CSI:Vegas: Prop Sculpture

Prop Sculpture for the Episode: “The Promise”

I was privileged to be a long time forensic art technical advisor to the forensics crime drama television series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation produced by Jerry Bruckheimer Television and CBS Productions. The shows spanned 15 seasons from 2000-2015 and I made many friends associated with the various shows.  When a follow-up series premiered in 2021 called CSI:Vegas, I was happy to again become involved. My old friend and franchise creator Anthony E. Zuiker contacted me to say that he was planning to write a special episode that would feature my work in forensic sculpture.  The episode is called "The Promise" and it is a real showcase of Anthony's skill as a television writer.

A diligent researcher, Anthony opted to fly to Texas to sit in on my Facial Reconstruction workshop at the Forensic Anthropology Center at Texas State University (FACTS).  It was loads of fun to have him in class, for me and for all of the other attendees. He was a good sport as I put him to work creating an anatomically corrrect ear. He was super focused and did really well!

The plot Anthony wrote featured some genuine challenges that forensic artists encounter due to limited information about race/ancestry from the skull, particularly in a young child.  I don't want to be too much of a spoiler, but my "reconstruction" had to be crafted to convey these real life challenges. Since our young victim was of indeterminate race, the prop "reconstruction" had to be generic in the presentation of colors of eyes, skin tone and hair to some extent.

As I always discuss in training workshops, it is the shapes, forms and proportional spacing of features that are inherently present in our skulls, though the superficial colors are not.  If we focus on getting those structural elements correctly built into the sculpture, it should be enough to trigger recognition even if the color of skin tone or eye color is somewhat off.  This is exactly what occured as part of Anthony's skillfully crafted plot. This has also occurred many times in my actual forensic cases.  As the sculptures developed, I intentionally kept the hair in simplified clumps so that it would not take on too much importance.  A particular hair clip was a significant plot element so I created a style where that could be added.

For the purpose of efficiently filming the show in a timely manner, I had to prepare multiple steps of the process in advance as well as making TWO finished sculptures to show varying skins tones. Thus, I had to create two IDENTICAL sculptures, each to be colorized differently. This was rather difficult as you might imagine.  I considered doing it only once and then making a 3D printed duplicate.  This mechanical type of replication would have been easier for me but the results would not have been nearly as effective.  

All of the various stages of the project I created were shipped to Los Angeles ahead of my travel there. In addition, I created this advance storyboard-type document as a way of assisting all those involved in understanding the seven stages of work that we would be filming.

Once I arrived on set, I unpacked my crates and arranged each of the seven stages in the same step-by-step order for clarity and so that we could easily follow the sequence and all "be on the same page".  I was given the aptly titled "Reconstruction Room" in which to do this. Regular viewers may recognize this as the place on the set where the CSIs regularly set up and create test experiments as part of their casework. This room is often featured on the show. As we filmed each stage, I moved these items to another set location to be filmed.

One important thing that had to be done once on set was the addition of the "bullet trajectory" in the same place on each skull stage. Here I am consulting with writers Anthony Zuiker and Alex Berry so that this was added in a way that would comport with the way the script was written.

Here I am reviewing the steps of the reconstruction with actresses Paula Newsome and Judy Kain, as Director Brad Tanenbaum looks on. Paula portrays Laboratory Director Maxine Roby as a show regular. Judy made a guest appearance to play the anthropologist/forensic artist character who would be doing the "reconstruction".  Brad is an extremely accomplished producer/director and a superb storyteller.  It was a pleasure to work with all of these talented folks.

Throughout the process, Anthony Zuiker and I carefully watched the monitors, always checking on each stage of filming. I don't always wear a metal lazy Susan as a bracelet but it came in handy that day.

It was a real privilege and a joy for me to watch firsthand as all of the skillful performances were being given.  At left, I am with the very accomplished veteran actresses Paula Newsome and Regina Taylor.  Regina (in wardrobe costume) made a guest appearance as "Raquel Williams", mother of our little murdered victim, who had been missing for over 40 years.  Her emotional performance was stunning and there were few dry eyes on the set as she worked. It was also so fun to meet young actress Zion Broadnax who portrayed our little victim "Phoebe" in flashback scenes.  Her beautiful face had been in my mind for several weeks as I created the sculptures for "The Promise". The "reconstruction" had to resemble her but not be too exact. Prior to my work commencing, I was able to give input on casting of Zion in this role. I also asked Anthony to name her "Phoebe" as an homage to my real life forensic anthropologist friend, Dr. Phoebe Stubblefield.

Much to my surprise, I began to feel rather emotional as I saw "Phoebe's" dramatic story play out during the filming. Somehow, this fictional murdered child and my little Phoebe creation had come to represent ALL of the many real life murdered children whose cases I have worked on over the years.

It has been an honor to be associated with such talented actors, writers and production crews as part of this historic "most watched television show in the world".  "The Promise" was by far my favorite episode of all. As I told Anthony, the greatest thing about working so hard on this was that, for once, there was NOT really a murdered child.