Props

Prop categories

Props are organized into four categories to match standard art department divisions:

• Prop — Physical objects handled or used by actors on screen.
• Set Dressing — Objects that dress the set but aren’t handled by actors.
• Wardrobe — Clothing and costume pieces tracked within the art department.
• Vehicle — Cars, motorcycles, or other vehicles featured in the production.

The prop lifecycle

Every prop moves through a status flow from initial research to final return:

• Sourcing — The prop has been identified and the team is researching where to get it.
• Top Choice Selected — A preferred source has been marked. Automatically set when you mark a source as top choice.
• Approved — The prop and its source have been approved by the department head or producer.
• Acquired — The prop has been purchased or rented. Automatically set when you lock in the final source.
• On Set — The prop is on set and in active use.
• Wrapped — Filming using this prop is complete.
• Returned — The prop has been returned to its vendor (for rentals) or stored away (for purchases).

Potential sources

The sourcing process in Studio Color is designed around comparing multiple vendors before committing. For each prop, you can add as many potential sources as you like — each with its own vendor details and pricing.

Vendor types

• Prop House — Professional prop rental companies.
• Rental — General rental from a vendor or individual.
• Purchase — Buying the item outright.
• Build — Fabricating the prop in-house or commissioning a build.
• Individual — Borrowing from a private individual.
• Donation — Item donated to the production.
• Other — Anything that doesn’t fit the above.

Rental pricing

For rental sources, you can set a rental type, daily rate, and number of rental days. Studio Color calculates the total rental cost automatically for easy budget comparison.

Marking a top choice

Once you’ve found your preferred source, click Set as Top Choice on that source. This updates the prop’s status to Top Choice Selected and flags the selected source clearly in the list. Only one source can be the top choice at a time.

Locking in a source

When the prop has been formally acquired, click Lock In on the chosen source. This sets the prop’s final source and final cost, updates the status to Acquired, and feeds the actual cost into the budget summary.

Linking props to scenes and locations

From the prop detail page, you can assign a prop to any number of scenes and locations:

• Scenes — Tells the Art Department which scenes require this prop. Also powers the Current Scene view on set.
• Locations — Associates the prop with specific shooting locations, useful for transport and set-up planning.

Prop detail page layout

The prop detail page is organized into four tabs so that each type of information has a dedicated space and nothing pushes other content further down the page:

• Overview — Prop name, description, status, notes, final cost (when acquired), health tracking fields (unlocked after lock-in), linked scenes, and linked locations.
• Sources — All potential sources, with top-choice marking, lock-in CTA, and the locked-in confirmation banner. Badge shows the number of sources.
• Photos & Files — Production photos (with EXIF shoot-date extraction) and receipts. Badge shows the total number of attachments.
• Discussion — The team comment thread for this prop.

The sticky top bar (breadcrumb, status chip, budget totals) and title strip remain visible on every tab. Tabs are URL-synced via ?tab= so direct links and browser navigation work as expected.

Attachments

Each prop (and each potential source) can have files attached. Attachments have a kind:

• Photo — Reference images or on-set photos of the prop.
• Receipt — Purchase or rental receipts for accounting.
• Source File — Any other document related to the source (contracts, quotes, etc.).

You can upload photos directly from the mobile app on your phone when sourcing at a prop house or on the day of shooting.

Budget summary

The props section feeds into the department budget in two ways:

• Estimated total — Sum of all top-choice source prices across props in the project.
• Locked-in total — Sum of all final costs for props that have been acquired.

These figures are visible in the Art department budget page and the Budget Overview.

Permissions