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KatawaGrey's avatar

How can I make fake stacks of money? (Please see details)

Asked by KatawaGrey (21483points) April 13th, 2010

For my final project in one of my classes, I am making a silent short film about a poker game. During the course of the film, the main characters have to collect a whole bunch of money in order to get into the game and I have to show stacks of money.

Now, I don’t necessarily need to show either side of the money, I just need to make it look as if there are thousands of dollars stacked up on a table and I need to do it very cheaply. Does anyone know if there’s anything I can use or do to paper or perhaps a believable alternative?

I asked my professor about this and her response was that I had to find something believable…

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17 Answers

ragingloli's avatar

Download pictures of money on the internet and print it out?

jfos's avatar

Put a $20 or a $50 on top and cut pieces of paper or something to fill the rest.

KatawaGrey's avatar

@ragingloli: The issue is less the pictures on the money I would only show side views of the money and more about simulating the side of a stack of money. I was considering just using stacks of paper but since printer paper is white and money is not white and this is a color film I need to do something to the paper to make it look like money.

jfos's avatar

@KatawaGrey Get a side-above angle so that you can’t really see the color of the side that much, but you can tell that there are enough papers to make a stack.

The side of (at least American) money is not GREEN, it’s more of a faded offwhite.

gemiwing's avatar

I would use onion paper, dyed a light green. The hardest part is going to be making the sides of the paper even.

Perhaps what would be best, if the money isn’t going to move much (even if it is perhaps you can make one action stack and the majority static), is to make a block (wood whatever) and then apply a veneer to the top/sides that looks like a stack of money. Grab fifty ones, scan them, multiply them so they appear to be a full stack, then print it out and affix it to the dummy block.

ragingloli's avatar

You could use old newspapers. They should have a healthy grey.

Pretty_Lilly's avatar

Rob a bank,,,get as much stacks of money as you can,,,shot your scenes,once done return the money ,I’m certain you & the bank manager will have a great laugh out of it !

slick44's avatar

Play money from the store. you no the kind kids play with. why cant you use that?

grumpyfish's avatar

Use newsprint (you can buy it at an art store, it’s about the right color and super cheap), figure out how big a bill is and take the newsprint to kinko’s (or another print shop) and get them to cut it to the right size. This will give you very clean crisp stacks of “money”

You can use a gluestick to make the bands around the money, and it’ll look pretty authentic. Actually, probably the best bet for consistency is to print a fake cover bill on the newsprint so the color is consistent.

Seek's avatar

The paper the US dollar is printed on is manufactured by Crane & Co. It’s actually mostly cotton.

If I were doing the same thing, I would try to find a bunch of good stationery or even a really old book with thick pages, and cut it all to the appropriate size with a guillotine-style paper trimmer. Then put a real $20 (or $100) on top and wrap it with a plain paper band, and Bob’s your uncle.

The good stationery (which you can probably get hold of at a Goodwill or Salvation Army store) will be more the appropriate thickness than printer paper or newsprint.

germanmannn's avatar

just use one dollar bills with a C note on top , It will look like a lot of loot and be real so you can do a close up of it .A few hun will look like a grip. If you need to borrow a little you can give it back after the shoot :)>

KatawaGrey's avatar

@slick44: Play money is the wrong size and often the wrong color.

What I’m thinking of doing is making a few fake stacks lots of great ideas here and then also using wallets, purses, jewelry etc. to show that my characters have gotten the money. They’re getting the money by robbing people so if I have some loot in there it might look more authentic.

Ame_Evil's avatar

I would use newspaper and a fake printed note printed on normal paper for the top. A guillotine is a must in order to get everything the same size. Then you just need to get a band to secure them altogether from cardboard paper. Here is a sort of picture for you to work towards:

http://www.transracial.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/stacks-of-money-298x300.jpg

Also remember that in poker games players have chips as well if you are going to be showing them sitting down and playing and want authenticity. And you only take stacks of money into cash games and not tournament games.

Personally I would just go for a bag with $$$ on the side. :D Or probably more serious – a suitcase of money.

YARNLADY's avatar

I agree with @germanmannn Just go to the bank and get a stack of real one dollar bills and put a 50 or even a 100 dollar bill on the top.

KatawaGrey's avatar

I need to make fake stacks of money because I don’t have actual money. If I could afford it, I would just use regular money.

Seek's avatar

@KatawaGrey

Srsly, get an old book from the Salvation Army. 50 cents. Chop it up. It’ll already be tanned and faded, like the edges of real money. You can even put one of the blank cover pages from it into your printer to print images of $100 bills on it. easy peasy.

KatawaGrey's avatar

@Seek_Kolinahr: I think I’ll do that. I would like to have a stack of money for the characters to play with.

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