeves, too, or just the IMF leather folder? I hope you'll do the whole lot -- along with an option for additional, empty clear sleeves.

 

[DB537]

Ok, so based on these grabs and comparing to the business card, the photos are definitely 8x10. So, I think the clear sheets are legal sized of 9" x 14 1/4". So I think I'm going to increase the size of the folder to 9.5" x 15" ( 1" larger than legal). Also, that top view of the folder makes the spine look wider, so I'm increasing this to 3" as well. We're starting the run immediately and will keep everyone posted!

I found a couple of different straight screenshots and was able to measure them and calculate that the width of the photo holders including the silver tape is actually 9.5 inches, which is based on the pictures being standard 8" x 10" photos. The silver tape or trim appears to be approximately 0.4" wide based on my measurements. I would therefore recommend making the folder approximately 10" x 16" to better fit the known dimension of the photo holders and more closely match the measurements of the folder as seen in the briefcase screencaps.

 

[Indy Magnoli]

Since we're getting so detailed on these... should we leave off the additional corner tabs I added to our initial prototype? What's the consensus? I thought they'd be a practical addition, but would be deviating from screen accuracy.

 

[DB537]

Since we're getting so detailed on these... should we leave off the additional corner tabs I added to our initial prototype? What's the consensus? I thought they'd be a practical addition, but would be deviating from screen accuracy.

I'd prefer leaving them off, but it would be acceptable either way for me.

Another detail I have noticed is that the upper left serif on the 'M' in the IMF stamp is shorter than the one on the right side.

Here is the text for Paris' photo.



Text for the Hartford Repertory Company cover that was used when they needed a lot of 'extras' for a mission.
I was able to locate the exact logo on an unrelated prop from another production, so I have updated this with the high quality image.


I also found another one of the Rollin photos.



The 2nd version of Willy's photo.



Tomorrow I'll try to see if I can put together the police report for Terry Targo from the pilot episode.
I think I have enough to recreate it but it will require different fingerprints. The ones in the screenshots aren't usable.

 

[temponaut]

I prefer screen-accurate. I'm not planning on using this as a practical folder.

 

[DB537]

The HD version of 11 episodes from the first half of season 1 is available FREE on CBS.com if someone else wants to try getting good screencaps of the photos. The entire series is also available in HD through CBS All Access and Amazon video if anyone already has paid access to those. My internet is super slow and I can't get HD video to stream properly without lagging and skipping. You'll have to set the video quality to high and view it full screen, but the image quality is a lot better than the DVD set from what I could see of it.

The second half of the 2-part episode won't be worth checking because it doesn't have any new shots.

 

[DB537]

Collier Electronics Brochure. Photo is from an HD screencap, but probably could still be improved.



EDIT 10/16: Replaced seal/logo with more accurate design which seems to be based on a piece of the US Air Force seal.

 

[DB537]

The M:I Television Scores soundtrack set has this photo of Geller.
It's not the same one used for his photo in the show, but it's similar.



EDIT: I made the fake Phelps magazine cover from S3 E11, 'The Freeze'.
Might be an item that could be used as filler.

 

[DB537]

From episode 1, this is the wanted poster / dossier photo for Terry Targo.



It was not possible to use the fingerprints as they appear in the episode. There wasn't enough information available in the screenshots, and fingerprints are too complex to recreate. I replaced them with some vector fingerprint artwork that I found online and altered them so that they were the same approximate size and shape as those on the original poster.

EDIT: I have updated Barney's brochure in the post above with a photo taken from an HD screencap. It could probably still be improved more. I believe I may have also identified the logo at the bottom. I think it's a modified piece of the Air Force seal. I am working on the letter that goes with it. I have the top section finished. It's only one page of what was originally a multi-page letter, so it's probably not possible to find the source for the real letter anymore. It is going to take some time to fill in the missing 1/3 of the letter in a way that makes sense not only as a generic letter, but as a part of Barney's file that is included for a logical reason.

 

[temponaut]

Very nice work, DB537! :love

 

[Indy Magnoli]

Very nice work DB537 ! You're making this dossier build very easy!