An interview with prop-maker Tom Romain

Tom Romain is a prop-maker, concept artist, illustrator and graduate of film sculpture and prop making at the University of Hertfordshire. He has worked on a variety of projects including the acclaimed TV series Rings of Power and the 2021 film The Amazing Mr. Blunden.

How did you land your first project in the industry?

Tom Romain: I got my current job through one of my friends from uni. It’s my first prop-making job, and although I’m not yet able to discuss it, I can talk about what I’ve picked up so far in the industry, and some other jobs I’ve worked on. I’ve done two other projects in film and TV: one, which was through my prop-making university course as work experience, was Rings of Power season 2, where I worked as a greensman for a month. Before Uni, I worked on The Amazing Mr. Blunden as a set painter, which I landed through my cousin, who already worked in the industry.

The Amazing Mr. Blunden. Image courtesy of Adorable Media.

Getting into the film industry is largely who you know. Often, they need people to work at very short notice, so they tend to rely on recommendations over a more conventional application process. Since your recommendations can also reflect on you, they trust you to bring in someone good. It’s important once you’re in to connect with people and demonstrate your competence - as it’s the people you work with that often put your name forward for future work.

Could you talk us through your work on Rings of Power?

Tom Romain: It was a brief stint of work, but a fantastic one. We were working for the greens department, which is all things foliage: real and fake vegetation which decorates the sets. Our job was to make a lot of fake trees - real silver birches, which we stripped of leaves and glued on thousands of fake yellow ones. They decorated the Lindon set, which was utterly beautiful. To stand on a set like that makes you realise why they still make the effort to have things practical today; it was magical, and incredibly immersive. As is often joked about in the industry, all our hard work was seen for a matter of seconds in the show, but the experience of being there will live with me forever.

Lindon, the Elvish realm in Rings of Power. Image courtesy of Amazon Studios

Was prop making what you initially wanted to go into when you were studying? 

Tom Romain: Despite focusing on fine art in school and then sculpture at uni, I’ve always liked the idea of making things you can hold and not just look at. My uni course was fantastic because it taught you a wide range of skills that could lead you down numerous pathways in and out of the film industry. While I chose sculpture, the course also offers model-making and special effects training. Being located in Hertfordshire, it’s very near all the big studios, so they were able to offer us work experience on big Hollywood productions like Barbie, Snow White and, for me, Rings of Power.

Baby Yoda for Tom's university project

You do a lot of concept art and illustrating as well

Tom Romain: I’m largely self-taught as a 2D digital artist. I’ve done a lot of personal art over the years, but I also did three and a half years at a small game studio, before and throughout uni, producing a ‘Civilisation’-style trading card game, set in an original fantasy world. I was responsible for creating a lot of the aesthetics, the narrative, and many final assets that made their way into the end product. As is all-too common in the games industry, the company sadly went bust in January with an incomplete product, and that's what prompted me to get back into film. In the gap between jobs, I relied on commissions, which was both enjoyable and tough; working closely with small authors and passionate world-builders was a joy, but the workload was more than a normal job, and you could never guarantee when the next commission would come in. The opportunity to get back into regular film work has been the right choice. 

What's your day-to-day schedule like working on a project?

Tom Romain: Each day is different. You start early and sometimes work late - it’s very much a job about results, not time spent. It's so varied that it’s hard to describe, but that's what I think makes it so enjoyable. Work includes intricate model-making, metalwork, woodwork, painting, moulding and casting, 3D printing and more. It’s a job that will teach you an incredible range of skills. You never really know what's going to be thrown your way, and plans and deadlines often change, so the only thing that’s predictable is that the job will be unpredictable.

Is it common to have to create last minute props?

Tom Romain: There's a big focus on quality in everything we make. You need everything to look perfect, even if it's background, just in case the director decides to change things and place it right in front of the camera. But when something comes through last minute, quality goes out the window and you have to throw something together very quickly, using whatever you can around you. The same can be said when something breaks on set, and you’re called in to rapidly fix it. That kind of stress is quite a thrill. You have to really just hyper-focus on it and not think about the fact that you can't afford to mess up, or how much money you’re costing the film by delaying things. You have to get it right and it still has to look amazing.

How closely do you collaborate with the other departments?

Tom Romain: Oh, good question. I think it varies on the individual. We, as prop makers, largely work with the art department. Art directors are assigned certain tasks, and they come to the workshop and work closely with the makers who are bringing those things to life. In terms of that line of communication, it's pretty good. As soon as you get quite a few different departments or multiple makers involved in a piece of work, unless everyone's very on-it with communication, things can become confusing. You get some people that are naturally good at communicating and some that struggle. I've learnt that on this job technical skills are great, but good communication is vital to success.

I imagine you have a lot of budget constraints as well, which can limit you?

Tom Romain: I think it depends on the project to be honest. Bigger projects are very happy to spend money. If something is proving difficult, then they may choose to throw money at stuff for the sake of speed. In terms of work on smaller projects like adverts, short films or films with a lower budget, you have to find cheaper, creative solutions for things. A lot of people I speak to find the challenge of a lower budget, cheap materials, and limited time really enjoyable. You also get to do more on a smaller film and build skills in different areas that you wouldn’t think you’d need.

I can imagine sometimes visual effects might take over on bigger scale projects...

