站在2019年电影的拍摄现场 未雕琢的宝石, 丹尼斯·奥康纳，08年 观看演员亚当·桑德勒展示这颗名不虚传的宝石, 巨大的蛋白石, 致NBA总冠军凯文·加内特. 作为现场道具, O’Connor was responsible for fastening the correct Rolex watch around Sandler’s wrist in each scene, 在他的角色的陈列室里追踪镶钻的珠宝, 还要确保演员的手机充满电.
她在这部众所周知压力很大的电影中的工作, which follows Sandler’s character (a diamond dealer trying to hustle his way out of debts) had its own harrowing moments. O’Connor sometimes walked between the props truck and the filming location wearing a backpack full of Rolexes, 真钻石首饰, 还有几千美元的现金.
她看着这一幕展开, 加内特不小心把巨大的蛋白石撞到了椅子上, 有一块碎了，掉在地上. 奥康纳脸色发白. The “uncut gem” was made from several real opals sourced from all over the world, 用一种看起来像岩石的雕刻粘土粘合在一起. It had gone through dozens of variations over several weeks until the directors were satisfied.
加内特道了歉，奥康纳的老板平静地笑了. “我们会把它修好的.“十分钟后，宝石被修复，继续拍摄.
就像完成的电影，拍摄 未雕琢的宝石 特别紧张. But O’Connor is accustomed to high-stakes projects and solving problems on the fly. 在过去的八年里, she has worked in the props department in film and television in New York City. 这项工作需要创造力, 注重细节, 完美的组织, 魅力, 还有一大堆晦涩难懂的知识和技能.
“我是创作过程的一部分, but I’m also thinking about money and logistics and talking to my vendors and trying to get deals,她说。. “You have to be chipper and friendly and a good communicator and be incredibly organized while also putting out fires. 我没上过电影学院，但圣. 爱德华给了我正确的教育.”
“You have to be chipper and friendly and a good communicator and be incredibly organized while also putting out fires. 我没上过电影学院，但圣. 爱德华给了我正确的教育.”
O’Connor splits her time between propmastering smaller jobs and working on bigger-name shows for her mentor, 经验丰富的大师凯瑟琳·米勒. When she works on a job with Miller, she has a specialized role like her on-set job with 未雕琢的宝石 or her current job as prop shopper on the Ben Stiller-directed dystopian comedy television series 遣散费.
奥康纳最初来自圣安东尼奥，后来来到圣安东尼奥. 爱德华对广播新闻很感兴趣. 她主修传播学，直到后来 玛丽莲·舒尔茨他的广播新闻学课程和东南大学电视台, reported on the music scene and Barack Obama’s presidential campaign rally in Austin. 传播学教授 特雷加萨他是美国原住民和墨西哥裔美国人电影班的学生, she made a documentary about the immigrant detention centers in Central Texas.
“我从来不擅长写论文、参加考试和学习, 但我一直很喜欢课堂时间和讨论,她说。. “I started to feel really good about myself when I took Tere’s class and Marilyn’s class because we were actually making things. 我发现我是一个实干家.”
“I started to feel really good about myself when I took Tere’s class and Marilyn’s class because we were actually making things. 我发现我是一个实干家.”
在那些日子, she loathed group projects because of the logistics and the challenge of distributing workload equitably. “这让我很震惊, 在我来到纽约之后, 我的职业生涯就是一个接一个的团队项目,她说。. “如果你想做好你的工作, 你得学会怎么跟每个人说话, 了解每个人在片场的角色, 并了解如何互相帮助. 沟通课间接地促进了我的事业. They didn’t necessarily tell me how to break a script down or how to be on set, 但他们教会了我如何沟通.”
毕业后, 她和奥斯汀著名导演凯特·坎德勒一起参加了一个电影工作坊, who introduced her to The University of Texas film students and local directors who hired her to work on their projects. 她逐渐了解了道具部, 这需要在高压环境下解决问题的能力, 很合适. “我的童年很混乱, so something that really suited me was being in the heat of the moment and being like, ‘Ok, 我有花生酱, 胶带和衣架, 我要怎么修这辆车?’然后弄清楚.等她离开奥斯汀去纽约的时候, 25岁左右, 她正在推进一些小项目.
