"So we made it out of plywood"
October 4, 2016 6:50 AM Subscribe
The hardest part of writing a show in the '80s isn't getting music clearance or convincing actors to get those haircuts -- it's finding the right tech (or at least, making it look right).
Alyssa Bereznak of The Ringer talks to some of the prop masters who have to find or recreate old reel-to-reel recorders, huge projection TVs, and apple ][s. At the end, Bereznak notes:
Alyssa Bereznak of The Ringer talks to some of the prop masters who have to find or recreate old reel-to-reel recorders, huge projection TVs, and apple ][s. At the end, Bereznak notes:
Designing for 2005, for instance, is actually more difficult. Thanks to a stronger commitment to recycling electronics and a society based on planned (or subconscious) obsolescence, it’s a bigger challenge to find 10-year-old gadgets than it is to find 50-year-old gadgets.
At some point, the people who can correctly assess the authenticity (read: you and I) will pass away. Then filmmakers will do what they've done with vintage cars in movies, which is to just stick in any model that looks appropriately old-timey, anachronism be damned.
posted by workerant at 7:08 AM on October 4, 2016 [4 favorites]
posted by workerant at 7:08 AM on October 4, 2016 [4 favorites]
At some point, the people who can correctly assess the authenticity (read: you and I) will pass away.
My dad judges any military movie from any era of human history primarily on how faithfully the filmmakers recreate uniforms. He has whole shelves of his library devoted to books on the subject. Nerds will always nerd.
posted by Etrigan at 7:11 AM on October 4, 2016 [36 favorites]
My dad judges any military movie from any era of human history primarily on how faithfully the filmmakers recreate uniforms. He has whole shelves of his library devoted to books on the subject. Nerds will always nerd.
posted by Etrigan at 7:11 AM on October 4, 2016 [36 favorites]
Or they could have called me. I think I've got the entire Museum of Obsolete Technology in my attic.
posted by sudogeek at 7:16 AM on October 4, 2016 [12 favorites]
posted by sudogeek at 7:16 AM on October 4, 2016 [12 favorites]
I would totally buy a '90s cellphone. Anybody else? I want something little that will fit in my pocket.
posted by amtho at 7:16 AM on October 4, 2016 [4 favorites]
posted by amtho at 7:16 AM on October 4, 2016 [4 favorites]
Hold my ET lunch box while I call my mom and explain to her why Hollywood agrees with me that my TRS 80 should not have been thrown out AT ANY COST.
Goddammit, Mom.
posted by Phreesh at 7:19 AM on October 4, 2016 [21 favorites]
Goddammit, Mom.
posted by Phreesh at 7:19 AM on October 4, 2016 [21 favorites]
What I think is interesting is when shows go for place-based accuracy, rather than time-based. I'm thinking mostly of Show Me A Hero, which shot scenes in the location they took place (e.g. a bathroom, a local bar) without bothering to remove the anachronisms (a modern paper towel dispenser, Stella on tap). It's less applicable for fictional shows, though.
posted by thecaddy at 7:31 AM on October 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by thecaddy at 7:31 AM on October 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
Anybody wants it, I actually do still have my 1996 Motorola phone: damn thing's as heavy as a brick.
posted by easily confused at 7:32 AM on October 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by easily confused at 7:32 AM on October 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
I would totally buy a '90s cellphone. Anybody else? I want something little that will fit in my pocket.
I mean, you can. Most cell phone carriers will sell you a flip phone for basically nothing.
posted by Elementary Penguin at 7:39 AM on October 4, 2016
I mean, you can. Most cell phone carriers will sell you a flip phone for basically nothing.
posted by Elementary Penguin at 7:39 AM on October 4, 2016
Reminds me of the Old Timey 1997 Photo Booth.
Also reminds me about a quote from someone who made Starter for 10 (I think?) about how they were taken aback when they realized they were making a period piece of what they still thought of as the present. I can't find the quote now though.
posted by ODiV at 7:47 AM on October 4, 2016 [2 favorites]
Also reminds me about a quote from someone who made Starter for 10 (I think?) about how they were taken aback when they realized they were making a period piece of what they still thought of as the present. I can't find the quote now though.
posted by ODiV at 7:47 AM on October 4, 2016 [2 favorites]
BBC had a documentary series called Electric Dreams. It explored changes in tech in the 70s, 80s, & 90s through making a current day family live with exactly the technology they would have in each of those decades. This had profound effects on their day to day lives.
posted by ZeusHumms at 7:50 AM on October 4, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by ZeusHumms at 7:50 AM on October 4, 2016 [3 favorites]
Anybody wants it, I actually do still have my 1996 Motorola phone: damn thing's as heavy as a brick.
It's 20 years old. Weird to realize that.
posted by ZeusHumms at 7:56 AM on October 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
It's 20 years old. Weird to realize that.
posted by ZeusHumms at 7:56 AM on October 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
I was watching Spotlight with some friends, and one of them was incredulous that they were able to get so many period specific cars, in decent shape, for the background shots. He was wondering where they were able to find them. The article is specifically about information technology, so it's still something I'm curious about. My best guess was some sort of Hollywood rental company combined with liberal greenscreening.
