CMU School of Drama


Monday, August 20, 2018

Production Notes: Alcohol

Nevada Film Office: According to findings presented at the 2017 Pediatric Academic Societies Meeting in San Francisco, CA, alcohol marketing in popular films has doubled in the past two decades. Considering there are no film restrictions placed on the alcohol industry (there are for tobacco companies seeking product placement in film), the findings may not be too surprising as alcohol is often used as a prop that incites dramatic or comedic situations in film.

1 comment:

Samantha Williams said...


The props in a show can make or break its realism in an endless amount of ways. One way to really convince an audience of a show’s legitimacy (in terms of submerging them into the story) is to have realistic looking consumable props. An audience that believes someone is really chugging a beer or shoving food down their throat is one that is so much more impressed with the quality of the show overall. Before I did theatre, I thought that the food I saw on stage/screen was real, but I have come to learn that it’s usually substituted with other things despite keeping the same appearance. Steaks are watermelons with brown sauce, ice cream is mashed potatoes, and alcohol is anything but. This article is a great way to provide insight regarding how properties masters cleverly avoid the adverse results of using real consumable products, in this case alcohol, in entertainment. Using these substitutes for alcohol is not only safer for the actors who have to ‘drink’ it multiple times a day, but it is also significantly cheaper and keeps a work environment just that.