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Why so much Fictional names for real areas in TV or Film?

Started by roadman65, April 22, 2022, 09:25:31 AM

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abefroman329

Quote from: ethanhopkin14 on April 26, 2022, 11:30:08 AMTo go one step further, what I was talking about is, but not limited to, the series Cobra Kai.  It takes place in Los Angeles, but filmed in Atlanta.  It's funny to see shots in the woods with trees that are changing colors and totally not trees that would ever grow in Los Angeles.  Yet, if they visit a location from The Karate Kid, since that film was shot in Los Angeles, they have to film that location in Los Angeles.  Wouldn't it have been cheaper just to film all of it in Los Angeles rather than shuttling half the cast and crew back and forth?  I don't know
I was surprised to learn that, since Daniel's auto dealership, the strip mall containing the first Cobra Kai dojo, and Johnny's apartment building sure looked like they were in, if not the San Fernando Valley, then Southern California.

Contrast that with other movies filmed in/near Atlanta: Anchorman 2 had a scene clearly filmed outside Atlanta Motor Speedway, Spider-Man: Homecoming had a scene allegedly taking place in a deli in Queens where you could see a MARTA bus roll past; Black Panther's "Museum of Great Britain" was the High Museum of Art. 


bing101

Quote from: ethanhopkin14 on April 26, 2022, 11:30:08 AM
Quote from: thenetwork on April 25, 2022, 11:17:17 PM
Quote from: ethanhopkin14 on April 25, 2022, 04:11:06 PM
Quote from: bing101 on April 25, 2022, 02:21:47 PM
This is like Atlanta, Las Vegas, Dallas, Phoenix have been used  to take the spot of "Los Angeles" to lower the costs of doing films in some places.
Toronto has been used too to take the place of New York and Chicago in Movies.

That one cracks me up sometimes....There are so many low budget films that film mostly in southern California for whatever the real location is (they need a city, LA stands in, they need a dessert, they drive out past Coachella) yet some movies that are supposed to actually take place in Los Angeles, they use Atlanta as a stand in.  I guess its because the low budget outfits "steal" shots around Los Angeles so they can use the location, but the bigger budget films have to do things the right way, so they try to not film in Los Angeles to keep down costs. 

It's funny to me to see "Los Angeles" clearly having seasons.... :-D

I see it funny when a series like CSI:Miami would shoot scenes on both coasts (not counting scene transition shots of the beach, skylines, etc...) with most, if not all of, the cast members. Locations around the Long Beach, CA area were stand-ins for many urban "Miami" scenes and the alleged Miami-Dade CSI HQ.

To go one step further, what I was talking about is, but not limited to, the series Cobra Kai.  It takes place in Los Angeles, but filmed in Atlanta.  It's funny to see shots in the woods with trees that are changing colors and totally not trees that would ever grow in Los Angeles.  Yet, if they visit a location from The Karate Kid, since that film was shot in Los Angeles, they have to film that location in Los Angeles.  Wouldn't it have been cheaper just to film all of it in Los Angeles rather than shuttling half the cast and crew back and forth?  I don't know
The most famous case of a movie taking place in "Los Angeles" is Lethal Weapon 4 where there's a car chase in Los Angeles but the scene is really filmed in Las Vegas on the I-215 freeway.  The I-210 freeway got referenced in that scene.

bing101

https://cineleasestudios.com/film-mare-island-studio/
https://filmmareisland.com/

https://cineleasestudios.com/#studios
Turns out cinelease studios is a group that is a property management group that owns some of the TV/Movie/Internet studios around the USA.
Two of the studios this group owns are in Jersey City and Brooklyn to cover the New York scenes.
Three of them are in other parts of the USA. Pittsburgh, Atlanta and Vallejo have been used for filming locations.
This is probably how movies can get away with fictional locations. Pittsburgh I'm not so sure who it's supposed to fill in for in movies for now. Atlanta yes I can see Atlanta be a fill in for Los Angeles and other parts of the SouthEast US.
Vallejo, CA yes Mare Island is a fill in for San Francisco, Oakland, Napa. If one is filming in other parts of Solano County it could be used for "Central Valley" locations or Sacramento area suburbs.




ErmineNotyours

Another example from literature: The Egg and I.  I didn't even read the book (listen to the audiobook) until after I had driven back and forth regularly to Port Townsend and saw The Egg and I Road.  Betty MacDonald doesn't mention any real cities between Seattle and Port Angeles, even though you can figure out where they are if you know the places, and Mrs. MacDonald had moved to Vashon Island by the time the book was published.

