Props for better and worse

     If a film is made right, it should be memorable. But what is it that most seem to find memorable about films? Usually its whatever had the biggest influence on the story. For instance where would Indiana Jones be without his crystal skull? That being said, it should be noted that props leave a huge impression on the audience and also as a general rule play a huge part in story development.

    A prop can be anything a young filmmaker's heart desires. However as stated by

Noah Yan, it is usually the strangest objects that are left with the audience afterword. For instance, I recently watched a horror film called Babadook. In the film a terrifying childrens book was used to announce the presence of an evil spirit personified from the main characters depression. Her anxiety and sadness over loosing her husband manifested into a terrifying demon, whose rules and regulations came with the book. The book stuck with me because of its strong contrast between the usual joy and lightheartedness of a childrens book and the horror of a demon. 

                                                 -This is one of the pages from the book-

     One of the ways Yan mentions the usage of props to pass time. This is a great way to progress a scene or film in general, but beware of clichés. This task is not easy but it may help you to give a little more depth to your characters. For example, instead of an alarm clock every morning to let the audience know its morning, why not have the character begin a unique morning ritual. Turn on some tunes, use their favorite hair brush, etc. 

  Though a prop can control everything from the tone, scene itself, it shouldn't be the only redeeming factor about a movie. In other words, a film shouldn't focus all of its time and energy on its props. An example of this would be the "rubber shields" from 300. This movie lost most of its audience in the pure testosterone fueled battles filled with blood and violence, but to anyone that cared enough to look, the production crew cheeped out on the props that the audience fell in love with. The best example of which being the elastic like qualities to Leonidas's spear when he threw it and deemed the god king Xerxes mortal.

I think a prop can control audiences and the film itself, but maybe thats just me.