Comments on: FILMography

FILMography

griphus — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 15:36:17 -0800

"Hey, isn't this where they shot that scene from..."

By: roomthreeseventeen

roomthreeseventeen — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 15:37:56 -0800

Very cool; the Warriors one is my subway stop.

By: chavenet

chavenet — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 15:38:54 -0800

Brilliant. Nice find.

By: The Whelk

The Whelk — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 15:39:35 -0800

All movies take place a few blocks from Central Park.

By: Kid Charlemagne

Kid Charlemagne — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 15:41:18 -0800

So they shot a scene for North by Northwest at some Dwemer ruins? Awesome. Sorry - been playing Skyrim lately and, well, you know.

By: figurant

figurant — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 15:41:51 -0800

Oh, that's marvelous.

By: roger ackroyd

roger ackroyd — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 15:42:07 -0800

This is a big win for left hands.

By: griphus

griphus — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 15:43:05 -0800

All movies take place a few blocks from Central Park. Now now. Kubrick used establishing shots of the East Village in Eyes Wide Shut that look absolutely nothing like his sets.

By: shakespeherian

shakespeherian — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 15:45:00 -0800

His one set.

By: mazola

mazola — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 15:46:55 -0800

I am going to do the same for movies shot in Edmonton! Well that was quick.

By: phaedon

phaedon — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 15:48:36 -0800

That's pretty cool. I kind of want to do an LA one.

By: DU

DU — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 15:52:10 -0800

Neat. I can imagine this being super exciting if you had a) watched more than 10% of these movies and b) knew New York.

By: The Whelk

The Whelk — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 15:53:42 -0800

LA All those alien planets and African plains that look suspiciously like Griffith Park.

By: The World Famous

The World Famous — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 15:57:39 -0800

All movies take place a few blocks from Central Park. Except the ones that are supposed to be in New York, in which case they're all actually in a 5-block section of Downtown Los Angeles.

By: elizardbits

elizardbits — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 16:01:15 -0800

I can imagine this being super exciting if you had a) watched more than 10% of these movies and b) knew New York. Careful you don't sprain something with all that wild and unbridled enthusiasm.

By: The Whelk

The Whelk — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 16:03:31 -0800

Except the ones that are supposed to be in New York, in which case they're all actually in a 5-block section of Downtown Los Angeles. Hey now there's always Toronto

By: The World Famous

The World Famous — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 16:08:35 -0800

Toronto's too clean to plausibly pass for any U.S. city. They have to put in CGI grime and garbage.

By: mulligan

mulligan — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 16:15:50 -0800

They forgot to the put the actual locations they went to.

By: mochapickle

mochapickle — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 16:18:29 -0800

They forgot to the put the actual locations they went to. Awesome site, but yeah, that's aggravating. The locations are there in the comments/tags, but it'd be so much better if they put the location in the caption.

By: EmpressCallipygos

EmpressCallipygos — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 16:18:51 -0800

I had an "isn't this where they shot that scene from..." moment once, on the street where I saw the film where I'd just seen the scene. I had been to see Big at Cinema Village, which for a while was a revival house in New York three blocks from my dorm. There's a scene somewhere in the film where Tom Hanks and a kid come out of a restaurant and start walking down the street,a conversation. After the film, I left the theater, turned left and started walking west on 13th Street, back towards 5th Avenue, to get back to my dorm. I got about ten feet for I stopped, realizing I was walking on the very street I'd just seen in that scene. Live in New York long enough and that happens a lot.

By: The Whelk

The Whelk — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 16:20:57 -0800

Live in New York long enough and that happens a lot. Louie does this to me like whoa. I'm 99% sure I have done the exact same thing he does at the pizza place in the titles at that exact same pizza place.

By: LobsterMitten

LobsterMitten — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 16:34:23 -0800

Someone linked to Silent Locations the other day, which does this for silent comedies in LA.

By: Joakim Ziegler

Joakim Ziegler — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 16:37:08 -0800

This is cool, but the whole "hand holding a printout" thing is a bit analog-on-purpose and twee. Just paste in a still frame, you have a pirated copy of Photoshop just like everyone else. Although I appreciate that the printouts are useful for finding the exact camera position, it's not necessary to actually keep them in the frame when you take the photo.

