Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Where's My Badge At!?!?

Well, just as I reached the relaxing period or should I say quiet before the storm that begins next Friday morning, I got hit with an issue.
It is probably mostly my fault for taking it for granted or should
I say depending on somebody else to come through on time.

In one of the key shots of the film a police officer shoves a badge into
one of the leads faces and there is a POV shot and Reaction shot that
basically... Well... Mean everything. So where I've had to cut corners
in the finance department in almost every column, this prop was not
being compromised. I cut the fake magazines to a 30 count instead of 50. I
cut the color newspaper print to black and white. I settled for many
compromises along the way. This particular prop, I was not going to.
The shot is too important for the film and needs a clear BAM! in your face
shot like you see underneath.

Storyboard sequence of shots with badge.




Well I designed and found a custom shop up in Pennsylvania to do the badge.
They denied me because I didn't have a police certification so I sent them all my credentials, even background check and sketches and boards of what I was going to do with this badge. I simply wanted 'METRO/HARBOR CITY' on the top of insignia and 'VICE UNIT' around the bottom.



That was a no/no so I had to go back and forth with them over the wording allowed on the badge. We finally get it settled and I wasn't thrilled with what I had to do, but was sure with the word 'METRO' and 'DEPARTMENT' on it, I could figure the rest out. (A custom badge without credentials cannot for any circumstances have words like, UNIT, DETECTIVE, OFFICER, NARCOTICS etc on it unless you have the police department on payroll and extensive props that are licensed and inventoried.) That is not me so I had to comply with the rules. Well, I did all they asked and in return they promised me the custom badge would ship in two weeks... It's been five and I have heard nothing about where it is or its status. The last I heard it was going to the plant to be made.
I am a week and a half out and I don't know if it is going to make it AND like I said the shot is OF KEY IMPORTANCE!!! Anybody got a badge or know a cop. I'm sure if some of my friends read this, that question is a no-brainer.

Here is one of the drawings I sent them to prove I was not a police impersonator. It did not matter.

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