<P> The filming of the first season began in November 2015 and was extensively done in Atlanta, Georgia, with the Duffer Brothers and Levy handling the direction of individual episodes . Jackson served as the basis of the fictional town of Hawkins, Indiana . Other shooting locations included the Georgia Mental Health Institute as the Hawkins National Laboratory site, Bellwood Quarry, Patrick Henry High School in Stockbridge, Georgia, for the middle and high school scenes, Emory University's Continuing Education Department, the former city hall in Douglasville, Georgia, Georgia International Horse Park, the probate court in Butts County, Georgia, Old East Point Library and East Point First Baptist Church in East Point, Georgia, Fayetteville, Georgia, Stone Mountain Park, Palmetto, Georgia, and Winston, Georgia . Set work was done at Screen Gem Studios in Atlanta . The series was filmed with a Red Dragon digital camera . Filming for the first season concluded in early 2016 . </P> <P> While filming, the brothers tried to capture shots that could be seen as homages to many of the 1980s references they recalled . Their goal was not necessarily to fill the work with these references, but instead make the series seem to the viewer as a 1980s film . They spent little time reviewing those works and instead went by memory . Matt further recognized that some of their filming homages were not purposely done but were found to be very comparable, as highlighted by a fan - made video comparing the show to several 1980s works side - by - side . Matt commented on the video that "Some were deliberate and some were subconscious ." The brothers recognized that many of the iconic scenes from these 1980s films, such as with Poltergeist, was about "taking a very ordinary object that people deal with every day, their television set, and imbuing it with something otherworldly", leading to the idea of using the Christmas light strings for Will to communicate with Joyce . </P> <P> The brothers attributed much of the 1980s feel to set and costume designers and the soundtrack composers that helped to recreate the era for them . Lynda Reiss, the head of props, had about a $220,000 budget, similar to most films, to acquire artifacts of the 1980s, using eBay and searching through flea markets and estate sales around the Atlanta area . The bulk of the props were original items from the 1980s with only a few pieces, such as the Dungeons & Dragons books made as replicas . </P> <P> Filming for the second season began on November 7, 2016, once again in and around the Atlanta Metro area . Andrew Stanton, director of Pixar's Finding Nemo and WALL - E, will direct the fifth and sixth episode of the second season . Levy stated that Stanton was a big fan of the show and called up Levy, offering his directorial abilities for the show . Rebecca Thomas will direct the seventh episode of the season . Unlike the first season, which they were able to film without any real security issues, the heightened awareness of the show required the producers to take significant steps to keep the show's production in secret while filming the second season . They spoke to the production team of HBO's Game of Thrones for tips and advice for securing filming sites, and have adopted code names for the series and various parts to allow the actors to speak to others without revealing details of the show's plot . The second season concluded filming on June 2, 2017 . </P>

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