By: the young rope-rider

the young rope-rider — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 16:39:03 -0800

The ones with the stairs are all at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (so far)

By: The World Famous

The World Famous — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 16:43:15 -0800

This is cool, but the whole "hand holding a printout" thing is a bit analog-on-purpose and twee. Just paste in a still frame, you have a pirated copy of Photoshop just like everyone else. If they're already using the printouts to find the exact camera position, it would be a significant amount of extra, unnecessary work to take the photo without the printout and then go back to the computer to paste in a digital still frame. In fact, that would be "digital-on-purpose," given that they have the printout there already and would have to do extra work to be digital instead of analog.

By: StickyCarpet

StickyCarpet — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 16:49:20 -0800

I Google Street View, my whole block is obscured on both sides by film production equipment.

By: gingerbeer

gingerbeer — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 16:55:03 -0800

I love this stuff. I just saw the movie Bullitt on a big screen and spent pretty much the entire time going "hey, that's right where x is now!"

By: Monday, stony Monday

Monday, stony Monday — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 16:55:37 -0800

It'd be nice if there were more Warriors and some Shaft in there.

By: stargell

stargell — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 16:59:08 -0800

I live on what I guess is a particularly photogenic block of NYC. Twice we've had movies camp out for a week or more for lengthy filming. The long opening tracking shot of Cradle Will Rock finishes by swooping into the same apartment as ours but one block over, right through the French doors. They shut down the whole block for a week, dirtying it up and parking period cars for that '30s Depression look. It was very cool. Just after that Keeping the Faith set up shop for a week. As it was summer and they were shooting inside the church, they set up a jet engine-powered portable air conditioner with enormous ducts running into the building; the thing ran all day and much of the night. They also had giant balloons floating up and down the block with arc lights for night shots. I took a few flash pictures from our terrace one night when they were shooting an Edward Norton-Jenna Elfman love scene, which stopped the entire production as they searched for the culprit. I slunk back into the apartment sheepishly. And a couple years ago a location scout for Boardwalk Empire knocked on the door asking about shooting from our little terrace for a funeral scene. They ended up going on the roof instead for a pretty cool shot that you can see in the Season 1, Episode 2 Making of video. It's always a bit disruptive but the fun of watching the shoots as they happen and seeing the finished product is worth it.

By: the young rope-rider

the young rope-rider — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 17:01:53 -0800

We get Boardwalk Empire, and where I work there is constant filming of various movies, TV shows, etc. It's cool until they're yelling the same line OVER AND OVER right underneath the window where you're putting a baby to sleep. I AM LOOKING AT YOU ROBIN WILLIAMS

By: The World Famous

The World Famous — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 17:06:18 -0800

In fairness, Robin Williams does that regardless of whether or not he's filming.

By: alex_skazat

alex_skazat — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 17:06:37 -0800

Yeah, some of these do have a strange lack of shadows on the "black and white photograph" that makes this somewhat Amateur Hour.

By: Dormant Gorilla

Dormant Gorilla — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 17:16:53 -0800

A few years ago, I lived on a ridiculously scenic block in soho, and there was ALWAYS something or other being filmed. My friend down the block was basically a Professional Movie Apartment Haver. Every few months some production company would come by and pay her ridiculous money to knock out a wall or reaping or move all her furniture three feet to the left. They'd pay her, destroy the place, she'd rebuild it. It was like the fraggles and the dozers.

By: Dormant Gorilla

Dormant Gorilla — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 17:17:44 -0800

Uh. Repaint. Not reaping. That probably would have been more money.

By: LionIndex

LionIndex — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 17:44:32 -0800

After the film, I left the theater, turned left and started walking west on 13th Street, back towards 5th Avenue, to get back to my dorm. I got about ten feet for I stopped, realizing I was walking on the very street I'd just seen in that scene. I had this experience, in reverse, for A Scanner Darkly. Some friends and I went to see it at a theater over by UC Irvine, and took the 405 down there, getting off at Culver. Then there's a part where they're driving down the freeway in the movie, and they pass the Culver exit sign. Given the tone of the movie, we got a little freaked out.

By: hwyengr

hwyengr — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 18:04:43 -0800

I kind of want to do an LA one. Start taking lots of pictures of Flower St. between 4th and 5th, the 4th St. viaduct between Figueroa and Hope, the 2nd St. tunnel, and the Bonaventure Hotel. Done.

