gizmodo.com: Have you ever watched a show like Mad Men and wondered where they found those early Xerox machines? Or where The Americans got their hands on all the Reagan-era IBMs that you thought would be piled in a landfill? Well, there’s a good chance these historically-accurate gadgets came from a massive warehouse in Brooklyn with a specific mission: to preserve some of the world’s oldest, most cherished electronics.
11 comments:
I always love stumbling across new retailers that specialize in second hand or overstock items, like the Pittsburgh Center for Creative Reuse and its neighbor construction junction. As such, finding a warehouse that specializes in E waste is an absolute joy! What I find so fascinating is that venues like these essentially found a way to turn recycling into a profitable business venture. It is a win win for every side of the equation! What I find especially interesting about the E Waste Warehouse in particular allows entertainment designers to rent props that are legitimate vintage items, which helps to ensure historical accuracy on stage and on screen. Through providing access to cool vintage electronics, the organization is giving these devices a second life, thus keeping them out of landfills, where their inner components can cause severe environmental damage. Additionally, the E Waste Warehouse keeps a pseudo museum of certain doohickeys they have come across over the years, thus preserving a slice of history for public consumption. What else could one ask an organization to strive for in this scenario?
This is a very handy resource to know about. While looking at the images, I was thinking about how many components each of them had, and how long it might take to fabricate them from scrap. I would think that renting one of these vintage electronics could save quite a bit of time and memory, particularly if it is only needed for a few days of shooting. I do wonder, though, if the props department might rent and replicate as often as just renting. If it is a particularly important piece, I imagine that the art department would want to have a higher degree of control over how the item looks. And furthermore, if for some reason it needs to be functional, the piece may need to be partially or complete anyway. Any which way, the rental warehouse could serve as a very valuable reference library, or a sort of museum. From the pictures, though, it certainly looks like a regular props warehouse.
This is an amazing company. I can’t believe they have been able to find, restore, and obtain over 2,000 items. I’ve always seen e-waste bins around all of my campuses, and I know there are always electronics drives, but I never knew where the electronics went. I always thought they were taken apart, melted down, and used for scrap. I love that there are people who care enough about vintage electronics to find a purpose for people’s “trash”. I’m curious to know how functional the electronics are. I feel that in some cases, especially for theater, it’s only about the look, but I’m sure certain shows require a level of functionality to stay historically accurate. Honestly, they have a treasure in their hands. Old electronics are difficult to come by and are nearly impossible to replicate. Just having them is holding a piece of history and keeping them in archival shape is an art that is irreplaceable.
Cool does not describe what this company does. I never know that this even existed. Like some of the other comments on this article, I’ve never really thought about where scrap electronics go once I’ve dropped them off at those electronic “throw away” bins. The E-Waste Warehouses prop library sounds like any Prop Master’s dream getaway. I also think that the E-Waste Warehouse was smart to not just reuse older technology or recycle it, but to restore it to the best of their ability and then to rent it out for film and television, it’s really brilliant. It’s somewhat comforting to know that part of the entertainment industry that exists believes in sustainability. This program is and probably has been making a positive impact by preventing old technology devices from getting in landfills, where their toxins would hurt the planet. By acknowledging the historical value of their products, alongside the goal of sustainability the E-Waste Warehouse is doing something really special.
I think this is so cool. I have wondered a lot where movies and TV shows get all of their old electronics. I guess I have always assumed companies had their own stock of these items somewhere but I never thought that there would be a company that repurposes these old items to make them work and look that they are new form the time period. I think it is so cool that this company gets donations from people all over New York and probably the whole country of old electronics that they have or find in their houses, and then there are technicians with the knowledge and skill to work on the gadgets to make them work. I am also very impressed by the skill that these technicians must have because I am sure it is not easy to fix up old electronics these days because there are limited replacement parts and the technology is just so different. I think it is also cool that this company is not just for props, they are part of a collection that serves to repurpose and cycle these electronics back into the public without throwing them as well. But yet they still have part of their collection just for props. Now I would love to read an article about where all of the old cars come from for movies and TV shows.