Anyway, I like to thrift, and always make a pass of the electronics aisle at my regular stores. I rarely find anything I personally want, but have occasionally entertained the idea of just collecting stuff for the sake of collecting. Not that I currently have room for it or the disposable income. If there was some sort of headhunter list from a prop department though... I would definitely keep an eye out.
posted by codacorolla at 7:59 AM on October 4, 2016
Anyway, I like to thrift, and always make a pass of the electronics aisle at my regular stores. I rarely find anything I personally want, but have occasionally entertained the idea of just collecting stuff for the sake of collecting. Not that I currently have room for it or the disposable income. If there was some sort of headhunter list from a prop department though... I would definitely keep an eye out.
posted by codacorolla at 7:59 AM on October 4, 2016
I was watching Spotlight with some friends, and one of them was incredulous that they were able to get so many period specific cars, in decent shape, for the background shots.
They film a lot of period films and TV shows out here in the Pittsburgh area because so much hasn't changed in fifty years and I know that the producers often reach out to local classic/antique car enthusiasts to find period cars.
posted by octothorpe at 8:07 AM on October 4, 2016 [3 favorites]
They film a lot of period films and TV shows out here in the Pittsburgh area because so much hasn't changed in fifty years and I know that the producers often reach out to local classic/antique car enthusiasts to find period cars.
posted by octothorpe at 8:07 AM on October 4, 2016 [3 favorites]
I noticed while watching The Get Down that they used a lot of archival footage, run through artsy filters, for street scenes, and then setup the following shots in ways that made it hard to tell the difference between the two. It's pretty cool.
Etrigan, I am like your dad but about women's hairstyles (and dress, to a smaller extent). The UK is much better than the US about getting period hair right, though even they take some liberties. I always notice when it's wrong. Some shows try to get around it with Generic Long Hair, but it's still shaped/cut anachronistically, and shiny and clean as a shampoo ad. There's a reason most women tended to wear braids/hats/bonnets/headdresses in the days before indoor plumbing and blowdryers.
posted by emjaybee at 8:19 AM on October 4, 2016 [7 favorites]
Etrigan, I am like your dad but about women's hairstyles (and dress, to a smaller extent). The UK is much better than the US about getting period hair right, though even they take some liberties. I always notice when it's wrong. Some shows try to get around it with Generic Long Hair, but it's still shaped/cut anachronistically, and shiny and clean as a shampoo ad. There's a reason most women tended to wear braids/hats/bonnets/headdresses in the days before indoor plumbing and blowdryers.
posted by emjaybee at 8:19 AM on October 4, 2016 [7 favorites]
I think Mad Men set too high a bar, and spoiled me for this sort of thing. We are currently binge-watching The Americans, and though they seem to get the ~1981 spy gadget stuff spot on (they have consultants for that), they totally blow it on basic things like doorknobs, and Keri Russel's hairdo.
posted by jetsetsc at 8:20 AM on October 4, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by jetsetsc at 8:20 AM on October 4, 2016 [3 favorites]
I was watching Spotlight with some friends, and one of them was incredulous that they were able to get so many period specific cars, in decent shape, for the background shots.
I imagine old cars are probably easier to get because there's a market and a large collector community for them. The enthusiast community for, say, 1970s TV station equipment is much smaller and the drive to preserve those items much less.
posted by Sangermaine at 8:27 AM on October 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
I imagine old cars are probably easier to get because there's a market and a large collector community for them. The enthusiast community for, say, 1970s TV station equipment is much smaller and the drive to preserve those items much less.
posted by Sangermaine at 8:27 AM on October 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
I just started Stranger Things this weekend. I'm roughly the same age as the boys and the set and props were almost* perfect. That was the scenery of my childhood.
*I say almost because the demigorgon miniature was too well made for the miniatures available at the time. I'll stop before I turn completely into Comic Book Guy
posted by cmfletcher at 8:29 AM on October 4, 2016 [13 favorites]
*I say almost because the demigorgon miniature was too well made for the miniatures available at the time. I'll stop before I turn completely into Comic Book Guy
posted by cmfletcher at 8:29 AM on October 4, 2016 [13 favorites]
I imagine old cars are probably easier to get because there's a market and a large collector community for them. The enthusiast community for, say, 1970s TV station equipment is much smaller and the drive to preserve those items much less.
Well, that was my friend's point about spotlight. It was stuff like a 1991 Mercury. Or a 1995 Saturn. Not really collector cars, and stuff that was probably driven into the ground and then junked.
posted by codacorolla at 8:31 AM on October 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
Well, that was my friend's point about spotlight. It was stuff like a 1991 Mercury. Or a 1995 Saturn. Not really collector cars, and stuff that was probably driven into the ground and then junked.
posted by codacorolla at 8:31 AM on October 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
A friend of one of my former coworkers had sort of a beater older convertible (can't recall the year or model, but I remember it was at least 15-20 years old at the time). He was approached by a movie company that gave it a total new paint job / re-upholstering / re-roofing in exchange for borrowing it for a few weeks. I think they may have even given him a loaner for the duration.
posted by Greg_Ace at 8:45 AM on October 4, 2016 [5 favorites]
posted by Greg_Ace at 8:45 AM on October 4, 2016 [5 favorites]
I was really impressed with Stranger Things for getting so much of this right. For example, Winona Ryder drove a beat 1976 Ford Pinto in 1983, a perfect car given her economic status. An I am sure there are lots of absolutely pristine 1976 collector-car Pintos out there and a lot that have been trashed and compacted, but finding one that looks age-appropriate must have been really hard.
posted by rtimmel at 8:48 AM on October 4, 2016 [6 favorites]
posted by rtimmel at 8:48 AM on October 4, 2016 [6 favorites]
There's an episode of Cowboy Bebop where Spike and Jet have to find a VHS (or was it Betamax?) tape player in order to play a tape they had received, which was near impossible for them to find considering the show takes place in 2071! That's a really endearing episode though, especially after they find out what's on the tape.
posted by gucci mane at 8:48 AM on October 4, 2016 [6 favorites]
posted by gucci mane at 8:48 AM on October 4, 2016 [6 favorites]
I was watching Spotlight with some friends, and one of them was incredulous that they were able to get so many period specific cars, in decent shape, for the background shots.
