Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1531433
10 PROP CULTURE I WINTER 2025 ANATOMY OF A SCENE: HOW A PROPERTY MASTER BREAKS DOWN A SCRIPTED SCENE I started with the characters. Jim was a high school senior, and his backpack needed to reflect that. I first consulted with the costume department to color coordinate the backpack and then showed several choices to the director and writer, and lastly to Jason Biggs himself. Once we had a winner, we needed a second one because in the property world, one is as good as none. We always need a backup in case anything happens to it. After that, the backpack had to be aged to make it look like Jim had it for a while. This process can be simple or complicated depending on how beat-up the prop should look. We also had to match the exact aging to the backup backpack. Finally, we added content to the backpack to give it the proper weight, and to help the actor feel like it was their character's backpack. Sometimes this means adding patches and pins or anything needed to help define the character. Next, Jim's dad wears glasses. Fortunately, Eugene Levy is an actor whose glasses are signature to him, so he already owned them. As filmmakers, we all know that the screenplay is the blueprint from which we all begin to determine what will appear on screen. Every department has a unique focus, and many elements of a scene have crossovers. This is why collaboration is key to a successful project. To better understand every aspect of a Property Master's responsibility, here is a famous scene from a renowned movie I had the pleasure of working on as Property Master. I detailed everything that went into bringing it from the page to the screen. The film is American Pie. If you've seen the movie, you most definitely know the scene. The first thing I did after reading the script was to go back and highlight the props, which I have already done here. BY CHRIS CALL