Tom Romain: It's true, but there is still a definite focus on the physical. Each director brings their own vision to the table. You do get some old school directors that really like everything to be in camera, with nothing added later. You also get some that are CGI crazy and the whole film is made on a bluescreen stage. When you get an influential director that likes to have physical sets, it's fantastic because you do things traditionally. Admittedly, even on physical sets, CGI is still used for set extensions and hiding things. Most sets contain bluescreen elements, and the VFX department will always 3D-scan props and environments as a back-up. As physical makers, there is still enough work that no one is worried at the moment. The phrase, ‘We’ll fix it in post’, surprisingly, is used more outside of the industry than in it, because fixing something in post is usually not as easy as people think, and expensive. So, capturing as much as you can in-camera is often ideal.

You can often tell when you're watching something if a lot of care has been put into the props, compared to if it’s VFX heavy

Tom Romain: Definitely, but that being said, bad VFX is often a result of fast VFX. When people don't have time or budget, it can end up looking bad. I think it's the same with physical stuff too. You can tell when something has been rushed, because, like bad VFX, it won’t look real. I think being allowed to spend time on something is the biggest luxury we can have as makers, and the reason VFX often suffers is because they’re right at the end of the production line - the film may have gone over-budget so money may be tight, and producers may be pushing to get material done for trailers and early screenings.

Do you often have to be on standby on set?

Tom Romain: When the director arrives on set, they’ve already approved all the concept art, or the vision and seen it all in theory. But when you see it through the camera lens, it might look very different, so you are on standby in case they want something changed. It's important that you're there on set ready to fix it or move it straight away if something happens, as delaying the shoot can cost a lot of money.

What has been the most challenging prop that you've had to build?

Tom Romain: Unfortunately, I can't talk about it! Each prop you make is a different puzzle. When you get the brief - usually in the form of a 3D model or an architectural drawing - you break everything down and figure out how you are going to make that using the tools and materials you have and divide up the work if you’re in a bigger team. A lot of the time it's straightforward, but sometimes you get things that border on being physically impossible. Designers are not makers, so they may not be familiar with our work process, our materials or the time it takes to make something. They might ask for things that might not always be possible. As a maker, it’s your job to make that possible.

Do you have much time to conduct research before undertaking a project?

Tom Romain: I think if you're given a very open brief, then you have some freedom to research there. I wouldn't say it's too common, especially for big films. Smaller films don't have the time or the manpower to dictate every single thing that gets made, so you end up getting more freedom to make something of your own. On bigger projects, it’s not too common unless it’s about the process of making. The creative research is largely the responsibility of the art department.

Do you have a preferred genre that you want to work in?

Tom Romain: Fantasy. I’m a big Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones fan, and I love historical arms and armour. There’s a little more chaos to fantasy, more asymmetry, and often more beauty. But Sci-Fi is a great aesthetic too, and both present different challenges.

Fremen Crysknife replica prop from Dune

Do you enjoy the variety of different challenges?

Tom Romain: Yes, definitely. As a prop maker, you want to be versatile. Being able to do things that are very clean and precise and then switching to something dirty, grimy and messy is important. There's a lot of value in being multidisciplinary as a prop maker. With the digital side, there’s sculptural 3d modelling and engineering software, and everything involved with 3D-printing. Physically, there’s metalwork, woodwork, moulding and casting and painting. The more skills you build in all those areas, the more hireable you will be. Though, at the end of the day, you can have all of those skills, but the most important thing that will dictate whether or not you get hired is how good you are to work with. Are you competent? Are you friendly? Do you get the job done on time? These can be more important than skill, because you want a team that works effectively together and performs well under stress. The pressure is sometimes a good thing to get people moving in the right direction.

Are there any certain props in films that particularly stand out to you?

Tom Romain: I think, as any maker in film, you watch them and can't help but notice or wonder to yourself how they made stuff. That being said, we can very much still enjoy films! Lord of the Rings was what started my passion for making. They released quite extensive behind-the-scenes footage, explaining many of the creative processes that went into making the films, and a lot of people I speak to also say that it was that that inspired them. I’ve also always been fascinated with the SFX work on the original Star Wars trilogy.

Do you think the main role as a prop maker is for your work to be immersed in the story, without it standing out?

Tom Romain: It the same for any aspect of the film - you don't want your audience to know it's fake. You want your audience to believe that it's real and so they can focus purely on the story. If people pick up that it's fake, then you've not managed to trick them. Sometimes things get broken on set because people don't realise that they're fake, so that's a good sign that you've made something that's very realistic. As annoying as that is when it happens, at least it’s a good compliment.

Do you have any upcoming projects you can discuss?

Tom Romain: You move from one project to the next in this industry, and never really know for sure until the next project actually starts what you'll be doing next. When your job is coming to an end, it’s on you to start looking for the next one. You never know where it will be or how long it will be. I think the longer you stay in the industry, the more you get used to that, and the more contacts you build, the more other people will approach you with work. Once you’ve reached that stage, you have to tactically choose what will be best for you.

There's a community game project I'm part of. It's a Lord of the Rings ‘Total War’ mod, called The Dawnless Days, something I've been art directing for five years now and has a big release coming out for that later this year. It's something I've been very involved in, and done a lot of concept art, illustration and digital assets for. So that's something exciting on the horizon I can mention! The entire game has been overhauled, so instead of Dark-Ages Rome, it's now Lord of the Rings. Voluntary projects like that have been really instrumental in levelling up your skills and working with industry professionals.

 You can find more of Tom's work at https://www.instagram.com/tom_romain_art/?hl=en