FAQ #05
What type of flower is Sylvia (Donohoe) wearing in her coat lapel? I thought if we knew that, we could date the film to the time of year in which it is supposedly taking place?
shareit was called a horribletasteinmovies flower, which was only in season during 1987.
shareNo, it is a seasonal flower, which grows, I presume, in that part of the U.K., at that time of year. I can't get a good enough look at it, to identify it, and even if I could, i probably couldn't identify it, as I'm not a botanist. I thought someone might know what it was, and thus whether it helps to identify the time of year, that the film supposedly takes place. Which at this moment is in March.
shareTrying to date the film? Try astronomy.
Right after they leave the party, there's a moon between half and full. After the walk in the woods (I've answered a question about that reasonably well) they talk to the constable, who tells them "it is Tomorrow."
Now, get yourself a copy of the Nautical Almanack for that year by lattitude, etc, and you can determine when the sun sets. It was dark, so some time between sunset, and midnight, you could see the moon.
The Nautical Almanack will also give positions for the moon at various times in the year. You'll have to work backwards a little on this one.
The height of the moon in the sky can also be estimated, because from earth, the moon has a set angular diameter. Measuring the actual diameter of the moon on your screen, you can then calculate the approximate angular distance between the moon and the ground, which is probably close to the horizon... Or, if you have the house in question, you can get an even better measurement.
With these reference points, it should be pretty easy to figure out at what times of a year the moon is located in that position.
Of course, if you know how high the moon is in the sky, you can also use that to estimate the exact time of day to within about an hour, and if you can get a good zoom of that moon, you can send it to moon watcher nuts, who can tell you all about librations, and phases, and punch in some stuff in their moon observer software, and probably tell you the time that shot was taken to within about five minutes.
I've wanted to do that for a few movies, but sadly, I have half of a real life, and need to get the other half, so I don't have the time. Best wishes if you happen to be free for that though, and let me know, because there's a few other movies with moons in them...