Re: New Members: Please Introduce Yourselves Here!...
Hello ladies and gentlemen!
I am CB2001 (my real name is Daniel, but I prefer CB2001 when it comes to online stuff, but you can call me Daniel if you want, completely up to you). I've actually been visiting this forum for a few months now, but since registration opened this month, this is my first time as an actual user here at the forums. And there have been a few posts I've wanted to reply to, but they may have already been resolved a while ago.
I am currently a student at Full Sail University. I am attending it for film and I hope to be a director someday. I've been fascinated with props of all types and even prop replicas. Currently, I did paper props for one of my classmate's short films (which required replicas of four actual movie posters, as well as anti-war flyers from the 1960s due to the period of time that the short is set) and I am currently prop master for a class-related short called "Smooth Criminals".
But since this forum is about prop replicas, I figured I'd go ahead and talk about that. Currently, I have done some paper prop replicas, as well as props inspired by certain works. Below is a list of prop replicas I own, as well as some I've recently completed and some I'm working on and considering on working on.
Prop Replicas I Own:
1. An Official Indiana Jones Fedora (aka My Indiana Jones Pimp Hat)
2. A Battlestar Galactica patch from the recent series.
3. Two pairs of ranking pins from the recent "Battlestar Galactica" series (one pair of Lieutenant ranking and one pair of Captain ranking)
4. 1 pair of official replica dog tags from the RIS BSG (replica of Sharon "Athena" Agathon's dog tags. Purchased from MegaCon 2009. Been wearing them since the Con).
Prop Replicas I've Made
1. An FBI Badge Image for the character of Will Graham, inspired by the movie "Manhunter". Badge includes black and white photo of William Peterson, who is known for his role in "CSI", who played Will Graham in the first adaptation of the novel "Red Dragon" by Thomas Harris, adaptation directed by Michael Mann. (Note: I have been considering on printing out and laminating the badge for myself. I do not plan to share the image of the badge out of fear that some unsavory figure may decide to use the badge for malicious purposes. Though I would like to show it here, I cannot in good conscious share the image, even though it is not 100% accurate.
2. A CD Cover from the reimagined "Battlestar Galactica" series. It is based off of one of the pictures of an actual CD prop shown in auction (similar to design of CD prop in the episode "Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down", the disc handed over from Shelly Godfrey to Adama in the episode). The cover is only 90% screen accurate, primarily due to the fact that I couldn't recreate the exact Phoenix logo on the disk, thus resulting in utilizing a pre-existing image that doesn't closely match.
3. An "Impeach Laura Roslin"/Baltar Campaign poster from the reimagined "Battlestar Galactica" series. I was able to recreate the poster, and I can say, for certain, that it is 99% screen accurate (primarily due to the picture used, though I found the correct picture, I wasn't able to get the appearance to match that seen in the episode.
Prop Replicas I Am Working On/Considering
1. More "Battlestar Galactica" related/inspired paper props: I have been thinking about doing much more paper props inspired and related to the reimagined series. I am trying to do replicas that haven't been done (I know of CmdrKerner's work (in fact, he knows me from Deviantart) and I know of a tutorial in Instructibles.com that shows how you could make your own "My Triumphs, My Mistakes" by Gaius Baltar replica/notebook, which includes a cover image made by someone that matches that in the show). But, I'm not just going to limit myself to the show's canon. I have also toyed around with doing some paper props from the "Battlestar Galactica" comic books from Dynamite Entertainment. One of the recent paper props I'm trying to work on is the full set of Triad cards. I picked up the PDF from PhoenixVader not too long ago after he posted about it here (I was lucky enough to find his e-mail address at a website for Star Wars props, since I wasn't able to access his e-mail address or PM him from the RPF). Right now, I'm trying to figure out what is the best cardstock to use for printing out the cards, any kind of special method to make sure that the cards have the typical card thickness and behavior when flapping it and whatnot. I'm hoping to get the full set printed out with in a high quality in the paper and method of print. And there's been some photo replicas that have come up that I'm toying around with printing (namely, some of the pictures from the auction that are big enough that .
