Largely created in Fredson's home studio in Nashville, Going to the Movies finds the songwriter updating the influences of another era — including the soft-rock smoothness of AM Gold radio and the taut, hook-heavy pop of the early 1980s — with a modern approach. He approaches the album with a mix of straight-faced sincerity and turned-up-to-11 showmanship, decorating his songs with synthesizers, electric guitar, and layers of multi-tracked harmonies. In addition to handling much of the album's instrumentation himself, Fredson also pulls double duty as Going to the Movies' engineer and producer. The result is a one-man pop/rock opera of sorts — a pristine blend of inspirations both past and present that he describes as his own version of "classic bedroom pop."