Currency of the 'Verse...

[Gigatron]

Just out of curiosity, if the money is printed only one sided, would't the other side show somewhere? Perhaps it double printed with the same image on both sides?

From experience, using an inkjet on overhead tranparencies suck, to say the least. Maybe the images were silkscreened on to the transparancies. It would last a hell of a lot longer, that's for sure.

As for the coins, if someone could get a hold of one complete set, maybe they can be molded and cast in that pot metal stuff. Something like this kit http://www.ares-server.com/Ares/Ares.asp?M...roduct&ID=82388

Just a thought.

-Fred

 

[Mr_Creepy]

Originally posted by Osmotic+Oct 2 2005, 05:19 AM--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Osmotic @ Oct 2 2005, 05:19 AM)</div>

ToothTech great detective job, very much appreciated.   

[snapback]1088259[/snapback]​

[/b]

Thanks, you're right about some seller's having buckets of them...



<!--QuoteBegin-dr_slurpee@Oct 2 2005, 10:00 AM
Would it be worth looking into casting sets of these coins? I'd like to have some of the coins but wouldn't have time to search around for each individual one. Or perhaps if someone can collect a bunch of them they could sell some sets?

[snapback]1088315[/snapback]​

I had a couple of extra sets (of varying degrees of accuracy)--tough & expensive to buy 16 coins from different sellers in (possibly) different countries. I guesstimate collecting my"accurate" set has run about $400...give or take. Will most likely never "make my money back", but selling the extra sets helped a little

If you only want a fews coins and not a full set, it's easy to get them on eBay--especially #s 8, 11, 12, 13, 15 & 16. I'd be happy to share some sellers' names in a PM if you're interested

Originally posted by Gigatron+Oct 2 2005, 10:46 AM--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Gigatron @ Oct 2 2005, 10:46 AM)</div>

Just out of curiosity, if the money is printed only one sided, would't the other side show somewhere?  Perhaps it double printed with the same image on both sides?

From experience, using an inkjet on overhead tranparencies suck, to say the least.  Maybe the images were silkscreened on to the transparancies.  It would last a hell of a lot longer, that's for sure.

As for the coins, if someone could get a hold of one complete set, maybe they can be molded and cast in that pot metal stuff.  Something like this kit http://www.ares-server.com/Ares/Ares.asp?M...roduct&ID=82388

Just a thought.

-Fred

[snapback]1088326[/snapback]​

[/b]

From what's been posted in this thread, it seems the movie bills were paper, and printed with the same image on both sides. The TV bank notes were transparent mylar (according to philippes) and printed on one side only. I've got a scan to show what I was talking about earlier (with the Lipton label)--I'll get it posted later today.

Aside from philippes's friend who owns the production coins, I think I know someone who has a very accurate set of coins, and a couple of others with sets that are fairly close.... :angel



<!--QuoteBegin-Sith Sheriff Brody@Oct 2 2005, 11:26 AM
This site might help: http://home.netvigator.com/~ykleungn/machinem.htm


-Mike

[snapback]1088348[/snapback]​

Found this link there---http://home.netvigator.com/~ykleungn/yuansk2.htm
Thanks Mike, looks like the "fatman" coin from SAFE has a legit ID now....it's a Yuan Shih Kai silver dollar. :thumbsup

 

[Mr_Creepy]

This is a comparison scan of inkjet tranparencies and the label I mentioned earlier. Obviously, the transparency material is too transparent compared to what was seen on TV. I included front and back scans of the label to show that whatever printing process was used on it results in the back side still being "viewable".

I took the label in to a print shop, and was told that it was a "4 color process"--he didn't elaborate if it was screen printing or something else.

Here are the best screencaps I could find of the bank notes--these are from THE TRAIN JOB, SHINDIG, and WAR STORIES. A little different from the movie bills....

Thanks to Fried Mon Calamari for pic hosting.

 

[Mike J.]

I think your print guy just meant the label was a professional, custom job.

They put down a thin layer of opaque white pigment, then print with custom-mixed colors on top.

White, then yellow, custom green, custom red, then black.

That's my guess.

If you want something different from standard inkjet, try asking about printing with dry pigments.

Good luck.


-Mike

 

[Mike J.]

BTW, thanks for posting the caps


-Mike

 

[Mr_Creepy]

No problem, thanks for the print info. I asked about having "something similar" printed, and the 4 color process is how he said they would print them.

I'm cheap, and about fainted when he quoted me the price ($600+ with a minimum order of 1000)--might be why they used paper in the movie. :lol

 

[robstyle]

I think they used paper because thats what was ordered as the money played no real role in the film, why spend the extra coin on a backround/set dressing item. Lets not forget little things dont take precedence with a set in stone budget.

 

[Darkknight0667]

FYI -

4-Color Process is a printing process whereby every color is printed using some combination of Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black (also referred to as CMYK). The best place to see examples of this are in the Sunday Comics (where the dots are REALLY big) or in a magazine (though you'll need a magnifying glass or loupe to see the dots)

Any printing using colors other than these four is much more expensive. The inks for anything but CMYK printing are called PMS or Pantone colors. They can rance across the color spectrum, but are not custom mixed.

Mike - I believe that you're mistaken on the printing of that label (though you may have the colors correct). Printing with white ink as a background would obscure the image from the back side, so that you'd only see white (at which point, why bother with the clear plastic). The white is added strategically throughout the design, but not "flooded" across the entire image.

I work in the publishing industry and have quite a few contacts in the printing business, so if someone wants to send me some more detailed information on the mylar material that was used, I'd be happy to call some of my printers to see what it would cost to get this made.

 

[Mike J.]

