Richard Klotz: Nightscapes &#038; Decay

In the five-time Oscar nominated movie Green Book, New Orleans, Louisiana becomes, for a cinematic moment or two, Macon, Georgia.

That's because New Orleans, Louisiana is the right location to be Macon, Georgia in the movie.

And that's because as WGNO - News With A Twist's Wild Bill Wood says, a location scout discovered it.

New Orleans has lots of location scouts.

One of them is John Johnston.

John is always walking. Always talking. Always taking pictures. Always looking for the right location.

Wild Bill Wood asks, "are you naturally nosey?"

John Johnston answers, "oh yea, I ask questions."

John is a Hollywood location scout and manager. John is always searching New Orleans for perfect places.

Wild Bill asks, "will you actually go up to a stranger's house and knock on the door?"

John Johnston answers, "knock on the door, of course, at least 50 times a day, if I think it's the right house, I'll jump over a fence to knock on that door!"

John was not the location scout and manager for the film Green Book, but he knows when the folks from Green Book knocked on New Orleans' door to film here, the Saenger Theater became Carnegie Hall in New York City.

John Johnston knows why, "in 1924 the Saenger Theater was built, Carnegie Hall was built in 1891, same architecture, same art deco style, it's perfect."

In Green Book, two guys on a road trip eventually need a place to pull off the road.

Wild Bill then asks John Johnston, "how do you transform the New Orleans Athletic Club, the NOAC into the Macon, Georgia YMCA?"

John says, "with a little Hollywood magic."

And a sign that says "YMCA" temporarily placed over the permanent letters on the club, NOAC.

Inside NOAC, the pool is in the movie Green Book, too.

John Johnston says, "the pool has all the architectural elements of a southern health club you want to see in a movie set in a southern town."

Wild Bill asks John Johnston, "how do you describe your job?"

John says without hesitating, "a glorified party planner."

You never know.

Next time, you hear a knock at your front door, it may be Hollywood calling. ... See MoreSee Less

20 hours ago

In the Oscar-nominated movie ‘Green Book’, New Orleans Athletic Club becomes a YMCA in Macon, Georgia

wgno.com

In the Oscar-nominated movie "Green Book", the New Orleans Athletic Club becomes the Macon YMCA

There’s a lot of good news about our film industry in Hawaii.

First, the economic impact of film and television production is big and it is growing. Production expenditures for 2018 are projected to be $477 million, an increase of $157 million over 2017.

That translates into $51.5 million in tax revenue and, equally important, an increase in industry related jobs to 2,527. In addition, Hawaii is taking in over $860,000 in revenue from the rental of two studio and sound stage facilities.

While high profile shows like “Hawaii 5-0” and “Lost” provide an ongoing advertisement for our visitor industry there is a much greater benefit to our economic future. Television and film productions drive other creative industries that can grow as a result.

Due to the continuing popularity of these television series and hit movies like “Jurassic Park,” we are witnessing the emergence of a highly trained and experienced group of creative professionals. We’ve reached the point where 80 percent of the film crews are local workers.

Make no mistake, Hawaii is in fierce competition with states such as Georgia and New Mexico, who lure productions with generous tax incentives. The availability of experienced local creative and technical talent at every level makes Hawaii an even more attractive destination to film. ... See MoreSee Less

2 days ago

Let's Keep Hawaii Film-Friendly

civilbeat.org

The islands are in fierce competition with states such as Georgia and New Mexico.

Whether it’s real or not, the setting for a movie is one of the most important elements in filmmaking. This not only applies to where the movie’s story is located, but also where the movie is actually filmed. Of course, the relation between these two aspects can be mutual or dissonant depending on the setting to begin with. For instance, if the movie takes place in a fictional location that has no real-life counterpart a filmmaker might look for someplace that’s as close to the fictional setting as possible in real life and film the movie there. Yet even if they managed to film in the movie’s real-life location, the way a filmmaker portrays that place may not reflect what it’s actually like.

But regardless of the setting’s realism, the movie itself has to be good too. With that said, the way a movie portrays a certain setting may be so inspiring to us as viewers that we feel compelled to actually travel to that place. This kind of inspiration especially comes to light when we’re children, and so we’ll most likely want to go the places shown in the movies we see at that age as opposed to when we’re older. To demonstrate, let’s take a look at the locations from movies that came out from the mid-90s to the early 2000s which inspired those who grew up seeing them to travel to those places. ... See MoreSee Less

3 days ago

25 Places Movies Inspired 90s Kids To Travel To

thetravel.com

Whether it was joining Katniss in the Capitol, journeying to Rivendell, or hopping to NYC with the Olsen twins, these movies inspired us to travel!

