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Custom license plates for film use -- Where can you get them?

Dave Draper

Dave Draper

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Does anyone know who we can contact to have an authentic looking, embossed / stamped, licence plate, with a custom registration number, made for film use?

Before anyone suggests, the DMV don't offer such services.
 
Usually you get them in post.... :)

No joke, possibly there is no other item that has been tracked and composited on as much as license plates. Every car commercial and then you take that times the number of countries its going to be broadcased in.
 
Yeah, post, or just print them out 2d. I have never been able to tell the difference between art dept. plates that were flat and real plates.

I Swear to god, I was once on a show where the Art department printed out license plates that had been blurred. They came from a reality show background. I died laughing.


Nick
 
Dave Draper said:
Does anyone know who we can contact to have an authentic looking, embossed / stamped, licence plate, with a custom registration number, made for film use?

Before anyone suggests, the DMV don't offer such services.
Click to expand...

I would imagine that local prop houses should have those.
 
Any local dye sublimation print shop can do these for dirt cheap. The aluminum blanks are $5 a pop and the dye sub material and ink is under $2 a pop so you can get them individually for under $30 or in bulk for under $10 a piece.
 
The thing about doing it in post, is that I'm not convinced it would be good enough -- there are many close-ups of the plate -- and getting a talented VFX artist in is just going to add more to the already shoe-string budget.

We had considered printing a plate, but it was then decided that it needs to be embossed, so that the registration number catches the light.

The other issue is, sourcing high resolution, clean graphics from the New York 2001-2010 plate. Because of when the film is set, and the Director's requirements, it can't be anything else.

Also, the car and license plate -- combined -- is a fairly integral part of the story, so we're trying to make it as impacting as we can.
 
Well yeah, if you have hero shots of the license plate, then it's a hero prop and is gonna need to get made.
 
I think these exist, but last time I worked on a show that had them we had to paint them out in post for legal reasons anyway. So maybe not.

In some states, the letter Q is not used and it's possible to greek a plate to a legally acceptable standard by changing an O to a Q. This is not true in all states, from what I understand, but might be in NY. I'd consult with an entertainment lawyer but this might allow you to shoot around the plate and change a minimal number of shots in post if you can find a license plate ending with O and frame out the right side for the insert shots. And then modifying one letter should be pretty easy for the rest.

Not 100% sure this is true, but I've been told it is. That said, not sure it will change a vfx house's bid dramatically having less to change. :/ But it could reduce the total number of shots needing a composite. Depends on the boards, I guess.
 
You can buy fake california plates at any of the various gift shops on hollywood blvd :)

Also I see cheap replicas on amazon with customized nubmers.
 
I have the real UK number plate V1DED for sale. Looks like video! Feel free to PM if interested :)
 
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