Opie Steps Up in Class - S8-E5
Visible crew/equipment: When Andy walks into the living room at the Hollander's house, the white tape mark is visible on the floor between Andy's and George's feet.
Opie Steps Up in Class - S8-E5
Visible crew/equipment: When Aunt Bee picks Opie up at Billy's house, while Opie tells her all about lunch we can see the reflection of the camera and crew member, on the car's vent window.
Opie Steps Up in Class - S8-E5
Visible crew/equipment: When Aunt Bee drops Opie off at Billy Hollander's house, just as Opie opens the car door the reflections of a crew member and filming equipment are visible on the door's surface.
Answer: As noted in the previous answers, in real life, things like this provided wind and/or rain deflection, and also maintained a bit of privacy when blinds were raised somewhat. The interior courthouse set was located in the studio, so the "outside" Main Street didn't exist. I believe these things were added to the courthouse windows for practicality, to avoid some crew movement being visible on the opposite side of those windows. These are not "window boxes" to hold anything, as they're actually bottomless; we can see the Venetian blind's long pull cords under them. They're made of plywood and simple to build, so the "material and labor" was inexpensive. Similar variations made of different materials are in other movies/shows. In 1957's "12 Angry Men," textured chicken wire glass panels are in the jury room windows, and in "Jesse Stone: Night Passage" another type is in Jesse's office windows.
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