How do you Identify Which Scene your Prop is In?

Carrossea

Active Member
For those who own original props, how do you go about identifying which scene it was used in? Propmakers normally make several of the same prop or several different versions, so unless it was stated in the description or on the COA, do you ever try to identify which scene your prop was used in? (I'm getting some screen used props, but unfortunately, the exact scene isn't specified, so was curious what other collectors do.)

Do you go through the movie and see if you can identify the one you own? What do you look for? Do you even care :lol?
 
Many props you simply can't screen match. Either they are too alike all the other copies or they are too far away... too blurry... whatever. Blu ray has been our best friend when it comes to screen matching as the resolution is so good you can often see really small details.

What I try to find is something truly unique about the piece I own that would be different, even from other, similar copies. A scratch... a slight difference in paint or weathering. It is usually some irregularity or oddity that you have to find. On suit X, the stitching wasn't quite right. On prop Y, the weathering happens to be just a little darker here.

I am actually very frustrated when I CAN'T match my pieces. Doesn't mean they aren't in the movie. Just that they aren't able to be clearly matched.
 
It seems to me its almost easier to rule them OUT than to confirm...

For the longest time I thought these were a dead match, but the last time I plugged in the film, I think I saw some slight differences:

SH 001.jpg
 
Many props you simply can't screen match. Either they are too alike all the other copies or they are too far away... too blurry... whatever. Blu ray has been our best friend when it comes to screen matching as the resolution is so good you can often see really small details.

I am actually very frustrated when I CAN'T match my pieces. Doesn't mean they aren't in the movie. Just that they aren't able to be clearly matched.

Thanks for the tips!! I didn't think about using Blu rays, so I'll definitely have to pick up some to try to screen match any of my props. ;) How many would you say were you able to screen-match, and how many you haven't?

It seems to me its almost easier to rule them OUT than to confirm...

For the longest time I thought these were a dead match, but the last time I plugged in the film, I think I saw some slight differences:

View attachment 214360

I love the way you took your photo!! Thanks for sharing. Yeah, seems like it's quite hard to screen-match everything, :lol. What movie are those pumpkins from? I don't believe I have seen that movie.
 
Thanks for the tips!! I didn't think about using Blu rays, so I'll definitely have to pick up some to try to screen match any of my props. ;) How many would you say were you able to screen-match, and how many you haven't?



I love the way you took your photo!! Thanks for sharing. Yeah, seems like it's quite hard to screen-match everything, :lol. What movie are those pumpkins from? I don't believe I have seen that movie.

Thanks. It's Sleepy Hollow with Depp.
 
The problem is that when you collect from from an older movie like me from Close Encounters of the Third Kind, it's quite difficult to screenmatch a piece since the quality of these films are worse than todays movies. To identify them however in which scene they were in just do the same like me...watch the movie over a thousand times and you can identify every singel prop used in the movie :D
 
Do you go through the movie and see if you can identify the one you own? What do you look for? Do you even care :lol?

I think that's the holy grail of owning any particular prop really, Screen Matching is something I'm sure all original prop collectors attempt, we want the original of an item, so to confirm that it is actually that exact one that everybody saw on screen is exactly what people want.
As mentioned though, it's extremely difficult and some people see matches where other people don't, so a good match is priceless. I have quite a lot of original props and costumes and have only really been able to match a few (though this is often because the prop doesn't get good focus on screen, or a great deal of screen time, or has no real identifying marks to set it aside from any possible duplicates out there - also I have a large number of costumes in my collection and they can often be near impossible to match)

Just a couple of the items I've screen matched are:

Riddick Shiv from Pitch Black
Riddicks Necromonger Knife
Ed Nortons Hulk Heart Monitor Watch

There's a few more listed across my site, but I've also just completed matching up Karl Urban's 'Vaako' armor from The Chronicles of Riddick and have just acquired Harrison Ford's I.D badge from The Fugitive which I have just screen-matched also.
 
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I think that's the holy grail of owning any particular prop really, Screen Matching is something I'm sure all original prop collectors attempt, we want the original of an item, so to confirm that it is actually that exact one that everybody saw on screen is exactly what people want.
As mentioned though, it's extremely difficult and some people see matches where other people don't, so a good match is priceless. I have quite a lot of original props and costumes and have only really been able to match a few (though this is often because the prop doesn't get good focus on screen, or a great deal of screen time, or has no real identifying marks to set it aside from any possible duplicates out there - also I have a large number of costumes in my collection and they can often be near impossible to match)

There's a few more listed across my site, but I've also just completed matching up Karl Urban's 'Vaako' armor from The Chronicles of Riddick and have just acquired Harrison Ford's I.D badge from The Fugitive which I have just screen-matched also.

