VFX Walls and virtual sets like the ones in use @ Narwhal Studios [1] are pretty common now thanks to Unreal Engine 5. Used in productions of The Mandalorian, Book of Boba Fett, Obi-Wan Kenobi, etc. I think this, combined with outdoor sets like the OP posted about, are the future of movies. Instead of high CGI compositing, do the CGI compositing pre-production and film like you would a normal set.
Fake town built exclusively for filming TV and movies
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Re: Fake town built exclusively for filming TV and movies
#42like cinecittà
Re: Fake town built exclusively for filming TV and movies
#43Two 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.
Re: Fake town built exclusively for filming TV and movies
#44I 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
Parks and Recreation drove me crazy because they used b-roll of the Pasadena City Hall exterior as a stand in for Pawnee City Hall, simply because it’s what everyone in the LA area pictures when they think “impressive city hall”
Re: Fake town built exclusively for filming TV and movies
#45I don't think it is that giant. It is basically the downtown of a small town.
Re: Fake town built exclusively for filming TV and movies
#46The US military builds dummy towns for training purposes. This is called "MOUT" training, for Military Operations in Urban Terrain. The current ones look like towns in Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, etc. The National Training Center at Fort Irwin, CA has the biggest one.[1] (There's a very good reason for that sort of thing. Most infantry casualties are among soldiers new to combat. Very realistic training means that most…
This is not only good for reducing infantry casualties but also reducing civilian casualties.
Once the panic response sets in, it is likely that they will fire on anything without fully assessing.
Training in similar environments can help soldiers avoid a panicked response and more logically assess the situation.
Re: Fake town built exclusively for filming TV and movies
#47I 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
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.
Re: Fake town built exclusively for filming TV and movies
#48This is the same outfit NASA contracted for the moon landing footage!
Nearby are the old blimp hangers from the remnants of the MCAS Tustin. They've been used for many things (including storing blimps, of all things) in the past several years. But notably germane here, they were used for the lunar set for the mini-series "From the Earth to the Moon" (well worth folks time to watch, IMHO).
The interesting part is that partly because the buildings are so big, they were able to tie helium balloons to the actors to mimic the lower lunar gravity. My tinybrain math skills puts those balloons at about 16 ft in diameter (assuming they were a single balloon, I have no idea). Those hangars would have no problem accommodating large balloons like that.
Re: Fake town built exclusively for filming TV and movies
#49I'm pretty sure that's the town in the series Wednesday as well
Re: Fake town built exclusively for filming TV and movies
#50This would be the perfect setting for a "the Road"-style Twilight Zone episode. The ragtag group of survivors have fended off starvation, thieves, murderers, rapists, nasty weather, wild rabid animals, etc. and stumble on to this scene, thinking wow, we made it to that fabled city where everything is still ok.
And then they discover it's all fake. Including, of course, all of the provisions- food, drink.
In the last moments we see a band of marauders arriving, sneaking up next to the root beer stand...