The Torontoist's Reel Toronto column covered Spotlight pretty well for interiors. There are vintage car rental companies in the area for film productions, not just all classic vintage, but many come from the international movie car rental companies.
For the record, the place where I work provided vintage wardrobe for the flashback scenes. We have a 10,000 square foot studio where we keep everything from boxes of old plastic rain bonnets to girdles through the ages and everything in between. We can keep everything you'd think we should, and we still won't have the one, right, most perfect thing that the director wants even if we have five similar items. The best days are when we find vintage things in multiples. We are always kind to props people and wardrobe department - they have tough jobs!
I have a friend whose business is vintage telephones and telephone-related accessories for rental to productions, and another whose props warehouse is the kind of place where you go for everything from taxidermy Marlins to bellhop bells. But yes, there's room in the market for someone who wants to start a warehouse of vintage office equipment and obsolete technology. We've even been asked to rent the vintage Rolodex (that we still use) to productions.
posted by peagood at 8:51 AM on October 4, 2016 [8 favorites]
The Torontoist's Reel Toronto column covered Spotlight pretty well for interiors. There are vintage car rental companies in the area for film productions, not just all classic vintage, but many come from the international movie car rental companies.
For the record, the place where I work provided vintage wardrobe for the flashback scenes. We have a 10,000 square foot studio where we keep everything from boxes of old plastic rain bonnets to girdles through the ages and everything in between. We can keep everything you'd think we should, and we still won't have the one, right, most perfect thing that the director wants even if we have five similar items. The best days are when we find vintage things in multiples. We are always kind to props people and wardrobe department - they have tough jobs!
I have a friend whose business is vintage telephones and telephone-related accessories for rental to productions, and another whose props warehouse is the kind of place where you go for everything from taxidermy Marlins to bellhop bells. But yes, there's room in the market for someone who wants to start a warehouse of vintage office equipment and obsolete technology. We've even been asked to rent the vintage Rolodex (that we still use) to productions.
posted by peagood at 8:51 AM on October 4, 2016 [8 favorites]
Well, that was my friend's point about spotlight. It was stuff like a 1991 Mercury. Or a 1995 Saturn. Not really collector cars, and stuff that was probably driven into the ground and then junked.
I thought I read something somewhere about California's air being dry and relatively salt-free, which keeps cars from rusting, so the bodies tend to last a very long time.
posted by a lungful of dragon at 8:53 AM on October 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
I thought I read something somewhere about California's air being dry and relatively salt-free, which keeps cars from rusting, so the bodies tend to last a very long time.
posted by a lungful of dragon at 8:53 AM on October 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
There are certainly companies in the UK who specialise in servicing both the hobby collector and the film/tv props market in old technology - including at least one (which I can't quite find right now) that has a lot of old TV studio equipment, period walkie-talkies, TV sets and the like. They're a long-running concern who go to auctions and know when studios are being refurbed or closed, and basically have a warehouse somewhere cheap that's full of this stuff. Some they sell on to the specialist collectors, some they keep as non-working props, some they maintain working.
I know this, because they snaffled a period walkie-talkie from eBay that I had my heart set on.
Don't get me started on the history of UK two-way radios (but if you have a mid-band Pye Bantam in good nick, let me know...)
posted by Devonian at 8:56 AM on October 4, 2016 [2 favorites]
I know this, because they snaffled a period walkie-talkie from eBay that I had my heart set on.
Don't get me started on the history of UK two-way radios (but if you have a mid-band Pye Bantam in good nick, let me know...)
posted by Devonian at 8:56 AM on October 4, 2016 [2 favorites]
I'm pretty sure it was Betamax.
posted by I-Write-Essays at 8:59 AM on October 4, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by I-Write-Essays at 8:59 AM on October 4, 2016 [2 favorites]
"At some point, the people who can correctly assess the authenticity (read: you and I) will pass away. Then filmmakers will do what they've done with vintage cars in movies, which is to just stick in any model that looks appropriately old-timey, anachronism be damned."
Thing is that we'll still have movies from that time period to compare new movies set in the same time period in the past. Like the movie "Taxi Driver". It's 40 years old this year. You watch it and you see cars and stuff and then you see movies made now set in the same time period and you start noticing a lesser variance and cars and such. It's noticeable.
posted by I-baLL at 9:04 AM on October 4, 2016 [4 favorites]
Thing is that we'll still have movies from that time period to compare new movies set in the same time period in the past. Like the movie "Taxi Driver". It's 40 years old this year. You watch it and you see cars and stuff and then you see movies made now set in the same time period and you start noticing a lesser variance and cars and such. It's noticeable.
posted by I-baLL at 9:04 AM on October 4, 2016 [4 favorites]
I thought I read something somewhere about California's air being dry and relatively salt-free, which keeps cars from rusting, so the bodies tend to last a very long time.