Thanks for sharing!! Love the site that you made of the screen matched items!! Man, how much time does it take for you to screen match some of those items? So much attention to detail! And nice props indeed. :)
 
When I bought a screen worn Don Draper suit from Mad Men a couple of years ago, the auction itself had screen caps of what they thought was the suit they were selling. It was a very similar suit, but not the correct one. I took it upon myself to watch every episode of the first 4 seasons to see where the suit was worn. I eventually found Jon Hamm wearing it in 5 episodes over four seasons. The suit itself has a discernible pattern that matches up like a fingerprint. It was actually a lot of fun to find it and match it up.

I recently bought the suit worn by Phillip Seymour Hoffman in The Big Lebowksi and was able to screen match it from patterns in the suit material as well as wrinkles and folds in the suit.

It's fun to play detective!
 
So, I have a great example of what I posted earlier in this thread. I just got in a set of Eudorus armor from Troy. Now, Eudorus wears at least 3 sets of very similar armor in the filming. However, when looking at them, each one is ever so slightly different.

As I mentioned previously, the thing you have to look for in the movie is anything that makes a particular set of armor unique like scratches, tears, dings... and in this case, even the rivets since they were all applied by hand. If you see anything, you then look at the piece you have and try to find it.

In this case, I saw some dings and scruffs on the leather shoulders that I knew weren't present on the other sets of armor I had seen earlier in the movie. Now... you have to be careful because pieces tend to take damage throughout production and just because something isn't there in one scene doesn't mean it isn't the same piece. However, in this case, we are talking about very subtle damage that was not intentional weathering, and when I went to my set of armor... there it was. Additional scenes showed even more matches to other details which are unique to this set of armor, but this was the first big identifier.

See for yourself.

screen-matched-eudorus-myrmidon-armor-troy.jpg
 
I got randomly lucky with a piece from the Bourne Supremacy. It's a cloth bag/purse used by Marie (Franka Potente) in the early scenes of the movie. After getting it, I was able to match up all the seems and stitching not only with screen caps from the film, but a nice, large publicity still of her. The yellow dots in the two pictures below match up perfectly (and no two of these would be made exactly the same). There's also a knot tied in the handle, and even that matches with the knot seen when she's wearing it on screen...

My picture:
BourneSup_Bag1.jpg


Closeup of the publicity still:
BourneSup_Franka2.jpg


This is the full image:
BourneSup_Franka1.jpg


It's a simple little prop, but I thought it was cool that it was so easy to screen-match... :)
 
When I bought a screen worn Don Draper suit from Mad Men a couple of years ago, the auction itself had screen caps of what they thought was the suit they were selling. It was a very similar suit, but not the correct one. I took it upon myself to watch every episode of the first 4 seasons to see where the suit was worn. I eventually found Jon Hamm wearing it in 5 episodes over four seasons. The suit itself has a discernible pattern that matches up like a fingerprint. It was actually a lot of fun to find it and match it up.
I recently bought the suit worn by Phillip Seymour Hoffman in The Big Lebowksi and was able to screen match it from patterns in the suit material as well as wrinkles and folds in the suit.
It's fun to play detective!

Nice!! Man, I would cry if I watched every single episode and still didn't see it. Glad you were able to screen match it!!

In this case, I saw some dings and scruffs on the leather shoulders that I knew weren't present on the other sets of armor I had seen earlier in the movie. Now... you have to be careful because pieces tend to take damage throughout production and just because something isn't there in one scene doesn't mean it isn't the same piece.

Yeah, that's exactly why screen matching is extremely difficult. Items can have scratches and other things on it that happened after the shoot, so it's always awesome if someone is able to screen match anything. Great job, and thanks for posting the pics!!!

I got randomly lucky with a piece from the Bourne Supremacy. It's a cloth bag/purse used by Marie (Franka Potente) in the early scenes of the movie. After getting it, I was able to match up all the seems and stitching not only with screen caps from the film, but a nice, large publicity still of her. The yellow dots in the two pictures below match up perfectly (and no two of these would be made exactly the same). There's also a knot tied in the handle, and even that matches with the knot seen when she's wearing it on screen...

Nice!!! Thanks for posting!!
 
As I mentioned previously, the thing you have to look for in the movie is anything that makes a particular set of armor unique like scratches, tears, dings... and in this case, even the rivets since they were all applied by hand. If you see anything, you then look at the piece you have and try to find it.

