The assignment here was to produce a large and powerful looking laboratory laser... inexpensively. Luckily, the solution was close at hand. Many of the detail items were harvested from past SMALLVILLE builds. The main housing... the Prop Department water cooler!
Background
As is often the case, much of this build needed to be an amalgamation of existing resources. This would reduce cost, by avoiding the extra labor normally incurred if the item were to be built entirely from scratch.
This, coupled with the expectation that the device look "larger and powerful", made for certain creative challenges. Moreover, it also had to feature practical lighting effects. Thankfully however, the "Seed-Object" for the main body of the laser was sitting, quite literally, in the corridor between the
SMALLVILLE Prop Department offices.... their trusty water cooler!
Most of the other major components were either inexpensive
purchase or rental items (see breakdown below).
This, coupled with the expectation that the device look "larger and powerful", made for certain creative challenges. Moreover, it also had to feature practical lighting effects. Thankfully however, the "Seed-Object" for the main body of the laser was sitting, quite literally, in the corridor between the
SMALLVILLE Prop Department offices.... their trusty water cooler!
Most of the other major components were either inexpensive
purchase or rental items (see breakdown below).
 The "Seed-Object" |  Major Component Breakdown |
(click on images to enlarge)
The completed prop featured dimmable LED lighting, a telescoping "laser-emitter assembly", and height & position adjustment. It was considered to be a wholly successful effort by SMALLVILLE Production personnel. While tightly budgeted, this outcome was made possible, by PROPOLOGY's creative amalgamation of carefully chosen "Found-Objects".
*At the time, PROPOLOGY was doing business under the parent company name, Molnar Motion Picture Props, Inc.
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