Visible crew/equipment: After Andy gets the phone call about Sam's victory, when Sam is pushed to give a speech, a few white tape marks are visible on the floor near the fireplace.
Visible crew/equipment: After Emmett talks to to the diner owner about having the bus stop moved to double his diner business, when Emmett walks down the block, the reflection of the moving camera dolly is visible in the store window.
Visible crew/equipment: When Andy, Howard, and Goober walk into Emmett's shop to tell him that Sam's running for head of City Council, the shadow of the boom mic is moving on the wall behind them, at the top of the screen.
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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