Hi, so I have a question. If, say, that I have a screen used prop, and I talked to the original prop maker and he tells me that he only made one of the prop with that specific color. The others he made had different colors. And then I see the prop in the movie. Can I say that it's screen matched? What if I can't see any scratches and such or match it up with any weathering due to poor lighting of the scene and such? Is it still considered "screen-matched"? Of course, to me, I was able to screen match it because of the color, but if I were to sell it to someone else later, for instance, they wouldn't know that the original prop maker only made one (unless I tell them).
 
I would be cautious about calling that "screen matched" in your sales copy. I would say exactly what you said here, just what the prop maker told you and then show screen caps to back that up. I, of course, don't know the prop maker you talked to, but in my experience, people in a production can be both a huge source of information AND disinformation. You have to be REALLY careful in regard to what you are told and you need to always verify it. Always keep in mind that for us, this is a passion, but for most production people, it is a job. Would you be able to tell someone extremely specific details about what you were doing and why you did something on your job 10 or 20 years ago? I know I couldn't and a lot of times (but not always) production people can't remember the exact details either... yet they often WANT to be able to provide an answer so they give the best answer they think they can remember.

Hi, so I have a question. If, say, that I have a screen used prop, and I talked to the original prop maker and he tells me that he only made one of the prop with that specific color. The others he made had different colors. And then I see the prop in the movie. Can I say that it's screen matched? What if I can't see any scratches and such or match it up with any weathering due to poor lighting of the scene and such? Is it still considered "screen-matched"? Of course, to me, I was able to screen match it because of the color, but if I were to sell it to someone else later, for instance, they wouldn't know that the original prop maker only made one (unless I tell them).
 
...in my experience, people in a production can be both a huge source of information AND disinformation. ..a lot of times (but not always) production people can't remember the exact details either... yet they often WANT to be able to provide an answer so they give the best answer they think they can remember.

..or sometimes just what they think you want to hear unfortunately :unsure

This has been my experience a few times as well I'm afraid. I've dealt with one prop master on various occasions and I know other collectors who have dealt with him too and at one point it came to my attention that he's given each of us great news about an item (or items) we own, but unfortunately the information is often contradictory. Like both versions were the confirmed hero set, both were the only one he made and so on.
Nobody wants to hear that it was an off the shelf item and just one of many identical duplicates used, so maybe it's just easier for them to give good news sometimes. In my case the one I had was actually a screen match luckily, but I think if you can't actually match it to what is seen on screen then it's not a screen match. That's not to say that it isn't that one, there's just not always a way to prove it
 
I would be cautious about calling that "screen matched" in your sales copy. I would say exactly what you said here, just what the prop maker told you and then show screen caps to back that up. I, of course, don't know the prop maker you talked to, but in my experience, people in a production can be both a huge source of information AND disinformation. You have to be REALLY careful in regard to what you are told and you need to always verify it.

Thanks for the advice!! I'll definitely keep that in mind. I think in my case, I would just have to have faith that he remembered correctly. But I'll definitely be weary of the possible misinformation. But it also seems, according to Guardian Devil, that prop masters aren't always truthful either, so I definitely have to keep that in mind as well.

..or sometimes just what they think you want to hear unfortunately :unsure
Nobody wants to hear that it was an off the shelf item and just one of many identical duplicates used, so maybe it's just easier for them to give good news sometimes. In my case the one I had was actually a screen match luckily, but I think if you can't actually match it to what is seen on screen then it's not a screen match. That's not to say that it isn't that one, there's just not always a way to prove it

Thanks for the advice, and for sharing your experience! That's an unfortunate situation you were in. I had always thought that it's best for the prop master to be honest no matter what in case the buyer/owner of the prop finds out that they might have lied, like in your case. We prop collectors sometimes share our props in these kind of forums, and if it so happens that two people sharing their props say that they are the only one who has the original one, then it would definitely be noticed by others of the community, and will eventually be brought to their attention. But based on what your experience, it doesn't seem like that's necessarily always the case.

I have also dealt with a prop collector once who had lied about the amount of original props made for the movie. He was trying to mislead me into believing that there were less than there really was, and so think that his was extremely rare and is now impossible to obtain. It wasn't until I was informed by another member on here and also the prop master himself that there were hundreds of the same prop made during production, and there were actually a few remaining from the prop master that is available for sale. So it seems that the prop collector had tried to fool me out of some form of jealousy of not being only one of the few who owns the original.

Lesson to learn: Although there are plenty of honest people in this prop collecting community, a healthy amount of skepticism should always be exercised.


Nice!! I checked out your link, and that's so awesome! Thanks for sharing!
 
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