2. Some physical BSG-related/inspired props- I was fortunate to come across an Avery blue translucent report binder that looks similar to one I've come across at the BSG Auction catalog (only a $1.50 from Big Lots). I do not know if I'll make it appear to be a canon document (i.e., a document belonging to either the Galactica or the Pegasus), or if I will decide to make it a unique document (I have been working on a machinima comic book fan fiction series that takes place within the show's universe, and I do plan on featuring another surviving Battlestar called the Athena). I also came across a pair of Coby earphones that are close to the ones used for the microphone piece of the wireless headsets (the only difference is that the lines etched into the one I found have one going in a straight line, and two going in diagonals, whereas the ones on the show are straight lines), so it's opened the possibility of me putting together a wireless headset. And I bought an issue of the National Geographic magazine from a thrift store, which I plan on turning into a copy of the issue seen at the end of the final episode. The only problem I have is finding high quality scans of the cover (and article) or a high quality copy of the skull image used on the cover.
3. A "Left 4 Dead" medkit- I had originally wanted to purchase a medkit that appears to be the actual item that the game's makers used as the model for the medpack in the game (Ortovox First Aid Pouch, which apparently has been discontinued) and make the minor changes to it to match. But, I came across a pouch that looks like it could serve as a first aid bag for cheap, but it may not be 100% accurate to the in-game item. However, I have seen a lot of L4D cosplayers who had made their own medkits from pouches similar to the one I found, so I may go with it even if it isn't accurate (and maybe I could use it for one of the short films at Full Sail due to it not being accurate to the game's medkit, using it as a "genetic" type).
4. FBI "Tooth Fairy"/"Red Dragon" case file- Inspired lightly by another paper prop I've seen, which combined information on Dr. Hannibal Lector from the book and the films (this was prior to "Hannibal Rising" being made), I have considered on doing a version of the "Tooth Fairy"/"Red Dragon" FBI case file in the same means, utilizing information about Francis Dollarhyde from the book, and both "Manhunter" and "Red Dragon" movie adaptations. I thought about utilizing some material (i.e. photographs) from the miniature "case file" extra that comes with the two-disc limited edition copy of "Manhunter". And, to keep it consistent with the films, I have thought about having some material mentioned, but not included in the file (if you've seen the movie adaptation of "Hannibal", when Clarice gets all the related case material to Doctor Lector, the material is less than what she was expecting, a fellow officer explaining that it had been picked out over the years like "the cocaine that goes missing from evidence, little by little" over time. I think the same thing would happen with Francis Dollarhyde's file too, since its related to Lector). Don't know if I'll proceed with it, and if I do, if I'd use Tom Noonan's picture or Ralph Fiennes' picture for Francis Dollarhyde's file.
5. The Number 23 book from "The Number 23"- I love the movie from both a literary and filmmaking point of view and have considered doing this one. But there are certain problems I've come to realize with making a replica possible. First off, is screen accuracy with the text and photos within the book. We don't see a whole lot of pages in the book except the ones that serve as "bookends" to each of the scenes that are suppose to take place within it or have some important emphasis. Also, there is no information about what happened to the original prop book and barely any information about what else was in the book, such as additional photos and other scribbling. Plus, recreating all the text within the book (basically, writing an adaptation) that is screen accurate (including the 23rd word of every 23rd page hidden message) would take too long. So, this is one I can only consider at the current time, but may not be able to proceed on.
6. The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer (Twin Peaks)- Now, I picked up the actual published book from a Goodwill. And I have considered on actually transcribing the book, make the font look like handwriting and print the pages off to paste into an actual journal (if the one seen in the actual show, than a journal I picked up from a Walden Books not too long ago, but it may not be as accurate and have enough pages to cover all of the "entries", including the pages that are ripped out, but it was something I've considered).
7. A Vacuum Forming machine- Now, I know this isn't a prop replica, but I've considered on actually making a vacuum forming machine to make plastic props. But since I live in an apartment with very limited amount of space, I do not know if I can make one that I can keep in the apartment and have a method of heating up plastic evenly (my apartment has an electric oven, but I don't know if it would be safe heating up plastic sheets in the apartment).
That's about it for now. I hope that I am able to contribute to this forum by providing some info I've come across that may be useful to some and post some of my paper prop images I've done (thus far). Hope things continue to go well with everyone and we all have a great time talking about props, prop replicas and everything in between.
