Richard Klotz: Nightscapes &#038; Decay

Stieg Larsson’s Lisbeth Salander, defender of women, computer hacker, and iconic pale Swede, returned this fall with The Girl in the Spider's Web.

What isn’t obvious to viewers is the heavy use of a stand-in: almost all of the Sweden-set story was shot in Germany. Klaus Groß Darrelmann, a locations manager whose credits include Red Sparrow, Ghost in the Shell, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay I and II, Bridge of Spies, and Inglorious Basterds, was tasked with finding dupes for Stockholm and the snowy Swedish countryside, with at least 30 locations eventually filmed in the Berlin-Brandenburg region, as well as many more around Hamburg, Thuringia, Saxony, and Bavaria.

Darrelmann, who received a Location Managers Guild Award in 2015 for his work on The Grand Budapest Hotel, is also likely the only doctor-turned-locations manager in either the EU or Hollywood. At least, he’s never met another one. TheCredits spoke with Darrelmann about the numerous, surprising uses for open-cast mining pits, shooting in an art collector’s private bunker, and working with the city of Berlin. ... See MoreSee Less

7 hours ago

The Girl in the Spider’s Web's Location Manager Shares Secrets of Swapping Cities - The Credits

mpaa.org

Klaus Groß Darrelmann, The Girl in the Spider Web's locations manager, was tasked with finding dupes for Stockholm and the snowy Swedish countryside,...

The beautiful island of Corfu (Kerkyra) on the Ionian sea has won the European Film Location Award 2018, which was organised by the EUFCN-European Film Commissions Network and Cineuropa.

Corfu was put forward by the Hellenic Film Commission of the Greek Film Center for being the location shoot of the fourth season of “The Durrells”, a popular British comedy-drama TV series based on the autobiographical books of explorer and writer Gerald Durrell.

The Ionian isle was competing amongst another 12 nominees, including Lake Keretsa in Italy, Tenerife National Park in Spain and picturesque Innsbruck in Austria.

“Corfu is among the most beautiful and popular islands of Greece. Due to its strong historical connection with Europe, this was among the first Greek islands to open to tourism. Located on the northwestern side of the country in the Ionian Sea, Corfu island has a cosmopolitan feeling combined with a special traditional character. Apart from the wonderful beaches, the highlight of the island is the Old Town with the characteristic Venetian style. The Old Town of Corfu island is one of the UNESCO protected Greek monuments,” said Cineuropa. ... See MoreSee Less

1 day ago

Corfu wins best European Film Location Award for 2018 — Greek City Times

greekcitytimes.com

The beautiful island of Corfu (Kerkyra) on the Ionian sea has won the European Film Location Award 2018, which was organised by the European Film Comm...

Widows costume designer Jenny Eagan spent more time than is typical taking in the film’s Chicago setting.

Starring Viola Davis, Elizabeth Debicki and Michelle Rodriguez as a group of widows who reluctantly team up for the heist of their lives, the city is more than just a location. Eagan and Director Steve McQueen wanted specifics.

“Oftentimes as costume designers we don’t go on a locations scout,” said Eagan. “But it was very important to Steve that we drive around so I could see, where is (Rodriguez’s) Linda from? Where is (Debicki’s) Alice living? Where is (Davis’) Veronica’s apartment? And by doing that, you get a feel of what’s comfortable in that neighborhood — socioeconomically and visually.” ... See MoreSee Less

2 days ago

How the clothes make the characters in 'Widows'

chicagotribune.com

"Widows" costume designer Jennifer Eagan talks about key characters in the film and how their wardrobes help to tell the story.

Pearl Harbor, which was the setting for Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970) and Pearl Harbor (2001), about the attack that launched the USA into WWII 77 years ago was partially shot on Ford Island, where a heroic collection of WWII historical sites includes the Battleship Missouri and the floating USS Arizona Memorial.

With nearly every climactic zone on Earth, months of amenable weather and landscapes of rugged beauty, the Hawaiian Islands have long caught Hollywood directors’ eyes. Indeed, the islands’ cascading tropical waterfalls, powdery beaches and jagged volcanic mountains seem straight out of a fantasy movie set. Hawaii’s unbelievably diverse landscapes have stood in for anywhere on Earth – and sometimes alien worlds, too. ... See MoreSee Less

3 days ago

On location in Hawaii: film and TV locations in paradise

lonelyplanet.com

Lonely Planet

“Location is vital as it’s the visual precinct within which our stories play out,” says Tim Whitwell, creative director at Shine TV.

The Endemol Shine prodco is no stranger to undertaking major scouting assignments for big scale factual dramas such as The Island with Bear Grylls, which tests the survival skills of participants, left completely alone with only their clothes. Location scouts on the series — which returns for a sixth season next spring — were tasked with finding an uninhabited, but hospitable, island in the Pacific that could support life for at least four weeks. It’s an assignment that took the scouting team approximately one year to find the right archipelago of islands to film in.

“We filmed in Panama, which is not a remote location on the face of it,” Whitwell tells Realscreen, “but the archipelago we filmed in was not that easy to access or escape from if you were living on the island itself. There are still places that feel remote and cut off from the modern world.”

In general, scouts will begin their search from the comforts of their homes or production studios by scouring the Internet’s travel blogs and location databases. Depending on the production schedule, they may have months or mere days to explore before setting foot on site.

For Jesse Jensen, a co-executive producer on CBS’s long-running reality competition format Survivor, it’s more about actually visiting the country and meeting with the various players on the ground to get a feel for how well the location will work with a specific production.

Each territory is obviously dissimilar from its neighboring state, and that brings about its own challenges when attempting to manage government relationships and filming permits. As such, asking an overabundance of questions is key to understanding what you’re up against.

Having a good government contact that can act as a “one-stop shop” or liaison is also crucial to negotiating the permissions and approvals phase, as different types of land zonings in each area dictate what you can actually do and who you need to seek permissions from.

“In countries where there is no such thing as a film commission, I’ve turned to the government’s department of tourism, as they will often step up to act as the liaison between the production and the other government entities,” he adds.

Logistics are, as one can imagine, always difficult when working in such remote, and often developing, nations. Sourcing the required equipment and supplies needed locally takes meticulous planning and places heavy emphasis on organization.

With competition series and travel shows providing viewers a window to practically every corner of the world, what do the words ‘remote’ or ‘exotic’ mean anymore?

With a human footprint gracing nearly every inch of the globe, discovering these far-flung, previously untouched utopias is becoming a much bigger ask for location scouts. ... See MoreSee Less

4 days ago

Special report: Tips for weathering challenges in globe-trotting production

realscreen.com

Unscripted television can transport viewers to far-flung locales, often via adventure competition or travel series. But taking audiences to remote cor...