Hi it's Tod of Tods workshop here and today we're gonna have a talk about film props.
So historical film props, fantasy film props, but ones which are about you know
sword and sandals, as it's known in the in the business. So medieval weaponry.
Basically now I make very accurate historical reproductions, museum grade
stuff and that's my livelihood; but the other side of my livelihood that you
might not know, is that I also do film and TV props, weaponry basically. And I've
been doing that for 25 years, so I do know a little bit about the industry. Now
I watched lots of YouTube videos where people are talking about films and the
props that are in, them but they don't really understand how those decisions
have come about so this really is just to explain how some of the decisions are
made. When you are making film props now the thing is I too love history, that's
that's why we're here, we're all here because we love history, and we love
weaponry that's i.t Now when I sit there and I watch a film
you know I'm just like you guys, I sit there and go" that helmets 200 years
wrong" or "they didn't have a bow like that" why was Robin Hood using a recurve and
not a longbow. Whatever it may be. But there are decisions there that I as a
viewer am not party to and you as viewers are not party to. And we're going
to have a look at some of those, some of the ones that we don't understand but
I'll give you examples. Ones which explain to you, why choices are made and
these are things that we can all understand when they're explained. Well
when you're doing a historical prop the devil is in the detail it really is, so
you've got to make the overall thing look right but you've also got to make
the cross guard and a sword functional or you've got to make the pommel not too
heavy or whatever it may be. All of these details count because even if you don't
fully understand what's going on with a sword, you you
kind of get the feeling if it's right or if it's wrong, so you've really got to
strive to get it right. Now I think in you know, in the nineteen 50's 60's 70's,
people were less concerned about that. But now in the dawn of the Internet
that knowledge is at everybody's fingertips and so there's lots more people who can
say that's not right. Now let's say there's a hundred million people out
there watching a film or a series, that's a hundred million opinions of what's
right and what's wrong. I can tell you now they're not all right,
even the ones who all think they are, so there are lots of rights. Okay but there
are also definitely some wrongs. So if an actor can't hold it or if the mould
department can't replicate the prop that's been made. Those are wrongs. If it
causes problems for the cameras, that's a wrong and it doesn't matter what we may
think about it, it can't be used however historically right it is. And I suppose
the second point that I would like to make is that we all need to get off our
high horse. We we are not making a documentary when we make these
historical films, we are making entertainment. Nobody goes to the cinema
for a blockbuster on Corinthian columns in ancient Greek it doesn't happen, all
right. It's not entertaining that's education, very valid, but not when you
want to make a lot of money at the box office. So we need to produce things
which are entertaining and that means that realism sometimes needs to get
stretched a little bit. Now admittedly annoyances and diversions are one of the
main things that really annoys people when you're watching film and TV and one
of those primary causes for those diversions those annoyances where things
have changed or they're not as you'd expect them to be is copyright. Now
let's just say you take the example of a book. The book is written, successful book
Now he sells the rights, he/she sells the rights to that book for a comic strip.
Now somebody's bought the rights for that comic strip and they designed the
visualization because of course it's not there in the book and the character
looks like this, and he carries swords like that, and if you then if the author
then sells the rights to that book to a film for instance, that's a different
company to the comic book and because it's a different company to the comic
book they don't own the rights for how it looks. So the fact that you've
got a double-headed eagle crest on a shield in the comic means that,
absolutely specifically for copyright reasons, you cannot have a double crested
eagle shield in the film because you're breaching copyright. You are taking the
designs that another company has done and that means you have to make changes
and there's no choice about itunless they buy the copyright off the
comic company as well. And the same is true if you do television or film or
comics or video games, the copyright is owned by different people and the look
needs to be different. Now film and TV, much the same really, and videogames are
interesting they're both in many respects the same in that they're
constructed fantasy. You can manipulate things with computer-generated imagery
CGI, you can make props how you want them to be, but, and here's the big difference.
A film you are still constricted by for instance a character, how he moves, what
length of a spear he can pick up, how that interacts with the wall that's
right next to him. Computer games are not like that. You want it, you got it.
So in a computer game or a film you want a pump-action crossbow well you can do
that either way it's not a problem, in a film you want a longsword with a very
pointed tip. That's a problem. No problem for a computer game. Picture the scene.
2 A list celebrities, they're all dolled up in in their plate armor they're just
about to enter a battle on the field of Agincourt. Now 2 nobleman nicely done,
they're going to be wearing pig face bascinets. Right first thing, pig-faced
bascinets look kind of stupid. Secondly they cover the face completely.
You can't see the very expensive actors that you've just hired, you can't hear
properly what they say unless it's done historically and authentically. You cannot
see there eye movements, the way their faces are working. So basically what
you're gonna have for 25 minutes of action sequence are two guys that you
can't see, you can't read anything from their face. You just got blank steel
stupid-looking visors with two guys going "mhmmmhu hummun" that's all
you're gonna get. Historical accuracy is out the window immediately right? So
they're going to be wearing open face bascinets. That's the first thing that's
gonna happen; you can see who they are you can do everything else. Did they ever do that?
