Jan 14th, 2016: Movie Props

[xoxoxoBruce]

Besides the big buck people you see on the silver screen, the frame is usually filled with scenery and props. Besides John Wayne there's a ten gallon hat, a couple guns, maybe a saddle, a rope, all the things that complete the feel of the time and place. Some directors have pet props which show up in all their films. Quentin Tarantino's pet is products with the Red Apple label, and Ross MacDonald was called upon to make it happen for the latest film.

One of those was the Red Apple tobacco tin. Red Apple is an iconic Tarantino brand that has appeared in every one of his films since Pulp Fiction. The Red Apple cigarette packages in those other films had an image of an apple with a cartoon worm popping out of it. When propmaster Don Miloyevich commissioned me to redesign the brand for this movie, we talked about doing something different – not just in terms of making it more fitting to the period but reimagining it altogether. I drew inspiration for the illustration from lush late 19th century chromolithographed tobacco packaging. The addition of Eve and the serpent gave it a classical look, and yet somehow a looming hint of something ominous.

Most of the things I made were designed on the fly during production, so sometimes I made different versions so the director and actors could see which they preferred. They knew they wanted the Red Apple brand to be loose tobacco, but weren’t sure about the packaging. I made both sacks and tins, and the tins were chosen. I also made a counter display, which shows up in the background on the store shelves.

Loose tobacco needs matches and rolling papers. The matchboxes were each made by hand from thin basswood that was soaked overnight, then scored, cut, folded, and wrapped in the traditional purple tissue paper. The original version of the label said ‘safety matches’, since those were in common use at the time. But the director wanted to use light-anywhere matches, so I changed the label and made new larger boxes.

MacDonald even sells props used in movies and copies at his site. For example, the ones used it the film are gone, but you can get a replica of the President's Book of Secrets for $5000 + $50 shipping. You know, in case you won the Lotto.