To me, if somebody were to make a movie set in the late '90s, they would have to include:

-Big console TVs with fancy VCRs.
-'70s nostalgia is everywhere: bell bottoms, graphics, etc.
-Lots of SUVs.
-People with blonde-gelled hair and baggy pants and wraparound sunglasses.
-The nu metal and goth looks.
-White Windows '95s and '98s with dial-up are everywhere.
-Cellphones are fairly common, but look rather "vintage" and still unwieldy.
-Everyone is e-mailing and chat-rooming.
-A sufficient amount of people with piercings and flannel.
-Lots of basketball stuff.

^All that stuff, along with Pokemon (which is VERY late 1999/2000ish, even if it's still somewhat popular and has a fanbase, even today), the Brian Setzer-type swing revival, Gap commercials, the Taco Bell Dog and boy bands/Britney Spears' debut (even the semi controversial/sexy image she had at the time).

I was thinking about what a movie made in the '90s would look like, and that's how this thread came about. It would be much easier to art direct a movie set in a period of the '90s than anything else. For example, I could probably make a movie set about 97-98 (serious '70s nostalgia, SUVs, the Spice Girls, Tamagotchis, Gameboys, "trenchcoat mafia" types), and it would be easy to do something set about 1993 (black and flannel and coffee everywhere, Mariah Carey perms, everything set on rooftops or against brick walls, big pendants, animal prints, older computers and VHS tapes everywhere.)

DIAL-UP!!!

Backstreet Boys.  :D

Grunge music
Smart, sarcastic, cynical characters

I wrote a movie script about a friend of mine from 2004 is sent back to 1994. It's based on Back to the Future. It's a comedy. It's full of early-mid '90s nostalgia inclduing commercials, grunge, fashion, etc.

I wrote a movie script about a friend of mine from 2004 is sent back to 1994. It's based on Back to the Future. It's a comedy. It's full of early-mid '90s nostalgia inclduing commercials, grunge, fashion, etc.


Oh that's cool.  How much of 1994 do you remember?

Oh that's cool.  How much of 1994 do you remember?

Well, I can remember pretty good. I was only 4-5 years old, but I remember a lot of TV shows on Nickelodeon and going to the GUTS on the Road tour at the Greensboro Coliseum. Also, I remember a lot about the world around me and holidays. Not too much about the music, but other than that, I can remember it pretty good.

Well, I can remember pretty good. I was only 4-5 years old, but I remember a lot of TV shows on Nickelodeon and going to the GUTS on the Road tour at the Greensboro Coliseum. Also, I remember a lot about the world around me and holidays. Not too much about the music, but other than that, I can remember it pretty good.


I can remember it a little bit. Only personal stuff though mostly.

Although I do remember around 1994 watching "Saved by the Bell" on TV.

Definitely, if I were to set a movie in 1993, everyone would be wearing black and layers, overall and flannels, or that Salt N' Pepa and Dr. Dre type fashion style from 1993, and everything would be on brick walls and rooftops. People would have that Kurt hair, that Mariah perm, the flat-top, and sort of that scrunchy bun/ponytail look, and would be wearing lots of windbreakers and baggyish pants, flannel and neon and animal prints.

The movie I mentioned above included fashions of the 1994 era and looks. A main focal point in the movie is Carolina Circle Mall. It was a real mall I used to go to in the '90s. It closed in 2002 but it's interior design was very '90s. See what you think below. Do you think it looks '90s? Would it be a good mall to depict the '90s in my movie?

The movie I mentioned above included fashions of the 1994 era and looks. A main focal point in the movie is Carolina Circle Mall. It was a real mall I used to go to in the '90s. It closed in 2002 but it's interior design was very '90s. See what you think below. Do you think it looks '90s? Would it be a good mall to depict the '90s in my movie?


Yeah, that interior design looks very '90s...all the sharp angles, metal beams, silver/gray/light green colors, marble, skylights, general "off" geometry of it. Also, that look with the big, thin, "stylish" letters and semi-geometric granite you see in alot of malls is pretty '90s.

To me, if somebody were to make a movie set in the late '90s, they would have to include:

-Big console TVs with fancy VCRs.
-'70s nostalgia is everywhere: bell bottoms, graphics, etc.
-Lots of SUVs.
-People with blonde-gelled hair and baggy pants and wraparound sunglasses.
-The nu metal and goth looks.
-White Windows '95s and '98s with dial-up are everywhere.
-Cellphones are fairly common, but look rather "vintage" and still unwieldy.
-Everyone is e-mailing and chat-rooming.
-A sufficient amount of people with piercings and flannel.
-Lots of basketball stuff.



Big, chunky black boxes that mascarade as cellphones  ;D
Computers with tiny screens (watch Seinfield)
The e-mail/chat thing is very late 90s; 'You've Got Mail' was a movie which could have only been released in that unique time-space of about 3-years when e-mail was just gaining popularity.
Alot of body-piercings, though not significantly more than today. (It was more 'cool' more 'underground' back then)
VIDEO ARCADES!!! They were everywhere...

Lots of forest green and sort of punchy, squiggly stuff.

VCRs, beige box computers, big crt monitors, flannel clothes, neon, BSOD showing on monitor, lol.

Everything is sort of dark/grimy/grungey looking, not terribly bright except for splashes of painted neon and neon clothing. Though it is clean.

Everything is sort of dark/grimy/grungey looking, not terribly bright except for splashes of painted neon and neon clothing. Though it is clean.


Are brown couches a '90s thing, or more an '80s thing?

Are brown couches a '90s thing, or more an '80s thing?


'90s, a brown, sort of dull couch with a quilt on it is a '90s thing.

'90s, a brown, sort of dull couch with a quilt on it is a '90s thing.


What is the typical '00s couch like?

What is the typical '00s couch like?


Very IKEA.

Very IKEA.


Chic

Chic


The '00s is very clean, bright, lots of overly polished wood and sort of nouveau moderne style taken from IKEA. And lots of empty space. The '90s were sort of classic furnishings, some "industrial/modern/black and white yuppie in NYC/off geometry" type stuff, but cluttered, grungier, and darker. Alot of quilts, I remember this well.

I can remember the "feel" of the mid-'90s and the way things looked/people dressed, though I don't remember alot of the music specifically, though I heard it and can get the feel of it.