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Fake town built exclusively for filming TV and movies

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Re: Fake town built exclusively for filming TV and movies

#71

Assembly Atlanta has 135 acres with indoor studios, plus outdoor streets to simulate New Orleans, New York, Tribeca, and "Europe". It's under construction, but close to completion.

Georgia has ranked #2 in US film production by some metrics, and it continues to steal hundreds of productions from California every year [1].

Last year Georgia was host to nearly 500 movies and TV shows [2], and has been extensively used for some of the biggest hits and blockbusters: Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame, Spider-Man: No Way Home, Black Panther, Stranger Things, The Waking Dead, Ozark, Halt and Catch Fire, etc.

Disney, Marvel, and Netflix have major productions here. Winona Ryder was even my downstairs neighbor for a bit during the Stranger Things shoot.

Last year they built a fake White Castle a few blocks from me and then tore it down about a month later [3]. It was so disappointing as everyone was hoping for a real White Castle.

[1] https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/can...

[2] https://www.gpb.org/news/2022/08/01/georgia-film-industry-se...

[3] https://atlanta.urbanize.city/post/white-castle-edgewood-ave...

Re: Fake town built exclusively for filming TV and movies

#72
post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> his other films took quite an interest in perfecting the settings. Kubrick took quite an interest in perfecting all aspects of his films. https://collider.com/stanley-kubrick-the-shining-scene-guinn... : “Stanley Kubrick movies are notorious for having multiple takes. One instance is in Eyes Wide Shut, when Tom Cruise's Dr. Bill Hartford walks through a door. He just walks through a door. That's it. 95 times Cruise…

The scenes shot with these Zeiss lenses look gorgeous. The whole scene is lit up by the candles only, he needed super fast lenses to capture enough light. The whole movie actually is only shot with natural light. https://youtu.be/KT7IYpjcpD4?si=bmDsRtDhclICdHTU

Done way better than a lot of modern "natural lighting" movies and shows, where the picture is so dark that you can't tell what's going on.

Re: Fake town built exclusively for filming TV and movies

#73
post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> his other films took quite an interest in perfecting the settings. Kubrick took quite an interest in perfecting all aspects of his films. https://collider.com/stanley-kubrick-the-shining-scene-guinn... : “Stanley Kubrick movies are notorious for having multiple takes. One instance is in Eyes Wide Shut, when Tom Cruise's Dr. Bill Hartford walks through a door. He just walks through a door. That's it. 95 times Cruise…

The scenes shot with these Zeiss lenses look gorgeous. The whole scene is lit up by the candles only, he needed super fast lenses to capture enough light. The whole movie actually is only shot with natural light. https://youtu.be/KT7IYpjcpD4?si=bmDsRtDhclICdHTU

Indeed, it is an absolute masterpiece. That whole movie in general is but that scene is without equal.

Re: Fake town built exclusively for filming TV and movies

#74

Even crazier, there's a company that built a fake town right in the middle of a real town! https://www.universalstudioslot.com/backlot

Yep, there are several in LA: Warner has two. Sony has one. Paramount has one. There is one outside the city too.

;-)

Re: Fake town built exclusively for filming TV and movies

#75
post #53

Two blocks by one block. So, interesting and impressive. Perhaps 'giant' is hyperbole. I'm mostly struck by how perfect it looks. No dirt, no dents, no scratches, no rain-streaked windows, no rust. Not like any place I've ever been.

it's bigger than most fake towns built exclusively for filming.

Pioneertown in CA is about 10 blocks by 5.

But yeah, most are much smaller.

Re: Fake town built exclusively for filming TV and movies

#76

Even crazier, there's a company that built a fake town right in the middle of a real town! https://www.universalstudioslot.com/backlot

Yep, there are several in LA: Warner has two. Sony has one. Paramount has one. There is one outside the city too.

If you go hiking about four miles into the santa monica mountains, you can visit the M*A*S*H set and see some of the left over trucks and some historical markers.

Re: Fake town built exclusively for filming TV and movies

#77

Even crazier, there's a company that built a fake town right in the middle of a real town! https://www.universalstudioslot.com/backlot

The Courthouse Square part of that backlot is the same courthouse from Back to the Future, with a different paint job and some aesthetic tweaks so that it can be used in other filming without being distractingly recognizable.

I see those sets constantly and always annoy the wife commenting on them.

It was in the Twilight Zone episode "Where is Everybody?" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Khvo6TH-DXc

I remember watching it more recently and when he runs down the alley I wondered if he was going to buy that almanac.

Re: Fake town built exclusively for filming TV and movies

#78
post #17

I understand the need but it bother me so much to recognise a studio when watching a tv show (or cheap movie). It's like the Wilhelm scream, it immediately reminds me I'm watching a something. Especially the paramount studio https://www.paramountstudios.com/new-york-backlot.html

I just did a studio tour in Hollywood and the tour guide mentioned that a lot of their most famous productions were done elsewhere because high brow directors hate the backlot. I gather most of the usage nowadays is for TV. Big budget films are either on location or just done on completely fabricated soundstages and/or CGI.

Re: Fake town built exclusively for filming TV and movies

#80
post #60
post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reminds me of when Stanely Kubrick had an assistant take hundreds of pictures of doors in London to find the perfect shot of a hooker in a doorway: https://old.reddit.com/r/StanleyKubrick/comments/vhlcha/a_qu... Although Eyes Wide Shut was still filmed mostly on a studio set in London where they recreated Greenwich Village, his other films took quite an interest in perfecting the settings.

> his other films took quite an interest in perfecting the settings. Kubrick took quite an interest in perfecting all aspects of his films. https://collider.com/stanley-kubrick-the-shining-scene-guinn... : “Stanley Kubrick movies are notorious for having multiple takes. One instance is in Eyes Wide Shut, when Tom Cruise's Dr. Bill Hartford walks through a door. He just walks through a door. That's it. 95 times Cruise…

> Kubrick took quite an interest in perfecting all aspects of his films.

When he directed the Apollo landings I heard he was such a stickler for detail he insisted on filming on-location…

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