Your preferences for props?

[Eagle]

The recent (and hotly debated) Blade Runner Blaster thread prompted me this question:

For replica props, do you prefer:

• Absolute 'screen-used' accuracy
• The 'how I remember it' look
• The 'how it was designed to look in real life' look
• A bit of all the above?

Are you a pedantic, ruthlessly anal accuracy fiend or do you enjoy seeing a bit of 'licence'?

I prefer a little bit of licence - but not so much that it takes away from the 'feel' of the prop.

 

[Gigatron]

I usually go for a cross between "idealized screen used" and "how it was designed to look in real life".

A case in point OT sabers. Most obvious is the Luke ANH 6/7 grip setup. There are scenes in which a grip has obviously fallen off leaving a big huge gap. It looks kinda goofy and you know that it used to be there. It makes sense that if I'm going to space out 7 grips, I should use 7 grips instead of 6 and leaving a big gaping hole.

Like the Vader ESB (I think). The screen used had a bent nail through the clamp. As far as I'm concerned, that looks retarded as a display piece - BUT there are a lot of people who feel differently. And the great thing is, is everyone's enititled to their opinion. I chose to do a combination - I left off the clamp lever (it was missing on screen), but I left the clamp stud. It looks like a functional part of the saber - a perfect balance in my book .

And the Vader ROTJ. It had all those holes in the handle from being a re-use of the Luke ESB. Now granted, mine is one of OB1Kenny's (thanks again, bro.) machined pieces, but I had no desire to go and drill holes under the grips - it just doesn't make sense to me.

Which leads me to the Luke ESB. I used the rivets on the grips because they are visible on the screen piece. But I left off the little screws at the top of the grips because you never see them and they don't serve a purpose in the "real world design" sense.

I guess my point is, if a prop builder built something a particular way and piece broke off mid production, I'll build it the way it was meant to be presented. If they build something using obvious real world parts (i.e. rusty nails, etc) that are supposed to be something alien (or super high tech) AND are never seen up close on screen, I'll go with something more idealized.

-Fred

 

[Nexus6]

<div class='quotetop'>(Eagle @ Sep 2 2006, 11:57 AM) [snapback]1311770[/snapback]</div>

The recent (and hotly debated) Blade Runner Blaster thread prompted me this question:

For replica props, do you prefer:

• Absolute 'screen-used' accuracy
• The 'how I remember it' look
• The 'how it was designed to look in real life' look
• A bit of all the above?

Are you a pedantic, ruthlessly anal accuracy fiend or do you enjoy seeing a bit of 'licence'?

I prefer a little bit of licence - but not so much that it takes away from the 'feel' of the prop.
[/b]

I like all of the above, in different percentages, depending on how the screen-used piece actually looks.

I've found that a LOT of screen-used props (SUPs) are ugly & poorly-built when examined closely (& of course others are works of art). So for me, if the SUPs are gorgeous, I like absolute accuracy, but if they look like they took 2 seconds to build, I prefer some artistic license to be applied, to make them look like I think they were SUPPOSED to look in a prop's particular "universe".

2 cents

 

[Snoballz]

Another "me too" for a combination of all of the above.

All of my sabers are "as first built" since I prefer the look of something new to a used prop. I like weathered "super accurate" props if they look good, but some people (me included) get carried away when weathering a prop.

 

[SaberFreak]

<div class='quotetop'>(Gigatron @ Sep 3 2006, 12:41 AM) [snapback]1311789[/snapback]</div>

I usually go for a cross between "idealized screen used" and "how it was designed to look in real life".[/b]

What Fred said

 

[JunkSabers1138]

I guess I must say that if I had the money, I'd buy one of everything averyone has to offer. Sadly, I'm broke most of the time so I must resort to building my own props to look like those props (kind of like my Obi-style Darryn Starkiller saber and Dooku style saber.). If I had to pick just one, I would choose a screen used/idealized hybrid prop. I get SO irratated when I see a 6-gripped Luke ANH with the clamp box on the right side because I like screen accuracy. But a really good example of this hybrid prop is I'd like a Obi ANH with all the screen accurate pieces, but make those pieces look like they do something on the saber (like the brass screws, the wire, etc.).

I can't pick JUST ONE, since there are SO many to choose from and each tickles my fancy in some sort of way. Too bad I'm not super rich .

 

[DL 44 Blaster]

I prefer as screen accurate as can be attained by replicating methods through my own hand

Steve

 

[JunkSabers1138]

And one more example, I'd Like an Obi ANH that had parts that are screen accurate to the real parts in terms of demensions, materials, etc. but have them assembled kind of like Roman's sabers or like the MR Obi where they aren't just glued or soldered in place but rather threaded and twisted together which gives it a more "lightsaber" like appearance rather then "pieces of junks thrown together" kind of look.

I hope I don't sound too wierd but this was rather hard too type and I bet even harder to understand if you don't know me so I'm sorry about that. Just reply or PM me if you understood.

Seth

 

[Jimbo890]

I'll add my, ideal:

"Built like the original prop makers made it" option. Found parts, like the M41-A Pulse Rifle, or the PKD Blade Runner blaster etc.

Thats what I'm shooting for.

Jim

 

[PHArchivist]

A mix between:

• Absolute 'screen-used' accuracy
• The 'how I remember it' look

It varies...

 

[Serafino]

That's the thing about hobbies--it's a total free-for-all.

One choice that hasn't been mentioned is the 'Authenticity' preference. With props made from found parts, there are a lot of people who would rather have an 'authentic' original real-world part than an accurate replica part. So you see Obi ANH sabers built up from real parts which don't match the original in the details. For those people the coolness is in the found-parts aspect.

My preferences vary. For something like the Black Stallion horse statuette, exact screen-used accuracy would be best, because the piece is a hand-made semi-crude thing and the richness of all the detail would make it a better piece.

For something like the Obi saber I admire exact replicas of the screen-used prop, love to see them, but my own preference is a hybrid--I want the exact shapes of the specific original parts, but I want the final product to look like a 'real' lightsaber, and to make me feel like I'm looking at what I saw in the movie in preference to reference pictures taken after the producion (when there's a conflict between the two).

 

[Eagle]

Cheers, so far - makes good reading.