By: flaterik

flaterik — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 18:21:21 -0800

I've lived in LA since 1997 and other than the 2nd street tunnel that everyone knows and other super-obvious landmarks, the only location I've ever really noticed was the cold storage place where they filmed that one episode of Angel. I'm not the most observant person in the world.

By: DU

DU — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 18:24:09 -0800

...makes this somewhat Amateur Hour. From now on, I resolve to stick to Professional Internet!

By: librarylis

librarylis — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 18:40:43 -0800

Start taking lots of pictures of Flower St. between 4th and 5th, the 4th St. viaduct between Figueroa and Hope, the 2nd St. tunnel, and the Bonaventure Hotel. Done. Actually, you left out UCLA. Quasi-university setting for a film or tv show filmed in LA? Odds are good that's UCLA. To be really specific, probably the lawn in front of College Library and a few areas around it.

By: ovvl

ovvl — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 18:55:26 -0800

The first time I visited Manhattan, I looked up at the buildings and thought that I was in a movie...

By: ApathyGirl

ApathyGirl — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 18:55:40 -0800

Actually, you left out UCLA. Quasi-university setting for a film or tv show filmed in LA? Odds are good that's UCLA. To be really specific, probably the lawn in front of College Library and a few areas around it. Or Occidental. Also, the Colorado Street Bridge, Pasadena City Hall, Gamble House, and the Huntington Library & Gardens. You know, I should do one of these on JUST Pasadena (and Altadena). And, of course, Vasquez Rocks.

By: Cash4Lead

Cash4Lead — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 19:08:05 -0800

Someone should do this for movies set in Washington, DC. They could start with the Georgetown Metro scene from No Way Out.

By: carsonb

carsonb — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 19:45:42 -0800

My favorite LA landmark was the alley I used to take as a shortcut down to Sunset/Echo Park from my old apartment. It was totally in a chase scene in Lethal Weapon. One popular network drama (which one, I never did find out?) adopted the House Ear Clinic as their Hope County Courthouse. This is in Westlake/McArthur Park, hardly the most photogenic neighborhood, on the damn street where I parked every night. Relevant to the thread, Paramount's map of California's geographical facsimiles, originally uploaded by MeFi's own Ambrosia Voyeur.

By: carsonb

carsonb — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 19:46:42 -0800

The other 'for NYC' area of LA is a little tiny street just south of Wilshire somewhere in the Western/Normandie region.

By: 5_13_23_42_69_666

5_13_23_42_69_666 — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 20:25:09 -0800

Toronto's too clean to plausibly pass for any U.S. city. They have to put in CGI grime and garbage. ha! no kidding, once I was crossing Yonge St. and wondering "what the hell is up with the street today? it's filthy and there's garbage everywhere" another block along I find that they're shooting a hulk film and have messed up the place so it will look like new york

By: Ghidorah

Ghidorah — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 20:56:57 -0800

Had there been only one, I would have been satisfied. Neat idea, though.

By: ShutterBun

ShutterBun — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 21:45:56 -0800

Seconding the idea to do an L.A. version. And I have to say, the hand-held printouts are precisely what makes these so neat. Part of the problem with an L.A. version is that, of course, things change very quickly around here (though I noticed this blog included lots of more recent films, which makes things easier. I live around the corner from the Dietrichson House used in Double Indemnity. If I can get my printer working, I may have to attempt this tomorrow.

By: ShutterBun

ShutterBun — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 21:52:50 -0800

I got about ten feet for I stopped, realizing I was walking on the very street I'd just seen in that scene. I once watched The Player at Hollywood Forever Cemetary (they show outdoor movies there during summer) and noticed that the funeral scene we were watching was shot from the same location and angle we were sitting at. (the palm trees even lined up with their real-life counterparts!)

By: Slack-a-gogo

Slack-a-gogo — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 21:53:15 -0800

I think this is a cool idea, but I prefer the way the guy at PopShotNYC does it with his site about finding old album cover locations. In this example of Bo Diddley's Have Guitar Will Travel album cover you get the album cover, the location shot today, and then the album cover superimposed over the shot - once opaque and again slightly transparent. Plus you get a map of where the location is. It's obviously more work (which is probably why he doesn't that many), but I think it makes a great presentation.

