That Time Period Accuracy Though

I recently started watching the show Mad Men and was simply floored by the aesthetic and production design. In making a period piece you have to be extremely attentive to even the smallest details. A visual that doesn't match the time could cause a jarring halt to the audience's immersion.

As I was looking up pictures of the set this one really caught my eye. If you are at all familiar with Piet Mondrian's work you can easily spot similarities. In a large selection of his artwork he focuses on using only primary colors and bold simple lines in his compositions. This classic combination of red, blue and yellow is seen everywhere from advertisements to IKEA furniture (and even the set of Mad Men!)

Composition II in Red, Blue and Yellow, 1930

Other than the set following famous artist's concepts, the costume design is extremely on point. It is always matching the year the show is in. My roommate is obsessed with this show and explained to me that you can actually see the fashion evolve as time passes throughout the seasons. When they start in 1960 the 'wet look' is very prominent with all of the men's haircuts slicked back. As it progresses they have softer almost feathered hair. With the woman's clothing you can see how the dresses became shorter and shorter, revealing more skin. Just see how flawless they all look: 

It took me awhile to get into the show because, to be honest, it's quite a slow start. But with how many awards Mad Men has won it is now apparent to me why the completely deserve it. If you watch you'll definitely appreciate the painstakingly details put into every aspect of the show's design.  

HIMYIM...in the 1960's

This summer I finally watched How I Met Your Mother (and in a span of 3 weeks). And let me tell you, it was one hell of an emotional roller coaster. It is set in Manhattan in both present day, and many years in the future when Ted Moseby is talking to his kids about how he met their mother. The show has everything from comedy to drama, and keeps you entertained every second of the episode. HIMYM has six main characters: Ted Moseby, a single architect looking for his soulmate; Marshall Erikson, an aspiring lawyer from Minnesota; Lily Aldrin, a kindergarten teacher and aspiring artist; Robin Scherbatsky, a career oriented journalist who Ted is in love with, and Barney Stinson, an extreme playboy who has a mysterious position at a bank. All of them always hang out at this bar named McClaren's, a sort of similar situation to Friends' Central Perk cafe.

So when it came to choosing a show to set in a different time period for my Production Design Independent Study project, my first thought was OH LORDY I NEED TO DO THIS ON HOW I MET YOU MOTHER. The professor running my study also thought it was a good idea, and told me to run with it. After much deliberation between different time periods (including the 1970's, 1990's, and even the ~future~) I decided to go with the 1960's, because it was a very prominent decade in terms of social issues, pop culture, in addition to the very distinct design style.

Part of the project is to take two characters and design their houses/costumes in that time period. To do so, I'll have to print out a script from an episode and do a character breakdown based on that. This will take the form of a COW sheet (what the characters say, what others say, what the writers say). My plan is to redesign Robin & Barney as characters from 60's, including their costumes and rooms. This will be especially cool since Robin is a reporter, so I can base a lot of her style off of reporters from the 60's (i.e. Jessica Savitch). Then Barney will be one of those high up business moguls (I am particularly excited to design his room because he always has the latest gadgets).

For period piece research, I will be using old Life magazines (on file on googlebooks) in addition to other periodicals that are at the Ithaca College Library! The library also has various large books telling of the cultural events of the 60's, which I will definitely be delving into.

I am super amped to get started on this project because I think it will be very enriching experience, in addition to building a hella cool portfolio of my own designs.

Freaks and Geeks

Freaks and Geeks is a show based in the early 1980's that deals with the typical teenager's problems. This show has a knock out cast featuring young James Franco, Seth Rogan, Jason Segel, Linda Cardellini, Busy Phillips, etc. The show is divided into the under class men and the upper class men and their collective and individual struggles but in school and home life.
Freaks and Geeks was Judd Apatow's first major hit show. Along with being Apatow's first success it was also James Franco, Seth Rogan, and Jason Segel's as well. This show is a cult classic, though it only survived one season. What makes this show such a knock out is it's plethora of timeless themes, stands on it's own as a period piece, and possesses unique and organic characters. Also, the writers did an excellent job of capturing those awkward young adolescent encounters that bring you back to your time as an awkward teenager.