Space: it’s the final frontier in the Star Trek universe. It’s also a mission requirement for the Toronto-filmed TV series “Star Trek: Discovery,” which sprawls across the 45,900-square-foot Mega Stage at Pinewood Toronto Studios.

The CBS series, which airs on Bell Media cable channel Space, has been holding on to Toronto’s largest studio space with a Vulcan death grip since it began filming in April 2016.

Hosting the high-profile series has aggravated a problem in the city: too many productions, not enough studio space.

“With ‘Star Trek’ being there for a number of years, it’s taken that stage out of the market,” says Scott Alexander, who has been a location manager in Toronto for the past 20 years. “We haven’t been able to draw in the really big projects that would utilize that space’s height and width,” he adds.

Numbers for 2018, not yet available, are on track to rise, but until new studio space opens the problem might affect Toronto’s ability to lure the biggest and buzziest projects.

Due to a lack of studio space, Alexander has been instructed to look into alternative venues for the upcoming FX Productions series “Mrs. America” with Cate Blanchett, which will begin filming in Toronto in mid-June.

In the past, Alexander has had to get creative and scout industrial buildings that could be converted. He recently talked a clothing-recycling operation into temporarily relinquishing their warehouse so it could be used as a studio.

That’s not ideal, especially on larger projects.

“They all have posts every 30 feet,” he says, noting this type of layout obstructs shots. “There are some older studio spaces that you work out of that if it rains really hard you can hear it on the roof.

“There are places where water leaks. There is a warehouse that we use that is close to a road and the soundproofing isn’t completely in it. You have to bring police officers in to intermittently stop the traffic if you have major dialogue scenes.”

But several high-profile builds are expected to open in and around Toronto by fall 2020 that may alleviate the shortage.

“Production studios are already trying to put holds on things that don’t even exist for 2020, 2021,” says Simard.

First up is CBS Stages Canada, a 260,000-square-foot facility that is slated to open in Mississauga later this year. While CBS productions will have first rights to the space, it will be available to outside productions as well.

In Markham, construction is set to begin this spring on the 400,000-square-foot Markham Movieland studio complex. Aiming for a 2020 opening, it will have a 70,000-square-foot sound stage — the largest in North America and not much smaller than the 78,954 square foot Stage 15 at Babelsberg Film Studios in Potsdam, Germany, the largest in the world.

Bell Media is spearheading a 200,000-square-foot expansion at Pinewood while just a five-minute drive away, Toronto’s Cinespace Film Studios is creating a new studio with 165,000-square-feet of production space. Cinespace is also opening the 50,000-square-foot Titan Studios at its Kipling Campus, where “The Handmaid’s Tale” and Netflix’s superhero series “Titans” films. The new space plans to include an underwater filming tank, something missing from Toronto’s studios.

When Alexander worked on 2016’s “Suicide Squad,” he had to negotiate with the Canadian military to set up a giant tank in Hamilton’s John Weir Foote V.C. Armoury in order to film scenes of an underwater subway station and a submerged car.

And while 1,075,000-square-feet of new studio space may sound excessive, Simard predicts it will allow Toronto to woo an ever expanding cabal of players.

“Amazon is in town, Apple is starting to spend a lot. It’s not even a guess for the next few years. It is the complete golden age of content creation.”

In the meantime, productions will continue to improvise. The sci-fi series “The Expanse,” which debuted its third season on Amazon Prime Video on Friday, splits time between Pinewood and Cinespace as it films its fourth season.

Manny Danelon, producer on “The Expanse,” says Toronto doesn’t have to look to London or Los Angeles for a blueprint of a city where studios thrive. “Think about what Montreal and Vancouver did so eloquently by building purpose-built studio spaces,” he says. “If we build it, they will come.” ... See MoreSee Less

4 days ago

Producers get creative in dealing with Toronto's limited studio space

680news.com

TORONTO — Space: it’s the final frontier in the Star Trek universe. It’s also a mission requirement for the Toronto-filmed TV series “Star Tre...

While most romantic film plots are just too good to be true, that doesn’t mean you can’t bring them to life yourself. All it takes is a trip to these beautiful filming locations to put yourself right back in the moment. Then just make use of your imagination and experience the romance in real life! Here are some magical places where you can follow in the footsteps of some of the best romance films, filmed in beautiful locations from downtown L.A. to the islands of the Mediterranean. ... See MoreSee Less

5 days ago

The Most Romantic Film Locations To Sweep You Off Your Feet

kayak.co.in

Follow in the footsteps of some of the best romance films by visiting beautiful shooting locations from downtown L.A. to the islands of the Mediterran...