When I'm out there, I'm always amazed at how many cars from the 80s and 90s you see just being used as daily drivers on the highways at rush hour like any other car.
posted by octothorpe at 9:19 AM on October 4, 2016 [5 favorites]
When I'm out there, I'm always amazed at how many cars from the 80s and 90s you see just being used as daily drivers on the highways at rush hour like any other car.
posted by octothorpe at 9:19 AM on October 4, 2016 [5 favorites]
I would totally buy a '90s cellphone. Anybody else? I want something little that will fit in my pocket.
I'm still rocking my LG VX 5300. It does exactly what I want in a phone...fits perfectly in the watch pocket of my jeans, takes/makes calls and texts. And no data plan. The buttons have become a bit...wonky...though. So, sometime soon, I might have to bite the bullet and get some old iPhone or something. I'm holding out, though.
posted by Thorzdad at 9:29 AM on October 4, 2016
I'm still rocking my LG VX 5300. It does exactly what I want in a phone...fits perfectly in the watch pocket of my jeans, takes/makes calls and texts. And no data plan. The buttons have become a bit...wonky...though. So, sometime soon, I might have to bite the bullet and get some old iPhone or something. I'm holding out, though.
posted by Thorzdad at 9:29 AM on October 4, 2016
cmfletcher: I say almost because the demigorgon miniature was too well made for the miniatures available at the time. I'll stop before I turn completely into Comic Book Guy
That miniature is anachronistic, but only by one year.
posted by designbot at 9:32 AM on October 4, 2016 [9 favorites]
That miniature is anachronistic, but only by one year.
posted by designbot at 9:32 AM on October 4, 2016 [9 favorites]
I thought I read something somewhere about California's air being dry and relatively salt-free, which keeps cars from rusting, so the bodies tend to last a very long time.
The bodies do hold up better, but a shit-ton of otherwise decent 90s-00s cars got junked during Cash for Clunkers.
posted by hwyengr at 9:33 AM on October 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
The bodies do hold up better, but a shit-ton of otherwise decent 90s-00s cars got junked during Cash for Clunkers.
posted by hwyengr at 9:33 AM on October 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
Wow, all my hobby shop ever seemed to carry were these sad little guys.
posted by cmfletcher at 9:48 AM on October 4, 2016
posted by cmfletcher at 9:48 AM on October 4, 2016
The hairstyles in that HCF shot are really just some very vaguely 1980s-looking hairstyles from the 20-teens, not actual 1980s hairstyles. That what TV and movies usually do with period pieces; gently invoke the past while conforming to contemporary taste.
How odd that anyone would care more about the authenticity of manufactured props than the people. Easy to make cruel snark about the audience in this case.
posted by Western Infidels at 10:03 AM on October 4, 2016
How odd that anyone would care more about the authenticity of manufactured props than the people. Easy to make cruel snark about the audience in this case.
posted by Western Infidels at 10:03 AM on October 4, 2016
they totally blow it on basic things like doorknobs...
Please, and I mean this with all seriousness, explain how you can tell that a doorknob isn't the right doorknob for 1981. This is fascinating.
posted by Dormant Gorilla at 10:07 AM on October 4, 2016 [11 favorites]
Please, and I mean this with all seriousness, explain how you can tell that a doorknob isn't the right doorknob for 1981. This is fascinating.
posted by Dormant Gorilla at 10:07 AM on October 4, 2016 [11 favorites]
The quick answer is because the entire house is wrong. I don't have the article on hand which placed and dated it exactly, but the house they use for our protagonists' home wasn't built until the 1990s, which is actually pretty obvious to people who lived through both eras. The layout and the style is just not early 1980s. That also means the little things (like door handles or cabinet pulls) is also very likely wrong.
posted by sardonyx at 10:11 AM on October 4, 2016 [8 favorites]
posted by sardonyx at 10:11 AM on October 4, 2016 [8 favorites]
So, if you want to get into this sort of thing, know this:
Every summer, in electronics flea markets around the country, devices from the past change hands from those who have been commanded by their long suffering spouses to clear out their cruft, to those who WILL be commanded by their long suffering spouses to clear out their cruft. (At a later flea market.)
Take some cash, shop around.
And if worst comes to worst, get a small dev board, fit an LCD display, and put it in the shell of the device you need.
posted by ocschwar at 10:29 AM on October 4, 2016 [4 favorites]
Every summer, in electronics flea markets around the country, devices from the past change hands from those who have been commanded by their long suffering spouses to clear out their cruft, to those who WILL be commanded by their long suffering spouses to clear out their cruft. (At a later flea market.)
Take some cash, shop around.
And if worst comes to worst, get a small dev board, fit an LCD display, and put it in the shell of the device you need.
posted by ocschwar at 10:29 AM on October 4, 2016 [4 favorites]
Please, and I mean this with all seriousness, explain how you can tell that a doorknob isn't the right doorknob for 1981. This is fascinating.
This is what production designers and set decorators do for a living. You pull pictures from newspapers, magazines, and books from the time period basically. There are huge home and industrial decorating trends (which include things like doorknobs, other hardware, cabinet facings, flooring, etc.) decade-by-decade.
posted by smirkette at 10:32 AM on October 4, 2016 [5 favorites]
This is what production designers and set decorators do for a living. You pull pictures from newspapers, magazines, and books from the time period basically. There are huge home and industrial decorating trends (which include things like doorknobs, other hardware, cabinet facings, flooring, etc.) decade-by-decade.
posted by smirkette at 10:32 AM on October 4, 2016 [5 favorites]
> How odd that anyone would care more about the authenticity of manufactured props than the people.