When O’Connor is hired to propmaster a production — leading the props team — she has anywhere from a few weeks to several months to prepare for shooting. 她用荧光笔把剧本通读了一遍, 标记她需要的所有道具, 然后根据角色和场景将它们组织在电子表格中. 奥康纳必须在生产经理给她的预算范围内工作, 所以她善于节俭, 重复使用不具描述性的物品，比如背包, 偶尔还会利用植入广告来争取免费物品.
这些措施有助于抵消比最初可能出现的更大的成本. For example, a script might include a scene where a character smashes a wineglass against a wall. 在塔吉特可以买到便宜的高脚杯, but O’Connor needs to get goblets fabricated from a glass substitute that will shatter without hurting anyone. She also needs multiple goblets to accommodate multiple takes — so the price tag for the wineglasses can easily exceed $150.
This is the kind of knowledge O’Connor has picked up on the job, sometimes learning the hard way. 每个重要的道具都需要复制, 这就是为什么加内特与这颗独一无二的宝石的意外如此令人痛心.
“If an actor’s running down the street and trips and falls and his cell phone breaks, 那场戏你已经拍了一半了, 那天是你的第12个小时, 每个人都想回家, 外面是20度, 你想成为超级英雄说, “别担心, 我还有5个,’”奥康纳说.
她还学会了如何修理那些手机, 启动汽车, 排除电脑故障，把食物巧妙地放在盘子里. “我们都是麦吉弗斯, because we have to do problem solving at the last minute when props will break or stop working,她说。.
O’Connor meets with the writer and director to talk through the props for the show and find out how much creative input she’ll have. Then she and her team round up sample props or photos of them for show-and-tell, where the director gives each item a thumbs-up or tells the team to keep looking. 之后，他们开始购物.
When O’Connor is able to offer creative input, she dives into the psychology of each character. 这个人最喜欢的颜色是什么? 奥康纳问自己. 他在哪里购物?? 他会有什么样的背包和手机壳啊? 奥康纳喜欢考虑每一个细节. If the character went to college, he might carry a keychain with the university’s logo. If he’s an activist, he might have political stickers on his laptop or patches on his backpack.
People who work in props need to enjoy immersing themselves in a subject to understand the details that will make a show authentic, 奥康纳说. “我学到了很多奇怪的东西，”她说. “我的整个职业生涯就是教育.她的工作是 未雕琢的宝石 introduced her to the largely Jewish culture on the stretch of 47th street in Manhattan called the Diamond District.
因为她最近的一份工作是在Hulu网站上主持节目 Ramy, 讲述了一个来自新泽西的年轻埃及裔美国穆斯林男子的故事, 她了解了埃及的食物和文化. 看一集 高维护, 一部关于布鲁克林自行车送货员的HBO剧集, O’Connor had to procure a hyper-realistic baby doll — the kind that costs thousands of dollars and can be mistaken for an actual baby. O’Connor went down an internet rabbit hole learning about the real-life community of realistic doll “moms” and met a woman who had bought one of the dolls after losing her own baby, 然后开始制作. “一开始想到, 这些人很奇怪, 但后来我遇到了一个女人，我们走得很近,奥康纳说.
The ability to think three steps ahead is important for a props team member, too. Sometimes a writer is still revising scripts for the later episodes of a television series while filming is underway. O’Connor ends up juggling work on the set with finding props for future episodes. She might be helping reset a 12-person dinner during shooting of one episode while at the same time fielding a phone call about a tow truck needed for next week’s filming.
奥康纳正准备着手研究 遣散费 当时疫情迫使该行业在3月份关闭. 6个月后，该项目在更严格的安全准则下恢复. 道具不能再在飞行中获取, 这一变化减缓了片场狂热的节奏. “之前, 摄像机可能正在拍摄，导演可能在最后一刻说, ‘Oh, 我想让这个角色吃中国菜. 快跑出去吃点中国菜，’”奥康纳说. 这些天, props — especially food — have to be carefully screened and sterilized before they hit the set.
奥康纳利用她意想不到的休息时间参与社区活动, 尤其是“黑人的命也是命”运动. 现在拍摄已经重新开始, 她希望在行动主义之间保持平衡, 特别是致力于电影场景的多样性和包容性, 在知名项目中从事专业工作, 并推动她个人认为投入的较小项目. “当我负责的时候, 只有当我真的在乎剧本或人物时，我才会去做一个项目,她说。. “我已经够努力了，我可以挑三拣四.”
罗宾·罗斯著
摄影:Malike Sidibe