I'll defer to your experience

Regarting the TV money; it looks like it might have a giant stylized Chinese coin in the center... You know the old ones with square hole? That's my guess. Also, what looked like a 1 in Phil's "envy pic" of the $120 now appears to be a dollar sign. Figures — a $20 bill makes more sense than a $120.

As an aside; I went through my coin collection, and I don't have one single Chinese coin. The one I thought might have been is a Japanese 1 Sen. Oy.


-Mike

 

[Treadwell]

currency discussion split from the coin thread by request.

 

[Treadwell]

BTW, Angelus, thank you for posting those scans of the bills. The whole "free paper prop" culture going on here is awesome, and is the kind of thing the RPF is supposed to be about.

I don't entirely agree that if someone else were to make their own scans to print out and sell would be quite so evil...the trouble and skills required to clean up the scans and make the printouts are worth a little something, and folks without a scanner or the time/inclination to go to the trouble might actually prefer to buy some ready to go.

(Of course, if they were to use your scans, that indeed would be evil. )

That said, I'd like to contribute in the same "pay it forward" vein. I have made scans of a higher DPI, performed color correction, corrected the warping caused by the book and otherwise tweaked them, resulting in images of more detail. I was going to post lower rez samples but even at one percent quality they were still over 300k and thus too big to Wackychimp.

So here are details:

vs.

I have them sized to match the images in the book, 19 x 9.5 cm.

If anyone would like the uncompressed files, .tif or highest quality .jpg, PM me with your email address. The .tifs are 13.4 MB, and the .jpgs are almost 8, so you need a big pipe. I don't have enough webspace to post them online.

I inkjet printed some bills onto 24lb fine linen paper and they turned out great. Can't imagine how they'd turn out on a laser printer.

Thanks again to Angelus and everyone else in the thread, and to Wackychimp.

 

[MattMunson]

Treaddy, I can host them on my website for a while, if that sounds reasonable. drop me a pm and we'll work out the details.

 

[dr_slurpee]

If they don't get hosted could you email the tifs to me? john @ name-brand.net (remove the spaces of course)

 

[lgtsbr]

I think you guys are looking at the printing process wrong - I highly doubt that they used a 4 color offset process. If I had to guess, and it has been a while since I kicked around in printing, you may want to check out a screen printing or a flexography type process, this would yeild the best color match without the dot pattern of a 4 color mix. This is deffinatley something specialized that most print shops couldn't do.

Might even be worth checking out a few sign shops, especially if they do the light box style movie posters - they would be set up for something like this.

Just my 2 cents and yes I want the currency as well...

Dave

 

[Treadwell]

Files are off to Matt and he'll be hosting them. Stay tuned...

 

[blubeetle3]

While waiting for Treadwell's scans to be uploaded to Matt's site, I printed out Angelus's scans on 32 lb linen paper. Even printed out at 300dpi, they look good. The colors look a little faded (which happens to all money when used) which gives it a "used look".

Anybody else "beat it" up a bit? Crease it, fold it, wear the edges? Or is it just me that likes the "used look"?

 

[Treadwell]

I have some "fresh" ones and a few that I've had in my back pocket for weeks in order to weather them. They're actually more durable than I'd hoped. :lol

 

[Darkknight0667]

Originally posted by lgtsbr@Dec 3 2005, 10:40 AM
I think you guys are looking at the printing process wrong - I highly doubt that they used a 4 color offset process.  If I had to guess, and it has been a while since I kicked around in printing, you may want to check out a screen printing or a flexography type process, this would yield the best color match without the dot pattern of a 4 color mix.  This is deffinatley something specialized that most print shops couldn't do.

Might even be worth checking out a few sign shops, especially if they do the light box style movie posters - they would be set up for something like this.

Just my 2 cents and yes I want the currency as well...

Dave

[snapback]1127706[/snapback]​

I can't speak for screen printing, but flexographic printing tends to be more expensive than 4/C Process, and usually requires much larger print runs to offset the initial costs.

Even offset printing would probably be too expensive for the small print run that would be talking about here (as ToothTech already found out). Taking a standard 25" x 38" sheet, with the bill being 3.5" x 7", that would give you approximately 35 bills per sheet. Printing plates will run you around $75.00 per color x 4 colors would be $300.00. Make-readies on the press are about $50.00 per color, so there's another $200.00. As you can see, the costs are pretty steep before you even start the press. You then have to figure in Ink costs, roughly $6.00 per 1,000 sheets, and Press time, which would run about $25.00 per 1,000 sheets.

Since you don't really see close-ups of great piles of cash laying around, it's unlikely that an awful lot of currency was made for the show. More than likely, this stuff was either printed on a color laser printer or at a small sign shop as you suggest. Commercial printing would just be too expensive for a job this small.

 

[lgtsbr]

Originally posted by Darkknight0667@Dec 5 2005, 11:33 AM
I can't speak for screen printing, but flexographic printing tends to be more expensive than 4/C Process, and usually requires much larger print runs to offset the initial costs.

[snapback]1128930[/snapback]​

Oh, I completely agree - but the process itself would yield one of the best results. I was throwing it out there as a possibility. For what these are printed on, you have to think outside the standard printing box and look at the alternatives.

Screen printing might yield good results material wise, but I think the ink coverage would be too thick. I really think a sign shop is the way to go, if they have the right equipment, printing on a thin Mylar isn't overly difficult

I truly believe that 4 color process, standard offset printing was not used because of the color yield, coverage, and printing surface - but that is just my opinion and without a real piece in hand, I couldn't begin to track down the exact process used

Dave

 

[Mr_Creepy]

Yeah, on TV they pretty much used the same wad of bills every time. :lol

Only a couple of occasions where a single bill (TRAIN JOB) or a bunch of unfolded bills (WAR STORIES) are seen.

Since a lot of money was needed for the movie, it makes sense to do them on paper.