Yes, I too dream of a world where we give up our shallow obsession with material goods and focus on things that truly matter, like hairstyles
posted by a mirror and an encyclopedia at 10:43 AM on October 4, 2016 [14 favorites]
Yes, I too dream of a world where we give up our shallow obsession with material goods and focus on things that truly matter, like hairstyles
posted by a mirror and an encyclopedia at 10:43 AM on October 4, 2016 [14 favorites]
Note to folks in charge of costumes for 1970s characters: without altering skirt or pant lengths, i.e., very short and to the floor, respectively—take in everyone's clothes a full size. You'll know you have it right when blouses gap in the front, pants on both men and women are literally obscenely tight, and everyone is constantly tugging things up and/or down. (I'm just a messenger. I didn't make the rules.)
Also, other than body builders, few people had noticeable muscles. "In shape" basically just meant "skinny".
posted by she's not there at 10:50 AM on October 4, 2016 [11 favorites]
Also, other than body builders, few people had noticeable muscles. "In shape" basically just meant "skinny".
posted by she's not there at 10:50 AM on October 4, 2016 [11 favorites]
The quick answer is because the entire house is wrong. I don't have the article on hand which placed and dated it exactly, but the house they use for our protagonists' home wasn't built until the 1990s, which is actually pretty obvious to people who lived through both eras. The layout and the style is just not early 1980s. That also means the little things (like door handles or cabinet pulls) is also very likely wrong.
YES exactly. Ceilings types/heights, doorframes, where the bedrooms are, how big the kitchen is, all are affected by fads in housing styles. All the ranch homes I remember from the 70s had tiny kitchens, for example.
posted by emjaybee at 11:03 AM on October 4, 2016 [3 favorites]
YES exactly. Ceilings types/heights, doorframes, where the bedrooms are, how big the kitchen is, all are affected by fads in housing styles. All the ranch homes I remember from the 70s had tiny kitchens, for example.
posted by emjaybee at 11:03 AM on October 4, 2016 [3 favorites]
> Well, that was my friend's point about spotlight. It was stuff like a 1991 Mercury. Or a 1995 Saturn. Not really collector cars, and stuff that was probably driven into the ground and then junked.
I just got rid of my 1996 Neon three years ago and there are three others just like it that I see regularly parked nearby. My neighborhood, and probably pretty much any mixed-income urban neighborhood, is FULL of incredibly ordinary 20-year-old cars.
posted by desuetude at 11:11 AM on October 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
I just got rid of my 1996 Neon three years ago and there are three others just like it that I see regularly parked nearby. My neighborhood, and probably pretty much any mixed-income urban neighborhood, is FULL of incredibly ordinary 20-year-old cars.
posted by desuetude at 11:11 AM on October 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
I have a working microwave in my basement from something like 1982, if anyone wants it. Must provide own forklift to remove.
posted by GhostintheMachine at 11:23 AM on October 4, 2016 [5 favorites]
posted by GhostintheMachine at 11:23 AM on October 4, 2016 [5 favorites]
Emjaybee is exactly right. Okay, now I'm not saying that no house in the 1980s ever had an island, but this island plus kitchen table in the hall(?) plus open area to the family room (or is that the living room?) just really doesn't feel like a 1980s layout at all. It's not necessarily wrong, it's just off.
The house I grew up in was built in the early 1970s*. The neighbourhood expanded in the 1980s. The shift in housing styles was readily apparent. Even without knowing anything about the history of the area, you can spot the different eras. Then the neighbourhood grew again in the 1990s and again, the difference is clear.
Now admittedly The Americans takes place in a different country and geographical area than I reside in, but a lot of the trends carried across North America. While I love the show, so much of it feels off to me when it comes to the styling of the people and the locations. It's certainly not my 1980s, although (as I said) I'm willing to concede it may be the 1980s of somebody else who lived in a different place than I did.
*Since emjaybee mentioned ceiling heights, let me add this detail. When the house I grew up in was built the energy crisis was a Very Big Deal. As such, the ceiling heights were dropped a few inches from what had been the traditional height so as to make the houses easier to keep warm and therefore cheaper to heat. Now, a few years after that the energy crisis resolved itself (well it didn't make headlines in the same way) and ceiling heights shot way, way up. To me, that's always one of those easy markers of homes built in a certain era, even if it's not a really obvious tell to anybody who wasn't familiar with what happened and why.
posted by sardonyx at 12:10 PM on October 4, 2016 [4 favorites]
The house I grew up in was built in the early 1970s*. The neighbourhood expanded in the 1980s. The shift in housing styles was readily apparent. Even without knowing anything about the history of the area, you can spot the different eras. Then the neighbourhood grew again in the 1990s and again, the difference is clear.
Now admittedly The Americans takes place in a different country and geographical area than I reside in, but a lot of the trends carried across North America. While I love the show, so much of it feels off to me when it comes to the styling of the people and the locations. It's certainly not my 1980s, although (as I said) I'm willing to concede it may be the 1980s of somebody else who lived in a different place than I did.