By: Windopaene

Windopaene — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 22:54:00 -0800

Remember the Microsoft ad with Bill Gates and Jerry Sinefeld where they were living with normal people? Shot on my street. When I noticed all the security, I said: "I wonder if some local celeb is involved." The production company, which had told us filming was going to take place, was getting us to sign a contract, as our house had been included in the shot, and said: "Didn't you know, Bill Gates was in this..." That must be what it is like to live in NYC...

By: LordSludge

LordSludge — Wed, 19 Sep 2012 00:15:57 -0800

Ooo! Ooo! Do March of the Penguins next!

By: muta

muta — Wed, 19 Sep 2012 01:39:21 -0800

By: phl

phl — Wed, 19 Sep 2012 05:08:32 -0800

Speaking of Seinfeld, on the DVD extras they talk about having to scout NY-looking areas of LA for some exterior shots - I think in reference to the scene where Newman rolls downhill in a runaway rickshaw, as they couldn't build that on a set.

By: Perfectibilist

Perfectibilist — Wed, 19 Sep 2012 05:53:25 -0800

Providence needs one of these for "Movies that people swear on their mother's grave were shot in Providence but totally weren't" with people holding up various movie stills that don't match in front of the Bank of America building.

By: Uther Bentrazor

Uther Bentrazor — Wed, 19 Sep 2012 06:07:37 -0800

I want to do something like this, only from the opposite direction, where I go around DC and use photographs and still photos to point out how approximately 0 people in Hollywood have ever been to this area (I'm looking at you Live Free or "one of the longest streets in DC (14th) depicted as a small alleyway / skyscrapers and a NY traffic tunnel / 'We're in the middle of nowhere WV and we need to meet Kevin Smith in 20 minutes HEY LET'S DRIVE THERE NO SWEAT" Die Hard )

By: Uther Bentrazor

Uther Bentrazor — Wed, 19 Sep 2012 06:08:41 -0800

*meet him in BALTIMORE..

By: chemoboy

chemoboy — Wed, 19 Sep 2012 10:03:29 -0800

I want someone with more motivation than me to do this for San Francisco.

By: rabbitrabbit

rabbitrabbit — Wed, 19 Sep 2012 10:40:45 -0800

I grew up in NYC and watched a lot of Law & Order when I was in grad school. I think my spouse got really sick of me saying, "Hey, that's right around the corner from [my apartment, my high school, my first job, etc. etc. etc.]" I actually wonder if he thought I was making stuff up, but really, Manhattan is not THAT big and at one time or another I was regularly everywhere on that island except the UES.

By: EmpressCallipygos

EmpressCallipygos — Wed, 19 Sep 2012 11:15:34 -0800

I think my spouse got really sick of me saying, "Hey, that's right around the corner from [my apartment, my high school, my first job, etc. etc. etc.]" Try watching Law and Order if you not only live in New York but have worked in theater - easily about 10% of their extras are people I've worked with myself on other things. I think it's been 3 years since I've seen an episode where I can't point to some random eyewitness or bartender or guy in a lineup or juror and say, "Hey, I remember them from that Shakespeare thing in 2003." I watch Law and Order alone now.

By: ultraviolet catastrophe

ultraviolet catastrophe — Wed, 19 Sep 2012 11:55:22 -0800

Someone should do this for movies set in Washington, DC. They could start with the Georgetown Metro scene from No Way Out Wait, there is no Georgetown metro stop. Clicks video. Goddammit.

By: ShutterBun

ShutterBun — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 13:11:11 -0800

Well, I made an attempt at getting a shot of the Dietrichson House from Double Indemnity, as promised. I had to go "new school" since my printer wasn't working, which revealed one of the challenges: based on the size of the image, it has to be large enough to fill the appropriate amount of space, but also be held far enough away so that it's in focus with the background. Obviously a reallllly wide-angle lens would be in order here. But the results weren't half bad. The Dietrichson House Funny story. I have lived around the corner from this house for better than 2 years, but never bothered to take a picture of it, despite Indemnity being easily one of my top 10 favorite films of all time. So I walked over today, started taking some pictures, when a cab pulls up. A guy gets out, camera in hand, and starts looking at the house, readying to take a shot. I asked: "Are you doing the same thing I'm doing? The Dietrichson House, right?" "Yep! I just took a cab all the way here just to find this place!" What a coincidence. I've driven past the place hundreds of times, but never seen anyone stop, then the one day I decide to get pictures, another fan shows up at the same time. Ha!