Re: [vcf-midatlantic] A lot of old computers in Stranger things
From: Dave Shevett <shevett@pobox.com>
I've always wanted to be in the business of providing these old machines to movies and tv shows. I've sort of half-started putting something together for this, but I have NO CLUE how to get onto the 'i can get this stuff for you and make it work' radar of studios.
-- Dave Shevett shevett@pobox.com
Getting known to movie and video people is a challenge. A lot of the set designers keep their equipment sources secret so competitive movie companies are at a disadvantage. They are also very reluctant to put "Thanks to" in the credits for the same reason. Getting your name spread in the industry is difficult. Many of the set designers just use search engines to find the equipment that they need. Some just buy what they want and sell or dispose of it when they are finished. You could create a Movie Props WWW page with pictures and descriptions of what you have. The listings need to include the year they were manufactured, the years that they were in use, and where they were used. Very little of the equipment used in movies/videos actually works. If you video a CRT you will see black bars on the screen because of the difference in the scan rate of the camera and the CRT. Usually the movie prop people disconnect the electronics in the CRT and replace the power supply and electronics with parts designed for the movie industry. The replacement electronics can synchronize the CRT scan rate to the same external source used for the cameras, so no black bars. That also lets them use modern electronics to make the images they need on the CRT. I have also seen them paste chromakey green film over the CRT, and just overlay the desired image during editing. One of my SparcStation 10 systems was used in Halt And Catch Fire. They needed a Sun workstation, and someone told them that I had a bunch of them. -- Michael Thompson
On Sun, May 29, 2022 at 9:55 AM Michael Thompson via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
From: Dave Shevett <shevett@pobox.com>
I've always wanted to be in the business of providing these old machines
to
movies and tv shows. I've sort of half-started putting something together for this, but I have NO CLUE how to get onto the 'i can get this stuff for you and make it work' radar of studios.
-- Dave Shevett shevett@pobox.com
Getting known to movie and video people is a challenge. A lot of the set designers keep their equipment sources secret so competitive movie companies are at a disadvantage. They are also very reluctant to put "Thanks to" in the credits for the same reason. Getting your name spread in the industry is difficult.
Makes sense.
Many of the set designers just use search engines to find the equipment that they need. Some just buy what they want and sell or dispose of it when they are finished. You could create a Movie Props WWW page with pictures and descriptions of what you have. The listings need to include the year they were manufactured, the years that they were in use, and where they were used.
Yes. This is what we fear is that they will dispose of the equipment, so we do a rental that is a reasonable cost and make sure that they have insurance in case of damage. Usually individual member swill sell equipment to places and not VCF. For example, I sold some Commodore PETs to The Americans and they are in the travel agent's office scenes.
Very little of the equipment used in movies/videos actually works. If you video a CRT you will see black bars on the screen because of the difference in the scan rate of the camera and the CRT. Usually the movie prop people disconnect the electronics in the CRT and replace the power supply and electronics with parts designed for the movie industry. The replacement electronics can synchronize the CRT scan rate to the same external source used for the cameras, so no black bars. That also lets them use modern electronics to make the images they need on the CRT.
And sometimes they just put a video overlay onto a blank screen. We rented some Commodore 64 equipment to The Americans and they put someone's YouTube of Lode Runner Long Play onto the screen. The machine *did* work, but they didn't want to bother with how to operate it, etc.
I have also seen them paste chromakey green film over the CRT, and just overlay the desired image during editing.
One of my SparcStation 10 systems was used in Halt And Catch Fire. They needed a Sun workstation, and someone told them that I had a bunch of them.
Nice.
-- Michael Thompson
participants (2)
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Jeffrey Brace -
Michael Thompson