Originally Posted By DBitz2 This site has many nice set photos from the heyday of the Disney Studio's backlot. If you're into this kind of thing, get ready to geek out! <a target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.retroweb.com/gallery/index.php?album=Studio%20Backlots/Walt%20Disney%20Studios/Bison%20Archives">http://www.retroweb.com/galler...Archives</a>
Originally Posted By FerretAfros I don't have time to go through all of the photos right now, but they're pretty incredible! It's really interesting to see how each studio's backlot had a different feeling from the others. It's a shame that they tore this one down to build corporate office buildings, but I guess Disney didn't want to invest in more land nearby for that It's also interesting to see how big the water tower is looming in the background of a lot of the shots. How did they cover that for filming? Was it a lot of matte painting and carefully-placed trees, or were they able to block it out with camera angles?
Originally Posted By DBitz2 Yes, they are some pretty incredible pictures! Marc Wanamaker, the guy whose Bison Archives collection the photos come from, is a Hollywood historian who I know because he also collaborates with my National Park friends and I on Paramount Ranch history. (Look up Bison Archives to see many great old Hollywood and studio photos.) Yes, every studio backlot and movie ranch had it's own character. It is sad that so many of the backlots and location ranches have been lost. To me, movie backlot sets were/are magical places. Part of the reason I devote time and energy to researching and preserving Paramount Ranch history. That site is also the only movie ranch left that is also open to the public on a daily basis, so we have the opportunity to share movie history with the public. Part of the reason that many of the studios sold off their backlot properties or tore them down to use the land for other purposes was the ever increasing tendency towards location filming. With less of a need for backlot sets, the land became more valuable for other uses or to sell off as MGM and Fox did. As I mentioned in another thread, Disney has created a new backlot out at the ABC Studios at Golden Oak out in the Santa Clarita area that currently includes a nice urban streets area and residential streets area. Great idea, they've got the land out at Golden Oak. There was a certain charm and magic about the old Disney backlot, though. >>It's also interesting to see how big the water tower is looming in the background of a lot of the shots. How did they cover that for filming? Was it a lot of matte painting and carefully-placed trees, or were they able to block it out with camera angles?<< I had the same thoughts. They probably used a combination of all of the methods that you mention to block the water tower and other unwanted things. Judicious use of camera angles alone can accomplish a lot. I've seen it done! I wish there had been more photos of the Zorro Plaza sets. There are a few towards the end of the string of photos. (The collection includes photos from different years from the 1950's and 1960's and they're kind of jumbled up year-wise.) The photos of that area from the later 1960's that come earlier in the sequence of photos are from after the Zorro sets had been modified in the 1960's to have a European look for films like Monkey's, Go Home and others. Once when I was doing a feature on the backlot for an NFFC Chapter newsletter that I was editor of at the time, Dave Smith told me that some of the facades moved around the backlot over the years as they were needed for specific purposes in various movies. I spotted what looks like the firehouse exterior set from The Love Bug and Herbie Rides Again in one of the photos. Of course, exterior details on building were modified from film to film, as evidenced by the photos of the Western set from various years. Not specifically Disney, but there are some Disney examples, this morning I came across this page about matte paintings that I found quite fascinating. It's remarkable what moviemakers accomplished with matte's back in the day! <a target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://nzpetesmatteshot.blogspot.com/2013_02_01_archive.html">http://nzpetesmatteshot.blogsp...ive.html</a>
Originally Posted By Jim in Merced CA Great link FerretAfros. I still miss the original residential street at Universal Studios -- where 'To Kill a Mockingbird' was shot among many other movies and TV shows. Always surprised that the whole area was relocated to accommodate Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment buildings. The new street - used in 'Desperate Housewives' - just doesn't have the same charm. Studio history indeed, Mr. Spielberg!
Originally Posted By DBitz2 It was actually me that posted the link. Here's one for a neat fan site for Universal Studios. <a target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.thestudiotour.com/ush/index.php">http://www.thestudiotour.com/u...ndex.php</a> Warning, it's always hard to scroll down the photos pages when I look at the site. But, there's some neat stuff on it. I only saw the Residential street in it's original location once, during a 1980 visit. By the time I moved to CA in 1982, they had moved it up on the hillside. The Psycho house has moved around once or twice since I've lived here. When the Residential street first moved up on the hill, the houses still had their original charm. But, they've been changed a lot in the last 30 years, so a lot of that charm has indeed been lost. You can barely recognize the Munster house anymore. But, for a movie backlot, change is inevitable as things are altered for different productions. Some of that change can be for good, some not so good. Then, there are fires. I think there have been at least 3 or 4 major fires on the backlot since I've lived here. New York streets have burned at least twice and the European streets burned at least once that I remember. I do know what you mean, even though some of the changes or additions to the backlot have been interesting, I sure miss some of the stuff that used to be there. The hardest thing for me has been some of the changes made to the Western town at Paramount Ranch which I do volunteer work with. Back in the early 1980's, the Park Service tore down a neat hotel set and replaced it with a new one with completely different architecture, much to my chagrin. I was even sadder when I discovered in the course of my research work that the original hotel set had been built for a 1959/1960 Western series with Earl Holliman called Hotel de Paree and was integral to that series. It was featured again the next year in another short lived series called Klondike. If only the NPS had known back then. A lot of good changes were made for Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman. Some changes I don't care for were made for HBO's Carnivale series. But, that's the nature of the film biz! At least it keeps me busy documenting all the changes!
