Board Thread:Wiki-Related Discussion/@comment-91424-20160807191405

I am suggesting that we rename this trivia tab, and use a catch-all term for props, costumes and set decoration. Like Set Notes, for example. And continue to use "props notes" and "costume notes", as subcategories. In addition, I think we should introduce a third category called "set dressing".

Why is that, you may ask? Well, strictly speaking, props are items used to act with. They are used by the characters, and characters interact with them. Set dressing, on the other hand, refers to items that the characters do not interact with. From Dummies.com: "Often, props are confused with set dressing, but the difference is that actors don't interact with set dressing. Set dressing includes a picture frame on a mantle or flowers in a vase on a table. The baseball bat in Mel Gibson's film Signs would have been categorized as set dressing, but because the actors actually interact with the bat (which is displayed on a wall), it is categorized as a prop."

This book also points out that the traditional definition of a prop is any item that an actor touches or uses in a scene. However: "Just because an actor touches a television set to turn it on, does not make the television set a prop. The TV is set dressing because it dresses the set. If you were shooting a dinner scene, the plates, silverware, table, and chairs would all be set dressing. However, the food items on the table would be props." (Note that in theatrical production, the word "prop" is used more loosely, and seems to refer to anything that can be moved. However, Once Upon a Time is a TV show.)

So Mary Margaret's Anthropologie cup here, for example, is set dressing, even though she is drinking from it and holding it in her hand. Emma's baby blanket, on the other hand, is most definitely a prop. Costumes are not considered props either.

What do you think? Please share your thoughts, I would like to hear from as many people as possible. 