*Since emjaybee mentioned ceiling heights, let me add this detail. When the house I grew up in was built the energy crisis was a Very Big Deal. As such, the ceiling heights were dropped a few inches from what had been the traditional height so as to make the houses easier to keep warm and therefore cheaper to heat. Now, a few years after that the energy crisis resolved itself (well it didn't make headlines in the same way) and ceiling heights shot way, way up. To me, that's always one of those easy markers of homes built in a certain era, even if it's not a really obvious tell to anybody who wasn't familiar with what happened and why.
posted by sardonyx at 12:10 PM on October 4, 2016 [4 favorites]
"Please, and I mean this with all seriousness, explain how you can tell that a doorknob isn't the right doorknob for 1981. This is fascinating."
Doorknobs were round then. Their house (as others have noted, being built in the 90's) has lever handles, which became more common after ~1992 due to ADA requirements.
They definitely get a lot right. Those insulated vests were ubiquitous on kids then. (I was 15 that year).
posted by jetsetsc at 12:32 PM on October 4, 2016 [4 favorites]
Doorknobs were round then. Their house (as others have noted, being built in the 90's) has lever handles, which became more common after ~1992 due to ADA requirements.
They definitely get a lot right. Those insulated vests were ubiquitous on kids then. (I was 15 that year).
posted by jetsetsc at 12:32 PM on October 4, 2016 [4 favorites]
One of my favorite parts of The Goldbergs is their decision to set the show not in 198X, but in "the 1980s," so part of the joke is a whole decade of pop culture and technology blended together in one. Looks like it's also a decision that made it much easier on their prop crew.
posted by General Malaise at 12:54 PM on October 4, 2016
posted by General Malaise at 12:54 PM on October 4, 2016
I couldn't stand watching The Goldbergs for that reason. Fads and technology would be completely out of order, and I'd spend half the episode steaming mad that they got it wrong. I was an early 80s teen and my wife was a mid 80s teen, and we have very different memories of the time. Never occurred to me it was on purpose. I may have to try watching it again with this in mind.
posted by GhostintheMachine at 1:08 PM on October 4, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by GhostintheMachine at 1:08 PM on October 4, 2016 [2 favorites]
Working on this sort of thing would be my dream job.
I wonder how much longer until they give up looking for the real things and just have a database of designs to print out on a 3D printer or just insert them via CGI. It seems pointless to store or hunt down all these physical things when you might only need, say, a PDP-11 for one show every decade. If you need to actually have a working screen you could do it via emulation or CGI.
posted by bondcliff at 10:02 AM on October 4 [2 favorites +] [!]
You could achieve this dream right now. It's called being a propmaster or Properties Designer and is arguably the most frustrating design position in all of theater. By the way your budget defnitely wont be large enough to custom 3D print every single obsolete piece of technogy out of ABS plastic. Nice try though.
This is what ebay used for parts is for.
posted by edbles at 1:13 PM on October 4, 2016 [2 favorites]
I wonder how much longer until they give up looking for the real things and just have a database of designs to print out on a 3D printer or just insert them via CGI. It seems pointless to store or hunt down all these physical things when you might only need, say, a PDP-11 for one show every decade. If you need to actually have a working screen you could do it via emulation or CGI.
posted by bondcliff at 10:02 AM on October 4 [2 favorites +] [!]
You could achieve this dream right now. It's called being a propmaster or Properties Designer and is arguably the most frustrating design position in all of theater. By the way your budget defnitely wont be large enough to custom 3D print every single obsolete piece of technogy out of ABS plastic. Nice try though.
This is what ebay used for parts is for.
posted by edbles at 1:13 PM on October 4, 2016 [2 favorites]
Okay, now I'm not saying that no house in the 1980s ever had an island, but this island plus kitchen table in the hall(?) plus open area to the family room (or is that the living room?) just really doesn't feel like a 1980s layout at all.
no, my parents built a house with an island and a similar layout AND high ceilings in the late 70s, so it was possible to live like that in the 80s
they always had somewhat unconventional ideas about their self-designed houses, though
posted by pyramid termite at 1:24 PM on October 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
no, my parents built a house with an island and a similar layout AND high ceilings in the late 70s, so it was possible to live like that in the 80s
they always had somewhat unconventional ideas about their self-designed houses, though
posted by pyramid termite at 1:24 PM on October 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
By the way your budget defnitely wont be large enough to custom 3D print every single obsolete piece of technogy out of ABS plastic.
"I wonder how much longer until they give up looking for the real things and just have a database of designs to print out on a 3D printer or just insert them via CGI." (emphasis added)
And before you say "It'll never be cheap enough", they've been CGIing actual city streets on basic-cable shows for more than a decade. We're not that far from the days when it really will be cheaper and easier to fab up a Quadruplex than to send someone to backwoods Georgia to find a local TV station with too much storage space.
posted by Etrigan at 1:29 PM on October 4, 2016 [2 favorites]
"I wonder how much longer until they give up looking for the real things and just have a database of designs to print out on a 3D printer or just insert them via CGI." (emphasis added)
And before you say "It'll never be cheap enough", they've been CGIing actual city streets on basic-cable shows for more than a decade. We're not that far from the days when it really will be cheaper and easier to fab up a Quadruplex than to send someone to backwoods Georgia to find a local TV station with too much storage space.
posted by Etrigan at 1:29 PM on October 4, 2016 [2 favorites]
Yep, my grandparents also built a house in the late 70s with super-high ceilings and a giant island in their giant kitchen.