Woah, I had no idea that this place existed, I thought people just found old electronics like the find anything else. I wish I’d known about this sooner… without much budget it probably wouldn’t have worked out anyway, but when I did “9 to 5” last year, we could have used a real Xerox. Our solution worked out okay, but it was complicated and took up a lot of rehearsal time (we made a Xerox machine out of mostly plywood and put a crew member inside with a drill, which they used to shoot a stack of papers out of it. Plus a bluetooth speaker for sound.) This seems like a great resource overall, not only for props but also for sound and media, potentially. In a lot of cases there might be a better solution than the real thing, but for certain shows, a copy just won’t do. I’m definitely adding it to my list of resources.
This place is incredible and I’m so glad that I know about it now. It is so impressive and inspiring that there are these people who are committed to finding and preserving parts of our history that might otherwise be thrown away. I have to say I never once thought about where some shows or movies got these kinds of electronics but this is for sure the best answer I could have thought of. I am really impressed that these people also try to keep their business and sustainable and safely recycle and dispose of the products that they decide not to refurbish. There are so many ways that this company could have started to produce toxic waste but they take such good care of these older electronics; the pictures included in this article are incredible and really demonstrate the great range of products that this warehouse has. The work done here is really important, both in terms of keeping these products out of landfills and in terms of preserving history and I hope they continue their work.
Answering what the article first asks; I have watched a period movie, television show or other media and saw something like a early, like 50’s era xerox machine, and wondered how a show could get there hands on such a thing, or multiple things from that era. Did they make it? Buy it from a private collector? I picture it being extremely hard, especially when I see one in the piece of media that is functioning, how did they get one that functions? That’s where E-Waste Warehouse comes in, I loved hearing about this companies niche job, I would love to work at a place like that, I find it so cool to collect and refurbish vintage items in general, I’m a fan of flea markets and the show american pickers. I also like how this company is also good for the environment by reducing the waste in landfills. Very cool!
I love the idea behind this place, and I would love to see more spaces like this open up around the country. Fortunately and unfortunately, in our 21st century world, we are always upgrading to the next, best, greatest thing, especially when it comes to technology. It is great to have places like this, or even some sort of museum where people could unearth and recover this kind of technology all over again. This would be especially helpful for people who are trying to get more involved in analog processes (records, film photography, etc.) as an alternative in this very digital era. Places like this are also much better for the environment, as they allow for old, even broken, pieces of technology to be disposed of in a more environmentally friendly way, and reused in the future, instead of being thrown in a landfill. Overall, I believe that places like this should become even more common, and I hope that this one continues to thrive.
This is super interesting because I never really thought about this before. I mean it is super obvious now that I think about it that it must be hard to get all these props but reading this article made me realize that there are so many niche things that people need for different films or tv shows or plays and there has to be someone who can supply it. It also kind of reminds me of Construction Junction because it is a space full of things that nobody wanted anymore but are now something that people will buy. It is kind of interesting to think about how things that people once threw away are valuable and necessary to others and to art. A lot of theater is period theater - it is getting better now though - and places like this warehouse are necessary to the survival of those pieces if people don't want to make every prop.
I love the concept of this warehouse in the same way that I love the concept of the Center for Creative Reuse- people who have things that no one would want or need for their daily life can turn them over for a creative purpose and allow them to be turned into something new. Their mission is such a great one- recycling E-waste, not just by sending it to a recycling center, but by providing it to the entertainment industry, one of the few that actually has a use for outdated technology. I had never thought about where people might be getting old technology- in the drama world, it’s usually single objects that can be found fairly easily from stock or online. But in film and television, the scale of how many they need to create a fully realized world is much higher, and I never realized there was a place specifically dedicated to providing that. I’m glad to find out that they have such a great mission of sustainability and will keep them in mind as a potential future resource, if that ever becomes necessary!
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