Fashion: Props bought on ebay

 After getting the majority of our props from the dramatics society in Cranbrook we began to consider smaller props that were more era specific to enhance the 60s feel of our hotel bedroom scene.
We began considering the sorts of props that would have been found in a hotel room other than the typical pieces of furniture found in a bedroom.

First of all the male model we have decided will most likely be holding a 'spy' camera photographing the secret documents spread out over the table to give this feel of espionage. Therefore we searched for 1960s cameras on ebay and Martin chose the Minolta 16P subminiature camera that came from a line of 16mm subminiature cameras made by Minolta between 1955 & 1974.

Minolta 16P camera

The 16P came out in 1960, it has a rigid body with a single shutter speed and simplified exposure settings which makes it very easy to use & much cheaper.

We then thought about the use of a telephone in the room due to room service, therefore we considered two different types of camera that was around in the 1960s, the Trim telephone and rotary dial telephone. However we decided that the most fitting phone for the room would be a trim telephone due to the low-end feel we want to give the room, as we believe a dial telephone is older as well as possibly more expensive.

Trim telephone

We chose this colour combination of cream & brown to match our room colouring so that it does not predominantly stand out but is still obvious to the audience. Like the camera, we as the group have been saved from taking the cost out of our budget because Ian is willing to buy it and then keep it for himself after the shoot.

The group moved on to dressing the bed, stereotypically in the 60s a bed sheet was used at home and in hotels to cover the whole bed and make them more presentable and neat. Being joint props lead Sacha and I searched ebay first looking at Candlewick bedding however there wasn't anything that have the right colouring therefore we just searched 1960s single bed sheets. We brought different sheets to the table but finally decided on this sheet as it was patterned and textured which is very typical of the 1960s and came in the correct colour again to blend in with our scene without being to bold:

Poly cotton single bed spread

While buying this we also bought a pack of two fake smoking cigarettes as obviously for health and safety reasons we cannot use real cigarettes. So hopefully on the day if we decide to use these to give the effect of mystery they will look realistic.

Fake Smoking Cigarettes

Finally while considering whether the kettle we had previously chosen for our set would give the right look, my mum mentioned the idea of using a teasmade as these were very popular at this time and were again found in both homes and hotels.

Goblin teasmade model 855

We chose this teasmade as we felt that it was the most simplistic without added clocks and other facilities which I do not feel would be provided in a low end hotel room. I think this will be a very good prop to highlight to our audience the era that the scene is set in.

I think so far all of our props will work very well together and due to the vast amount of props this gives us flexibility when shooting by being able to change the camera position and inclusion of different props.