uh-oh…they’re making them like they used to!

Transformers blows up last summer, next up is Indiana Jones. What in the Mike Seaver is going on here?

It’s one thing to rehash classic pop culture in a new context, but it’s another to make something current look like it existed in that time period.
But who in their right mind would want to bring back the LOOK of the 80′s??
Uh…Snoop? Why is your hand raised?
Well, okay, the song is appropriate to the genre of the video. Let’s be honest here…”Sensual Seduction” has a glittery, kitschy quality that almost makes it laughable. The fact that Snoop Dogg is donning a Prince do-rag and a white, long-tailed tux with animal print collars makes this beyond laughable, it makes it…cool?

The French directorial collective, “The Holograms” in one of their most recent, animated music videos:
8-bit sound design, BladeRunner landscapes, Tron-like neon, starglow, angular robots…and even a key-tar (don’t act like you didn’t want to learn how to play one).
and Digital Kitchen (makers of countless awesome show intros) on a Microsoft recruiting spot

This raises a kind of ironic nostalgia. Nostalgia typically invokes some sense of longing for remnants of the past that we wish were with us today. Tape hits? Jittering registration and color shifting? Chunky BetaMax/VHS pixel noise? Hardly elements that we’re clinging on to. Yet here are a few works recontextualizing flawed and/or outdated aesthetics into today’s world of entertainment…and it seems to be increasing every day.
So, interestingly, by presenting this look for us to laugh at it has made these things popular and desirable again (funny how pop culture works like that).
Thundercats, Hooooooooooo!!

Recipe:
Start out with a palette that suggests Easter on steroids. Crush your video levels. Mix just a hint of Final Cut’s “Bad TV” effect with a dash of the ever popular Trapcode Starglow, and voila! You’ve got yourself the beginnings of 80′s style t.v. footage…for better effect, shoot content that involves white suburban teenagers disgruntled with authority figures. Don’t forget to include a rich bully named Chad.