C.<p>We watched "Late Night with the Devil" (2023) tonight. I posted a <a href="https://mindly.social/tags/5SecondMovieReview" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>5SecondMovieReview</span></a> of it earlier. We enjoyed it.</p><p>However... one little thing about it is nagging at me, like a splinter in the mind's eye.</p><p>It's a period piece, set in the <a href="https://mindly.social/tags/1970s" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>1970s</span></a>. The major thread of the story includes a psychologist and her sessions with a patient, which are <a href="https://mindly.social/tags/recorded" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>recorded</span></a>. Part of one is played back as part of a <a href="https://mindly.social/tags/television" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>television</span></a> show, and onscreen during that <a href="https://mindly.social/tags/playback" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>playback</span></a> is an open-reel (aka reel-to-reel) <a href="https://mindly.social/tags/tape" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>tape</span></a> <a href="https://mindly.social/tags/deck" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>deck</span></a> playing a tape.</p><p>1970s, open-reel recording - it's <a href="https://mindly.social/tags/retro" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>retro</span></a>, it's <a href="https://mindly.social/tags/cool" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>cool</span></a>, it's period-authentic, right?</p><p>I can't shake the feeling that whoever put the visual together has never actually seen an open-reel tape recorder in operation. This picture is lousy, because it's a screencap from the movie, which is supposed to be showing a television broadcast in good old analog SD - but it gets the point across.</p><p>See anything wrong?</p><p>The takeup <a href="https://mindly.social/tags/reel" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>reel</span></a>, on the right, turns clockwise, the opposite direction of the (normal) direction of the supply reel. So the tape wraps onto the inner side of the takeup reel, and ends up "inside out".</p><p>There's also no tension arm on the supply side, and an apparent <a href="https://mindly.social/tags/tension" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>tension</span></a> arm on the takeup side, but it's not actually in the tape path.</p><p>I don't think any machines were actually made like this, but I'm not an <a href="https://mindly.social/tags/expert" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>expert</span></a>. Can anyone identify the deck they butchered or digi-simmed to create this <a href="https://mindly.social/tags/sin" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>sin</span></a> against nature? 😉 </p><p><a href="https://mindly.social/tags/OpenReel" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>OpenReel</span></a> <a href="https://mindly.social/tags/ReelToReel" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ReelToReel</span></a> <a href="https://mindly.social/tags/audio" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>audio</span></a> <a href="https://mindly.social/tags/audiophile" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>audiophile</span></a> <a href="https://mindly.social/tags/TapeDeck" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>TapeDeck</span></a></p>