No. Historical accuracy gone completely. Gushes of blood. Ridley Scott loves these
I scratched my arm with a pin; blood everywhere. It doesn't happen, but it
is part of the style of his films. Do we love them? Yes we do.
Is there anything wrong with that? Well yeah it's completely inaccurate but
it's also right because that's what we want. Come back to Agincourt again
as an example. Sabatons. So the very pointed armored shoes that guys wore.
Historically accurate yes, anyway the point being historically accurate yes.
They are a health and safety hazard? It's like walking in flippers, absolutely. They
also look really uncool, no A-list celebrity is going to wear those and
then think about the colors and the decoration. So I've just got a prop here
this is a scabbard that I made dated early to mid 14th century. It's covered
in flowers nice little floral decoration here very
very bright, very lurid. You put that into a film and the viewers are going to be
going "oh he's got flowers on all, what does that mean?" you know and they're
going to be questioning all sorts of things. It'll distract from the film. Put
them in a fairly plain ish scabbard maybe with a little bit of flouncy
decoration on it a bit of shininess. People love it
Great. A scabbard that is covered in flowers no good at all, historically
accurate? perfect. And then we come to the creative choices that are made. So as a
maker I put my particular style and my knowledge into the pieces I make
but also I need to have input from a lot of other people. Now directly, well
indirectly usually, the director, through the art director, will have an input into
what I do. The armourer, costume perhaps very often the actor as well, and various
other departments and stunts actually, very notably. So these people all have
requirements that I need to fulfill and so what I'm able to do changes from
perhaps what the perfect 14th century/ 15th century sword might be. Suddenly
I've got some restraints that weren't there before, or not there in history. So
you have a large group of people, all of which have an interest in putting their
two pennies worth into what you're making. Not in a petty way, but because
they will have requirements and it has to fulfill everybody's requirements. So
if the camera guy comes to me and asks for a change, I can
stand there and I can have a discussion with him and I can argue my point and I
can explain that in history this wasn't the case and so on. That doesn't alter
the fact that everybody is now standing around and at two hundred thousand
dollars an hour overtime or whatever it is, people are looking at me to make a
decision and to sort something out. Now I can argue my corner at two hundred
thousand dollars an hour, or I can just accept that changes need to be made.
I make the change and we all move on. Sometimes these changes are made frankly
on a little bit of a whim, we're all human, we all like to have a bit of input
into these things. But actually everybody's grown up on set, they all
understand the money that's involved in delays, so it's really not about that.
It's about changes that were not expected. So let's just say the camera
comes along and says actually that pattern there on the costume is causing
my camera to strobe, so can we lose that pattern? So they put another piece of
fabric over the top of that; that's now changed the appearance in the colour
of the costume and the prop that I have done that sits over that, now stands out
and looks garish for example. So I now need to change the colour of that and
then because the color has changed the way the shadows work are a bit different,
so I need to lift the prop up. So I need to add another strap onto a scabbard or
something like that. These things happen continuously and you
can't foresee them and it's not really anybody's fault, it's just the nature of
the industry that we're in. It's creative. It's all subjective. We want it to look
good we all want it to look good. So changes happen even when you can't
foresee them, so at the end of the day, you make the change that is required from
the department that needs the change made. It might not be what you would
choose to do, it might not be what you did originally, but the bottom line is
it's work. It's what needs to be done to get the job rolling on and if you're not
racking that overtime bill up for everybody; bonus. Now the thing is, YOU and
your opinions are also important, you are the consumers, but don't forget actually
you have to pander as a film company, to the masses, because you know, you guys
out there, you 1 million of you who happen to ever stumble across this film,
whatever it is, you're informed. Okay you know what you're talking about and so
you have a great, you know, relatively good understanding of what's
happening on screen in front of you. The other 99 million people don't. But they
are the people you need to pander to because they're 99 percent of the money.
But when you pander to the masses you have to give them what they want. You
have to make people fly backwards when they're shot. Baddies wear black, long
bows creak, peasants are always dull and not bright; these are the things that are
needed in a film to portray the message easily and smoothly and without, might
annoy you, but without annoying the masses, because for them it would jar. Now
you might be happy to avoid these cliches, but you might not, but again
remember it is not a documentary that is being made, it is entertainment. All of
these conflicting requirements from the various interested parties, the
director, the art director, sets, props, costume, armour, lighting, camera; they all
have a bearing on how the weapon is going to be designed.
We are not party to those decisions when we're watching the film, so it's very
difficult to actually look at what they do and say "oh well that's wrong", well you
know what? if it works then it's right. That is the point. Then we'll take the
example of a longsword. So we have got ourselves here a classic late 15th
century long sword based on one in the Royal Armouries. Now for close-up work I
make a sword like this. This is not the sword that actors fight with all right?
What they do when you're fighting with a fighting prop is you take this sword and
you mold it in rubber and they're very very good, but they are rubber swords
with a carbon-fiber rod up the middle to give them some stiffness. Now if we look
at the point on this a classic 15th century pointed longsword looks great,
historically accurate. Brilliant. You can't mold it, well you can mold it, but
as soon as you start fighting with it the tips break up and if you reinforce
all the way to the point then you end up with something that's actually very
dangerous. So what you need to do is... I'm just removing a bit of material here.... you
see I've just put it a line there that is the kind of tip shape that you
inevitably end up with of one form or another. So I'll just
move that close to camera so you can see there that I've completely blunted off
the point right? It needs to be like that and as well as molding there's all sorts
of other issues that need to be considered. So we've got our nice long
sword here if the blades too long it starts interfering with ceilings and
rigging on ships and woods and things like that. The handle, even if it's a
single handed sword, this handle needs to be long enough to get two hands on to it.
The reason for that is that it looks good for action sequences, so if it's a
single handed sword you want the guy to be able to put two hands on it for the
extra hard blow or whatever it is, so you need quite a long handle on it.
Very often the blade needs to be short enough that you can wear it in a
back scabbard. " Oh, back scabbard!" I hear you say; so why do they do back
scabbards? they never were around in history or basically not. They don't
really work. What is the point of them? Well if you consider an action sequence
of a guy jumping on a horse for instance it's pretty difficult in a longsword
scabbard that's dangling by the side, again they just get tangled. When he's
running through doorways, when he's going past a table in a marketplace, whatever
it is, longsword scabbards are difficult to wear. They're always jingling about,
they cause continuity problems because they settle down in a different place
and then costume get annoyed. Back scabbards. So the scabbard is worn, the
sword is worn on the back and that way it always stays exactly where it's
supposed to be, no continuity issues, there's there's no action sequence
issues, as long as the handle is not too high above the head. So you're not
tangling through things. They just make life a lot easier, they're very difficult
to draw, but actually you can get around that in a film, it doesn't matter too much.
So back scabbards are the absolute darling of film was whether it's
historical or not, but especially so in fantasy. You get other weird little
things like the design has to be in sympathy with
with the character. So if the character is rough and crude, then the sword will be a
little bit rough and crude and the fact that blacksmiths,
essentially village blacksmiths and didn't make long swords is neither here nor there.
If it needs to look like a village blacksmith made it, then that's what you do. You make
the village blacksmith the maker of the sword and everybody's happy about that.
It's a bit less restrictive when you're making weaponry for fantasy films or
historical fantasy films, because you can take a little bit of this, can take a little
bit of that, you put it together, you can have this and it's all great. But
inevitably you guys out there will be going, and you don't know about all the
restrictions, but nonetheless, you'll be going" well that's the wrong sword for
hunting orcs" and it's like well OK. Great. Well the last time you went hunting orcs
right? When you went hunting orcs, what was the sword that you took? Because I'm
reckoning you can't answer that question. So it's very difficult to say what the
right orc hunting sword is. Is it that one? Well you know what? If that's the one
it needs to be because of all the other restrictions, then that is the perfect orc
hunting sword. The last point I'm going to make about why film props don't
always seem to deliver what you expect them to deliver. One of the big problems
is differentiating between groups of people. So if you think of something like
the Last Kingdom. So you've got Saxons and you've got Vikings, well they look
pretty similar they dress pretty similar they look similar. They fight in a
similar way, their cultures, are you know relatively similar. They both have round
shields. Now, when you've got a bunch of guys who are beating the hell out of
each other with swords and spears you need to be able to differentiate in that
fast action that you always have in these battle sequences, who, who is. So
some have round shields, some have square shields. Oh my god; right, nobody
ever had square shields in 10th century England, didn't happen. But nonetheless
it's required to just keep the thing running. And then again Robin Hood;
there's a sequence early on where some French ambush some English.
Robin turns out, saves the day. The French are shooting black fletched
arrows, the English shooting white fletched arrows. Nobody shot black fletched arrows,
not in any quantity anyway, there might be the odd oddball.
The reason you do it, is so that when you've got arrows flying around, you know
who's shot what arrows. It's just simple visual language that just helps us all
understand. Historically accurate? Not remotely; required? Yes absolutely.
Well hopefully this film has been useful to you in explaining some of the choices
that go into historical props and why things end up as they are, really. So what
I'd say is next time you watch a historical film, sit down, calm down, relax
and just enjoy it for the spectacle it is, because you can't know the choices
that have molded the design of that film. My last word on the subject
is the 13th Warrior. If you're not familiar with it, it is a grand fantasy
Viking epic. Fantastic sets, some good historical accuracy, a run along story
that goes a hell of a pace. I love it. The gladiatorial helmets; the Conquistador
helmets, not so good. I still love the film, I enjoy it for what it is. Thanks