resinrats

Watching movies or TV shows filmed in the 80's or early 90's its fun to see stuff that looks very outdated compared to modern tech. Biggest offender are phones & PCs. You see people pulling out brick sized phones or using phones built into cars. PCs are huge & are often monocolored. Of course, when the movie/show was made, nobody thought twice about this tech. In some cases, viewers thought the tech was pretty cool & even 'futuristic'. "Wow, look at that computer, they must be rich to have one of those in their homes". Video tapes, cassettes, etc are getting less and less common so they stand out as well. Suprisingly, cars (besides the obvious body design) don't seem to have evolved as much for regular cars.

So the question is, what modern tech do you think that when seen in a film/show made today (that is set in the current date) will seem very outdated when viewed 10-20 years from now?

Solid Snake

By the logic wouldn't everything look outdated? The question is whether the design is classy enough to not be laughed at? Noboby laughs at the ole circle spin dial phone..why? Cuz it's cool looking...

PopcornTreeCt

I watch Mad Men and everything looks classy and sexy. I think it's a problem with digital. Digital is not sexy and cannot be romanticized in any way.

resinrats

Not saying it should fool to people that it is old but stuff that just stands out. I can watch movies fine and not even notice most things but when the character pulls out a phone the size of a brick, it stands out & makes me think of today's tiny phones.

Mountain Biker

Jay G.

He's still got that phone.
http://www.businessinsider.com/gordo...iginal-2010-1/

Jay G.

Seeing CRT monitors in a movie or older TV show has started dating the show to me, especially if it's supposed to be "high tech."

I just watched Out of Sight a week or so ago, and noted the lack of cell phones, one conversation that today would take place on a cell took place on a cordless phone instead, while there were other bits where a cell phone would've cleared up a few situations.

Today, the reliance on optical disc media may eventually seem outdated. Not just for watching movies, but for sensitive data as well. Similar to how tapes seem quaint nowadays.

Also, with the proliferation of touch screens, someday our kids may have to have this joke explained to them:

Jay G.

I dunno, I think this looks sexy:

http://www.newlaunches.com/archives/...eep_your_h.php

I think that with new tech, function often trumps form in the beginning. Once the tech catches up, the form can be tweaked to something more aesthetically pleasing. For example, the CD Walkman went from this:


to this:


http://www.walkmancentral.com/list/discman
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discman

Troy Stiffler

Regarding effects... without pushing little by little, progress would not be made. So you can't think that way when you're pushing for something new. You have to go in head-first and attempt to conceptualize and execute plans to the best of your abilities. Movies (especially) aren't made with cynicism and self-doubt. Well, except maybe Kevin Smith movies.

Regarding props and pop culture... well, duh.

Cardsfan111

You mention phones. Seems like more and more people are going away from landlines altogether. Any such movie scene involving a corded phone will probably look strange down the road.

Blu Man

Val Kilmer.

ScissorPuppy

Most stuff since the mid 90's has aged ok, until they pick up cell phones. Wow, it takes me right out of the movie sometimes.

whoopdido

I think a lot will depend on what advancements come along in the next 10 or 20 years that will end up making current things obsolete.

I mean if something comes along that replaces cell phones for example, then any movie that has a cell phone in it will look dated.

Or I guess it wouldn't necessarily have to totally replace something, but just be drastically different. People still listen to music, but rather than listening to a phonograph, boombox, walkman, portable cd player and stuff like that, they listen to ipods. People still use phones, but they use cell phones rather than landlines, cordless or car phones.

It's easy to look at movies from the 80's and point out what's dated, but I think it's hard to predict what will be dated 20 years from now until we know what's been invented. Most likely our current technology will look very dated though, just as the current technology from 20 years ago looks very dated now.

Solid Snake

It's the not the technology used....it's the way the hardware looks that dates the tech. I mean, look at Watchmen...they used old tech here and there and it didn't look bad. The way it looks on the outside is what makes or breaks the look of it. Not the actual ability of the hardware.

Drexl

Batteries, to some extent. More and more devices are getting built-in batteries that can't be replaced with the standard AA, AAA, etc.

Jay G.

I don't think fantastical films with alternate histories really count. Plus, that film was specifically going for a dated look, since it was set in the 80s.

It's when a film is supposed to be set in the "real world" in present day that outdated tech looks odd.

FRwL

It's interesting how the 60s have come back into fashion nowadays with Mad Men and other things, which must have been seen as a square era during the funky 70s,80s,90s. Also the 80s seems to have come back into pop culture but it seems more of a lovable goofyness to it.

whoopdido

I agree. For some reason Ghost popped into my mind. There isn't much tech in that movie, but whenever I see those bank computers that they work on I almost laugh. Ghost came out 20 years ago and I assume the computers that were in the movie were current models for 1990, but they looked nothing like computers of today and look extremely dated when viewed today. Nothing the filmmakers could do since I assume they were using the most advanced computers of the day, but compared to computers of today, they were ancient.

If you're going for a dated look--like Mad Men or Watchmen, or any movie that supposed to be set in the past then it's no big deal, but any movie that has "current" technology in it, especially computers, will look very dated probably 10 years later, or maybe even sooner.

Groucho

I think in about five years or so we're all going to laugh, hard, at anything that shows somebody using a tablet PC.

Jaymole

Phone Booth was outdated before it even hit the theaters.

toddly6666

Portable music devices haven't looked cool since the yellow walkman. I'm serious!

Draven

This. Anytime a movie puts "Present Day" up on the screen, I think "not for long." Not sure why filmmakers feel the need to do that. Especially since most movies pretty much exist "forever" at this point.

Nothing dates a movie faster than that. I don't mind old tech as long as it's correct for the time period.

resinrats

I thought of a few.

Laptops as they are today could be pretty big compared to the future. I could seem them getting much thinner or possibly folding up into a more compact size. I figure keyboards will have to end up at least close to their current size since people still have to type on them (I'd hate to have to use a phone sized keyboard for my regular PC). Maybe eventually, PCs will evolve into something like an iPad where the keyboard is right on the screen screen. So having a keyboard not being a part of the screen will look odd.

Operating Sytems could make a big change. 20 years ago, pretty much all PC screens were DOS/text based. Today's PCs & Macs are mostly windows based or something similar.

Cell phones could continue to get smaller but the keys still have to be large enough for people to use. Maybe the hands-free tech will get smaller. Currently we have things hanging off our ears. Maybe they will more resemble the earwig thing that spy shows use so you can't see anything on the ear.

Brent L

Not exactly what you're asking for, but I already cringe when I hear people mention things like Twitter and MySpace in movies. I just know that in just a few short years it will likely already be outdated.

Drexl

I haven't seen it in a while, but I seem to recall that revolving around the only payphone left in a large area or something.

BTW, speaking of retro vs. "present day" technology, isn't it interesting that the only things that truly date Stand By Me and The Princess Bride are the computers in the non-retro portions? Damnit Rob Reiner, couldn't you have left those out?

Heck, I think if Richard Dreyfuss had used a typewriter for his novel, it would have felt less dated now. Then he would have just been seen as old-fashioned.