Can you tell when it’s not ‘America’?

[batguy]

IMO half the giveaway of backlots is just the scale. The urban settings feel about 70% size. The streets are too narrow. The buildings have a bit of forced-perspective shortness in the upper stories. Even the sidwalk curbs aren't quite as tall (I have walked around some backlot sets).

There is also the short lateral distances. To keep the backlot sizes manageable, the streets never continue in a straight line for more than a couple of (short) blocks. There is always a sharp turn or a T-intersection or something to cap off the view.


Of course the height trickery is done to make the fake buildings look taller. But some of the cheating is to make the actors look taller, too. It's routine for set builders to make the height indicators (doorways, visible interior ceilings, etc) a couple inches lower than normal.

 

[Reckoner]

I’m interested in film production and also work as a background extra here in the UK. Often to recreate London, when filming in another English town, they ship in a red double decker bus and a couple of black cabs and bingo, it’s London. They also often film New York and other US cities on UK backlots with appropriate props and costumes. Ship in a couple of yellow cabs and a free standing mail box and you’re there. But to American eyes, can you tell? Do they get it right, or are there telltale signs that it’s not the actual US?

I think we can mostly tell when something is filmed in the UK, especially if it's TV. But I don't think it's due to props, costumes, or filming locations as much as the general look compared to things filmed in the US. The UK has a different frame rate and different color encoding, so a British show looks different on our TVs in the US than it does to someone in the UK.

 

[dascoyne]

I like Jackie Chan's Rumble in the Bronx where they didn't even try.


The Bronx:

 

[Yorkie Fett]

Slight thread drift, but you can certainly tell when it’s not Vietnam in Full Metal Jacket.

 

[cboath]

Similar thing that gets me is when they film a night scene at was clearly during the day and just darken it to make it look like night.

 

[PoopaPapaPalps]

I think day-for-night doesn't work as well in color as it does in black and white. The heavier shadows of b/w film stock sells it more for me even if it doesn't always makes sense logically why there are full cast shadows at night.

I notice it more with recent TV shows that do day-for-night and put in headlight effects.

 

[batguy]

I think day-for-night is effective when it's done right. It's not as simple as "darken the film".

'Mad Max Fury Road' used DFN to do the night scenes. I thought it looked pretty good. They overdid the blue tinting, but that was in line with the saturated colors in the rest of the movie.

It worked because they did the scene in foggy overcast conditions and they CGI'd the lights in the images.

They also used an interesting trick to improve the image quality. Instead of under-exposing the image to make it look dark (the usual DFN method), they over-exposed it and then darkened it back down in the post-production stage. So they got the same reduction of contrast but it looked less grainy than the usual DFN.

I wish they would release a special edition of 'JAWS' with some subtle CGI tweaks like fixing the day-for-night scenes. Some basic work could give a big improvement. (Boost the light from the artificial bulbs. Cut out the sky, the ocean surfaces, and foreground stuff into separate elements and tweak them independently. Etc.) Those scenes are some of the only things in the movie to age badly.

Like with most CGI tweaks on classics, the big challenge would be holding back and keeping the changes subtle enough.

 

[dbuck]

I also find that there's just something about backlots that just scream backlot to me. It's not necessarily the architecture but I think it's something to do with the lighting. It just looks different from both a soundstage and an actual on-location shoot. My guess would be the combination of both natural and artificial lighting that makes it stand out to me.

Agreed, as well as backlots rarely having any ‘depth’. thin sidewalks, short streets, generic store signs, storefronts with nothing but a two foot deep display, no recessed entries on large buildings, that sort of thing.

but how it’s filmed can alter the feel. The bank robbery scene in Dirty Harry is on the exact same streets that, oh say Adam 12 filmed on for years, but when Adam 12 films there whoo boy is it obvious It is a backlot With dingy lighting and lousy camera setups. Dirty Harry, not so much.

 

[PoopaPapaPalps]

...'Mad Max Fury Road' used DFN to do the night scenes. I thought it looked pretty good. They overdid the blue tinting, but that was in line with the saturated colors in the rest of the movie...

Fury Road is one of the few modern examples of DFN I felt works because it's not "real" and serves in the heightened reality of the film. I will say that I think the DFN looks even better in the B/W version of the film. In fact, some of the dodgier effects when they're fighting on the moving cars and it's clearly stationary with the CG background moving, I think looks better in the B/W version, too. It almost makes it look like rear-screen projection.

 

[Ned Figglehorn]

I remember noticing palm trees in the background of Halloween (1978) even though it takes place in Illinois, ever since that happened I am always searching for stuff like that in the background that break the on location illusion.

 

[3Dsf]

The UK has a different frame rate and different color encoding, so a British show looks different on our TVs in the US than it does to someone in the UK.

That used to be the case. The smudgy look of PAL video converted to NTSC was always a giveaway.

But I don’t think it is anymore. Everything is shot digitally to high def using the same gear and standards. Streamers such as Netflix have submission rules for how they will accept shows, and they’re the same regardless of where the production is based.

 

[3Dsf]

I like Jackie Chan's Rumble in the Bronx where they didn't even try.

Vancouver’s Cordova Street definitely looks just like the roughest neighbourhood in the Bronx!

 

[anamorphicWayne]

Here's one on the opposite side of the coin.
Vancouver Never Plays Itself

 

[The Terminator]

One giveaway is the terrain, somebody here once mentioned how some movie or the other was supposed to have been set in Florida, which is a pretty flat state, yet you could see rolling hills or low mountains in the background. In another case, in ID4, they showed MCAS El Toro with nothing but open scrubland or desert nest to the runways, but El Toro is in the middle of a suburb and low hills, so in the background, there should have been houses and maybe some hills with bits of green, depending on the season.

I also find that there's just something about backlots that just scream backlot to me. It's not necessarily the architecture but I think it's something to do with the lighting. It just looks different from both a soundstage and an actual on-location shoot. My guess would be the combination of both natural and artificial lighting that makes it stand out to me.

The backlots, YES! It usually screams "backlot".
When watching a TV show and the characters are walking down a street, shot on location, they turn and walk into an alleyway and boom, they're on the backlot.

 

[Spyhunter2k]

The Matrix's substitution of another city (Sydney, Australia) for New York, NY was pretty obvious, since NY has such an iconic skyline. But somehow, since the matrix was supposed to be an alternate reality anyway, and the whole city is tinted green within the matrix, it works within the story.

 

[joberg]

For me it's the light; every time something is shot in Cali. I know it! I have a knack distinguishing West Coast from East real fast because of it.
It's a game my wife and I play often (I win 90% of the time). The one that really blew me away was "The English" (great mini-series with Emily Blunt and a great cast). Kansas and Wyoming is where the story is suppose to take place...everything was shot in Spain I was gobsmacked !!

 

[dascoyne]

From “A Fistfull of Yen”:

 

[dascoyne]

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[davewhite152]

Slight thread drift, but you can certainly tell when it’s not Vietnam in Full Metal Jacket.

You can also tell that Paris Island( I think that’s what it’s called) isn’t in the US. You can see the road markings as it was filmed on a UK air base

 

[CB2001]

Hollywood: Films New York scenes In Canada.
Also Hollywood: