The second I came across this great video about props on the Vimeo staff picks, I knew it would be my subject for this week’s blog post.

It’s a bit long, but it’s well worth the 10 minutes… it’s a fun exploration of cinema history, and you will come away convinced – at least for a little while – that props are *the* most important thing in filmmaking.

I think this video is particularly useful as we begin working on our personality profiles. While we’re caught up in making sure that our interviews look good and we get the appropriate b-roll, it’s important to keep our eyes open for the “props” in people’s lives that show (not tell) their story in ways that can really add some oomph and power to what could otherwise be a pretty standard profile of someone.

Of course it’s a bit different in non-fiction work than fiction work, but we can still ask people to do something for us on camera other than talk (think of the endless examples in the Moments video), or get some great details from clothing (think those killer close-ups of the wheels of SloMo’s rollerblades), or even have somebody hold something to camera, like a picture or something they are particularly proud of. It can seem a bit unnatural and forced while you’re doing it, but there’s a good chance you’ll end up with something really neat and different for your final edit. And if it doesn’t work out, it doesn’t work out… what’s space on a memory card anyway? (Well, except for Noor’s 1GB memory card.)  🙂

Here’s hoping I get a chance to capture some good props in the personality profile Phoenix and I will be working on.