This Boy's Life claims to take place in "Chinook," Washington.  That's because Tobias Wolf's stepfather was still alive when the book came out.  However, he has his step-sister say very specifically that the school bus mileage between home and the school in Concrete was exactly 39 miles.  If you go into Google Maps and plot a trip between Concrete High School and Diablo, it comes out to exactly 39 miles.  The movie switches the home and the school cities, so that the characters can be shown casually walking around Downtown Concrete.

Henry

Quote from: bing101 on April 26, 2022, 12:39:25 PM
https://cineleasestudios.com/film-mare-island-studio/
https://filmmareisland.com/

https://cineleasestudios.com/#studios
Turns out cinelease studios is a group that is a property management group that owns some of the TV/Movie/Internet studios around the USA.
Two of the studios this group owns are in Jersey City and Brooklyn to cover the New York scenes.
Three of them are in other parts of the USA. Pittsburgh, Atlanta and Vallejo have been used for filming locations.
This is probably how movies can get away with fictional locations. Pittsburgh I'm not so sure who it's supposed to fill in for in movies for now. Atlanta yes I can see Atlanta be a fill in for Los Angeles and other parts of the SouthEast US.
Vallejo, CA yes Mare Island is a fill in for San Francisco, Oakland, Napa. If one is filming in other parts of Solano County it could be used for "Central Valley" locations or Sacramento area suburbs.




Pittsburgh has stood in for Detroit and other Rust Belt cities, which makes perfect sense, given their decline since their chief industries began to struggle in recent years.
Go Cubs Go! Go Cubs Go! Hey Chicago, what do you say? The Cubs are gonna win today!

bing101

Here is some of Lethal Weapon 4's Las Vegas Locations.


jeffandnicole

Quote from: Henry on April 22, 2022, 10:50:06 AM
Springfield in The Simpsons can't be tied to any single state because of its ubiquity across the nation. As a matter of fact, animated series can (and do) get away with locations where the mountains meet the ocean, something that live-action TV shows and movies aren't able to pull off.

Family Guy changed that up a little: it's given a fictional location but in a much more specific location.

TheHighwayMan3561

Quote from: jeffandnicole on May 01, 2022, 09:23:25 AM
Quote from: Henry on April 22, 2022, 10:50:06 AM
Springfield in The Simpsons can't be tied to any single state because of its ubiquity across the nation. As a matter of fact, animated series can (and do) get away with locations where the mountains meet the ocean, something that live-action TV shows and movies aren't able to pull off.

Family Guy changed that up a little: it's given a fictional location but in a much more specific location.

And for those who don't watch FG (or watch it that closely), it's suggested to be a suburb of Providence, Rhode Island.
self-certified as the dumbest person on this board for 5 years running

bing101


snowc

Surprised no one talked about SpongeBob, owing to his birthday yesterday.
Bikini Bottom is based on Bikini Atoll, a chain of islands (archipelago) in the Pacific.
FULL ARTICLE HERE
https://spongebob.fandom.com/wiki/Bikini_Atoll

kphoger

Quote from: snowc on May 02, 2022, 11:54:58 AM
Surprised no one talked about SpongeBob, owing to his birthday yesterday.

oh really




Also, his birthday wasn't yesterday.  It's July 14.

Keep right except to pass.  Yes.  You.
Visit scenic Orleans County, NY!
Male pronouns, please.

Quote from: Philip K. DickIf you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use them.

snowc

Quote from: kphoger on May 02, 2022, 12:00:58 PM
Quote from: snowc on May 02, 2022, 11:54:58 AM
Surprised no one talked about SpongeBob, owing to his birthday yesterday.

oh really




Also, his birthday wasn't yesterday.  It's July 14.


I'm talking about the show, not himself. July 14 is two months away.  :D

kphoger

Keep right except to pass.  Yes.  You.
Visit scenic Orleans County, NY!
Male pronouns, please.

Quote from: Philip K. DickIf you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use them.

Henry

Quote from: TheHighwayMan394 on May 01, 2022, 03:09:51 PM
Quote from: jeffandnicole on May 01, 2022, 09:23:25 AM
Quote from: Henry on April 22, 2022, 10:50:06 AM
Springfield in The Simpsons can't be tied to any single state because of its ubiquity across the nation. As a matter of fact, animated series can (and do) get away with locations where the mountains meet the ocean, something that live-action TV shows and movies aren't able to pull off.

Family Guy changed that up a little: it's given a fictional location but in a much more specific location.

And for those who don't watch FG (or watch it that closely), it's suggested to be a suburb of Providence, Rhode Island.
RI is a very small state, so it only makes sense that Quahog become a suburb of Providence.