That said, I now live in a 1933 house where the kitchen was clearly, tragically redone in the 70s, so it can go either way.
posted by nonasuch at 1:33 PM on October 4, 2016
That said, I now live in a 1933 house where the kitchen was clearly, tragically redone in the 70s, so it can go either way.
posted by nonasuch at 1:33 PM on October 4, 2016
Doorknobs were round then. Their house (as others have noted, being built in the 90's) has lever handles, which became more common after ~1992 due to ADA requirements.
This is the sort of thing I was hoping was true! Or that, like, between 1981 and 1982 there was a revolution in the shape of keyholes, or something similar, and that there are people in here that would just know that sort of thing off the top of their heads.
However. The house I grew up in, built in 1790ish and remodeled in 1960ish, had an island in the kitchen. It was trapezoidal. And orange. All of your theories are therefore wrong.
posted by Dormant Gorilla at 1:36 PM on October 4, 2016 [2 favorites]
This is the sort of thing I was hoping was true! Or that, like, between 1981 and 1982 there was a revolution in the shape of keyholes, or something similar, and that there are people in here that would just know that sort of thing off the top of their heads.
However. The house I grew up in, built in 1790ish and remodeled in 1960ish, had an island in the kitchen. It was trapezoidal. And orange. All of your theories are therefore wrong.
posted by Dormant Gorilla at 1:36 PM on October 4, 2016 [2 favorites]
One of my favorite parts of The Goldbergs is their decision to set the show not in 198X, but in "the 1980s," so part of the joke is a whole decade of pop culture and technology blended together in one.
That always bugged me about That 70's Show—they established it was 1977 in the first season, then spent another 8 years in "the 70's".
posted by designbot at 1:37 PM on October 4, 2016 [2 favorites]
That always bugged me about That 70's Show—they established it was 1977 in the first season, then spent another 8 years in "the 70's".
posted by designbot at 1:37 PM on October 4, 2016 [2 favorites]
> We are currently binge-watching The Americans, and though they seem to get the ~1981 spy gadget stuff spot on (they have consultants for that), they totally blow it on basic things like doorknobs, and Keri Russel's hairdo
They had the same yellow bookcase my family had in the garage in 1976, though; I sent a screenshot to my mom in delight.
posted by The corpse in the library at 1:39 PM on October 4, 2016
They had the same yellow bookcase my family had in the garage in 1976, though; I sent a screenshot to my mom in delight.
posted by The corpse in the library at 1:39 PM on October 4, 2016
That always bugged me about That 70's Show—they established it was 1977 in the first season, then spent another 8 years in "the 70's".
I mean, *M*A*S*H* spent 11 years fighting a 3-year war, so I'll cut That 70's Show a little slack on that front.
posted by tobascodagama at 2:00 PM on October 4, 2016 [6 favorites]
I mean, *M*A*S*H* spent 11 years fighting a 3-year war, so I'll cut That 70's Show a little slack on that front.
posted by tobascodagama at 2:00 PM on October 4, 2016 [6 favorites]
One reason I really like Gotham is instead of trying to peg the show to a specific time period you have mechanical typewriters, 70s muscle cars, flip phones, and flat screen TVs all existing side by side by side. The setting is "somewhere in the modern period". It's great. Instead of being beholden to a certain look, the set designers can do what works. You can have sterile 1950s laboratory, gothic haunted mansion, next to sleazy 70s cop movie, next to 201X era street fashion.
posted by codacorolla at 2:01 PM on October 4, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by codacorolla at 2:01 PM on October 4, 2016 [3 favorites]
I look forward to a show that has an excuse to film the Blackbird as itself.
(The trademark symbol for "the Blackbird" is in the URL. I am rebelliously not reproducing it in the link text.)
posted by clew at 2:55 PM on October 4, 2016 [3 favorites]
(The trademark symbol for "the Blackbird" is in the URL. I am rebelliously not reproducing it in the link text.)
posted by clew at 2:55 PM on October 4, 2016 [3 favorites]
Reminds me of the Old Timey 1997 Photo Booth.
OMG that is brilliant! And look what a great time everybody is having having running with the premise and embracing the weird! I have to send this to the organizers of our local street fair.
I'm another person who gets super bugged by anachronistic hairstyles. Especially with pieces set within living memory there's just no excuse because if you don't know how to do something you can hire an older hairdresser who has firsthand experience creating those looks.
It's even more annoying in a show or movie that gets most other things right. Stranger Things has been mentioned above, and because most of the look was so right, it really yanked me out of the moment when the teenage heroine was wearing a messy ponytail with long tendrils of hair casually hanging down in the front. NO. Stray hair in the front was bobby-pinned back and sprayed down. It's as distracting as all those 1960s westerns where all the saloon girls have Aqua Netted beehives.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 3:02 PM on October 4, 2016 [4 favorites]
OMG that is brilliant! And look what a great time everybody is having having running with the premise and embracing the weird! I have to send this to the organizers of our local street fair.
I'm another person who gets super bugged by anachronistic hairstyles. Especially with pieces set within living memory there's just no excuse because if you don't know how to do something you can hire an older hairdresser who has firsthand experience creating those looks.
