Laser Cutting Movie Props for The Film Industry
Laser cutting Sheet metal
Video Description
In this video, we take you behind the scenes to explore how laser cutting helps bring cinematic worlds to life. From intricate skull emblems to large-scale metal parts used in vehicles like the War Rig, we’ve contributed to props that add depth and realism to these iconic films. Discover how our precision cutting process transforms raw metal into film-ready components, ready for talented prop artists to modify and integrate into epic on-screen creations. It’s an exciting blend of craftsmanship, technology, and movie magic – and we’re proud to be a part of it.
Video Transcript
Our involvement with the film industry probably started five or six years ago. We’ve helped with multiple Mad Max movies within the franchise, as well as Fall Guy, among others.
We were introduced to the process by another local fabricator. They actually put the production company onto us because their skill set was more focused on metal rolling and bending. While we can also do that here, we had the added advantage of laser cutting.
What I’ve got here are just a couple of props that were ultimately used in the movie. I’m not exactly sure where they ended up, but here we have a larger-scale version, and this is obviously a smaller disc. I believe we actually cut one at almost 900mm in diameter, so much larger in size.
For the smaller skull design, we would have cut hundreds of them. Their talented team of prop experts then manipulated the parts beyond just a flat shape, giving them even more character. Pieces like this may have been welded on or stitched into fabric – maybe used on a car or a bike, though I’m just guessing. Some of the larger items, which are too big for me to hold, ultimately ended up on vehicles like the War Rig and similar.
The prop team are incredibly skilled at what they do. A lot of the items, to the untrained eye, would actually look quite mundane. These have a bit more character, but some parts might have been as simple as wheel hubs – just circles with holes – which we cut all the time as flanges. Some pieces require a high level of creativity, while others could easily be mistaken for any standard metal-fabricated part.
Everything is already designed before it reaches us. The production team sends the files through in DXF format, which we then import into our software to program the laser cutting process. Heavy-duty metal is obviously a key requirement for these productions.
Personally, I love films. Finding out that we were assisting not only with Australian production and manufacturing but also contributing to something this cool and unique was a great feeling. Myself and the team here are really proud to have been part of it, and sure enough, when the movie came out, I was keeping an eye out for the more unique shapes we had cut.
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