CMU School of Drama


Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Inside Marvel's Top Secret Weapons Warehouse

EW.com: Marvel’s secret weapon is the man who makes them: propmaster Russell Bobbitt.
Now at work on his sixth film for Marvel Studios, Bobbitt builds the objects that save (and sometimes threaten to destroy) the world: Thor’s hammer. Iron Man’s glowing ARC reactor. Captain America’s vibranium shield.

7 comments:

Olivia LoVerde said...

This is so cool. I am a fan of the super hero movies and all the little details of them. The amount of props and pieces that have to be put together just to make one scene is unbelievable. The items that are usually in these marvel super hero movies are also pretty detailed and intricate. They are not just pieces of furniture that have to get touched up or have new fabric put on. They are mysterious things from stories that have to get recreated to help tell the story. If Captain Americas shield was just a garbage can lid with paint on it, it would not have been the same.

Joseph Essig said...

After initially fearing the quality of all the Marvel films, I have recently converted into their comic book charm, the entertaining plots, and some of the really awesome superheroes. Being the propmaster of the majority of the Marvel movies would an amazing opportunity to help create such a significant part of the film's aesthetic. Everybody loves all the superheros' gadgets and weapons, and the design possibilities are only as limited as the imagination in the world of Marvel Comics. I'd very much like to walk through the prop closet at the Marvel Studios to get a closer look at the amount of detail that goes into every piece.

Philip Rheinheimer said...

Props, pun intended, to all of the propmasters who do such amazing work. Movies wouldn't be the same without the incredible attention to detail and creativity that goes into creating props like Captain America's shield or the weapon cobbled together out of hardware store parts. Sure, plenty of those props could probably have just been added via CGI in post, but to be able to give an actor a tangible object to use is so much better. What's really impressive is that Bobbitt isn't just responsible for the cool props like all of the weapons but also for all of the everyday objects that the extras carry and are barely even seen.

Becki Liu said...

AAAHHH So cool! I love Marvel! it's so funny how you never think about this when you watch the movie (which is a good thing) Sometimes, if I watch the movie more than once then I think "woah, how did they do that!?"

It's crazy how much detail is put into everything. The fact that anything the actor touches is considered a prop, I couldn't even imagine how much time is put into just figuring out what is going to be needed! I really like that Capt. America's shield has multiple types. I didn't know that they used a soft shield so when people get in contact with it, they won't get hurt! Really amazing to see this!

Keith Kelly said...

So many props and the mastermind behind all this wonderful work is Russell Bobbitt who claims he's responsible for all the designs, which is difficult to believe. With 120 staffers they definitely get to design some stuff too. I love props, for its constantly creative and keeps you on your feet. A lighting designer I feel works very less creativity and they often repeat a very similar process fro each show. A props master needs to be a jack of all trade in the theatrical design. If I had to chose something besides costuming I would have to choose props, I find props to be fascinating for each day is completely different from the next. Its fascinating that one hammer can have so many variations and looks. This man has a huge budget and must have one of the most enjoyable jobs. The shopping trip be describes in the second video of going to a hardware store and buying everything in sight to fill two full shopping charts to make a tiny handheld gun. What a great job and would love to experiment more with props in the future.

T said...

This guy has a really awesome job, and he looks like he really enjoys what he does. I think that props are so cool, and having the opportunity to make props for superheroes sounds amazing. I think that the process and the experimentation that happens when making props is really cool. This video was a great example of that, when he Bobbitt had to create a gun out of things found in a hardware store, so he just bought two shopping carts full of stuff from Home Depot and started playing around. It's also really cool just to look in his shop and see a bunch of different things from different superheroes just sitting on shelves. I feel like it would be a really cool place to explore.

Thomas Ford said...

This guy has a really awesome job, and he looks like he really enjoys what he does. I think that props are so cool, and having the opportunity to make props for superheroes sounds amazing. I think that the process and the experimentation that happens when making props is really cool. This video was a great example of that, when he Bobbitt had to create a gun out of things found in a hardware store, so he just bought two shopping carts full of stuff from Home Depot and started playing around. It's also really cool just to look in his shop and see a bunch of different things from different superheroes just sitting on shelves. I feel like it would be a really cool place to explore.