It's even more annoying in a show or movie that gets most other things right. Stranger Things has been mentioned above, and because most of the look was so right, it really yanked me out of the moment when the teenage heroine was wearing a messy ponytail with long tendrils of hair casually hanging down in the front. NO. Stray hair in the front was bobby-pinned back and sprayed down. It's as distracting as all those 1960s westerns where all the saloon girls have Aqua Netted beehives.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 3:02 PM on October 4, 2016 [4 favorites]
One reason I really like Gotham is instead of trying to peg the show to a specific time period you have mechanical typewriters, 70s muscle cars, flip phones, and flat screen TVs all existing side by side by side. The setting is "somewhere in the modern period".
ah, it's set in 1982010, just like It Follows?
posted by prize bull octorok at 3:12 PM on October 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
ah, it's set in 1982010, just like It Follows?
posted by prize bull octorok at 3:12 PM on October 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
I know it's not quite the same with animation, but I do like the way Archer has fun with anachronism and office equipment. You can't quite see a live show having the balls to go down that route.
Well, apart from Doctor Who, when spotting which odd bits of RL tech have been built into the Tardis or used as props on Koridor VI this week is part of the pleasure.
posted by Devonian at 3:36 PM on October 4, 2016 [2 favorites]
Well, apart from Doctor Who, when spotting which odd bits of RL tech have been built into the Tardis or used as props on Koridor VI this week is part of the pleasure.
posted by Devonian at 3:36 PM on October 4, 2016 [2 favorites]
Like Bondcliff above, this is one of my missed callings. And, just like Jetsetsc, my partner and I recently binged our way through The Americans, and when one character was quite brutally dispatched (a used tire stuffed over their shoulders and set alight), I may have undercut the tension slightly:
Me: "Oh, that's such an anachronism! Far too modern a tread pattern and low of a profile for the early 80s. That's a Continental ContiProContact! Got to be at least 225 wide!" (note: not a tire fitter, and have never bought, nor driven on, said tire)
Partner: "Nobody noticed except you, darling."
Also, if they're such great spies, how come they're not onto that blue '67 Coronet sedan with the aftermarket chrome slot mags that's been suspiciously parked just about everywhere they go in the greater D.C. area for the last four years?
posted by MarchHare at 4:25 PM on October 4, 2016 [7 favorites]
Me: "Oh, that's such an anachronism! Far too modern a tread pattern and low of a profile for the early 80s. That's a Continental ContiProContact! Got to be at least 225 wide!" (note: not a tire fitter, and have never bought, nor driven on, said tire)
Partner: "Nobody noticed except you, darling."
Also, if they're such great spies, how come they're not onto that blue '67 Coronet sedan with the aftermarket chrome slot mags that's been suspiciously parked just about everywhere they go in the greater D.C. area for the last four years?
posted by MarchHare at 4:25 PM on October 4, 2016 [7 favorites]
Listen to the director's commentary on The Dish, about the observatory at Parkes, Australia, that carried the TV feed of the moon landing, and you'll learn that it's full of authentic original 1969 technology because NASA decided it was too expensive to ship back to the US and the Aussie team didn't want to junk NASA's shit without permission. So it just sat there for 40 years!
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 9:39 PM on October 4, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 9:39 PM on October 4, 2016 [3 favorites]
no, my parents built a house with an island and a similar layout AND high ceilings in the late 70s, so it was possible to live like that in the 80s
But I would guess your parents probably weren't KGB agents trying to blend in and live in a normal house that looked like everyone else's house (I realize neither of us can know that for sure).
posted by straight at 9:44 AM on October 5, 2016 [1 favorite]
But I would guess your parents probably weren't KGB agents trying to blend in and live in a normal house that looked like everyone else's house (I realize neither of us can know that for sure).
posted by straight at 9:44 AM on October 5, 2016 [1 favorite]
ah, it's set in 1982010, just like It Follows?
It Follows also had that weird shellphone from the retro-tech fad we're going to have in the 2030s.
posted by straight at 9:52 AM on October 5, 2016
It Follows also had that weird shellphone from the retro-tech fad we're going to have in the 2030s.
posted by straight at 9:52 AM on October 5, 2016
My litmus test is "does the scene give me the same nostalgic thrill as the opening and closing credits of The Odd Couple?"
posted by whuppy at 2:20 PM on October 5, 2016
posted by whuppy at 2:20 PM on October 5, 2016
Like anything else, door hardware is subject to the prevailing styles at the time it was made, but it's certainly not like door levers didn't exist before the ADA requirements, and generally ADA requirements don't apply to private residences.
posted by ckape at 2:46 PM on October 5, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by ckape at 2:46 PM on October 5, 2016 [2 favorites]
@Deoridhe - when I was little, my mother took some of her own hair and glued it to the bald head of one of my Barbie dolls who had lost her own. She arranged it like a little pixie cut, and it looked really natural. The few strands of gray were really cool, because you never see a doll with that look.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 8:16 PM on October 5, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by The Underpants Monster at 8:16 PM on October 5, 2016 [1 favorite]
cmfletcher: "*I say almost because the demigorgon miniature was too well made for the miniatures available at the time. I'll stop before I turn completely into Comic Book Guy"
You're safe - a true Comic Book Guy wouldn't spell Demogorgon wrong.
posted by Chrysostom at 2:53 PM on October 21, 2016 [3 favorites]
You're safe - a true Comic Book Guy wouldn't spell Demogorgon wrong.
posted by Chrysostom at 2:53 PM on October 21, 2016 [3 favorites]
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This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
I wonder how much longer until they give up looking for the real things and just have a database of designs to print out on a 3D printer or just insert them via CGI. It seems pointless to store or hunt down all these physical things when you might only need, say, a PDP-11 for one show every decade. If you need to actually have a working screen you could do it via emulation or CGI.
posted by bondcliff at 7:02 AM on October 4, 2016 [4 favorites]