CNN The Eighties

A CNN original series exploring this storied decade and its cultural, political, and technological impact on today.

Client: CNN
Creative Director: Anna Minkkinen
Services: Design, Art Direction, Experiential, Print

CNN The Eighties

The Eighties is a documentary miniseries, Produced by Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman’s studio Playtone.  The program serves as a follow-up to the predecessors The Sixties and The Seventies, with a 7-part series chronicling events and popular culture of the United States during the 1980s.

A documentary series focusing on the Reagan presidency, the AIDS crisis, the end of the Cold War, Wall Street corruption, the tech boom, the expansion of television, and the evolving music industry.

Visuals

Along with the fantastic crew at Loyal Kaspar, we implemented signature, and iconic objects from the era, such as VHS cassettes, joysticks, arcades, and boomboxes into each vignette. The Eighties were big in ever way and the talent photos chosen to showcase the era are exemplary of a larger than life time. The sultry pose, of Madonna in lace, J. R. Ewing’s feather adorned, ten gallon hat, and Ronald Regan’s deep gaze at the Durenberger Republican convention Rally.

Print

Grand Central – Vanderbilt Hall

Replay the Eighties, was the experiential component, held in Vanderbilt Hall, Grand Central Terminal in NYC. An event showcasing, live djs, an arcade, period dressed dancers, and even a custom 8-bit carpet. A 12 foot boombox was constructed, on top of which the dj performed.

Grand Central Terminal, Vanderbilt Hall was built in 1913 and was once the main waiting room in. The 6,000-square-foot space, is adjacent to the Main Concourse, and  sees 200,000 people pass through daily.

Experiential