In King of the Hill, it's been suggested that Arlen, TX, could be a suburb of Dallas-Fort Worth, given that Hank is a Cowboys and Rangers fan; it may have been based off Arlington, a real suburb with a similar-sounding name, as well as other cities around the state.
Go Cubs Go! Go Cubs Go! Hey Chicago, what do you say? The Cubs are gonna win today!

ethanhopkin14

Quote from: Henry on May 02, 2022, 12:46:17 PM
Quote from: TheHighwayMan394 on May 01, 2022, 03:09:51 PM
Quote from: jeffandnicole on May 01, 2022, 09:23:25 AM
Quote from: Henry on April 22, 2022, 10:50:06 AM
Springfield in The Simpsons can't be tied to any single state because of its ubiquity across the nation. As a matter of fact, animated series can (and do) get away with locations where the mountains meet the ocean, something that live-action TV shows and movies aren't able to pull off.

Family Guy changed that up a little: it's given a fictional location but in a much more specific location.

And for those who don't watch FG (or watch it that closely), it's suggested to be a suburb of Providence, Rhode Island.
RI is a very small state, so it only makes sense that Quahog become a suburb of Providence.

In King of the Hill, it's been suggested that Arlen, TX, could be a suburb of Dallas-Fort Worth, given that Hank is a Cowboys and Rangers fan; it may have been based off Arlington, a real suburb with a similar-sounding name, as well as other cities around the state.

It was Garland that Arlen was based on.

I think the show was intended for the town to be like a DFW suburb, but it was also supposed to be a town by itself seeing how a trip to Dallas in season 1 was a day trip (a few hours one way) and not driving from a suburb.

kphoger

The old Disney movie Pete's Dragon takes place in the fictional New England coastal town of Passamaquoddy.  There is a real bay by that name, where Maine meets New Brunswick, but no actual town by that name.
Keep right except to pass.  Yes.  You.
Visit scenic Orleans County, NY!
Male pronouns, please.

Quote from: Philip K. DickIf you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use them.

ethanhopkin14

The Buccaneers play in the fictional town of Tampa Bay.  :-D

Rothman

Quote from: kphoger on May 02, 2022, 01:06:28 PM
The old Disney movie Pete's Dragon takes place in the fictional New England coastal town of Passamaquoddy.  There is a real bay by that name, where Maine meets New Brunswick, but no actual town by that name.
Passama-what?
Please note: All comments here represent my own personal opinion and do not reflect the official position(s) of NYSDOT.

wanderer2575

Besides avoiding the possibility of offending the friendly folk in a real town, another reason might be to prevent having people flock there to see for their very selves what they saw on TV.  (How many people over the past 40 years have visited the Bull & Finch Pub in Boston solely because it was used for the exterior shots for Cheers?) 

Similar reason for the creation of the fictitious 555 telephone number prefix.

triplemultiplex

Quote from: wanderer2575 on May 02, 2022, 01:58:52 PM
Besides avoiding the possibility of offending the friendly folk in a real town, another reason might be to prevent having people flock there to see for their very selves what they saw on TV.  (How many people over the past 40 years have visited the Bull & Finch Pub in Boston solely because it was used for the exterior shots for Cheers?)

Or maybe sometimes they like the little bump in tourism; provided those additional tourists aren't douchebags throwing pizzas on people's roofs and stuff.
"That's just like... your opinion, man."

ethanhopkin14

Quote from: wanderer2575 on May 02, 2022, 01:58:52 PM
Similar reason for the creation of the fictitious 555 telephone number prefix.

This annoys me.  Not only does it take me out of the movie when a character gives a number of 555, but why can't the producers of the movie go down to the local AT&T store, buy a phone with a number in it with the unique area code to the setting of the film, use that number in the dialogue of the film, throw the phone in the closet and never answer it!  Problem solved!  No one gets annoyed to death and the film feels very real to the people who live in the area code the number is based in.  Again with multi-millions of dollars in their budget, they can't go to the store and buy a phone and plan that me as a hundredare does as well?

hotdogPi

Would using a real area code and an exchange beginning with 0 or 1 work, is it as noticeable as 555, or would it cause problems with people trying to call it?
Clinched, minus I-93 (I'm missing a few miles and my file is incorrect)

Traveled, plus US 13, 44, and 50, and several state routes

I will be in Burlington VT for the eclipse.

roadman65

WZAZ is the most common fictional radio and TV call letters ever.

Then that swinging kitchen door in all the old sitcoms.   Really?  Does anyone have them at all in their homes.
Every day is a winding road, you just got to get used to it.

Sheryl Crowe

snowc

Quote from: roadman65 on May 04, 2022, 11:15:12 AM
WZAZ is the most common fictional radio and TV call letters ever.

Then that swinging kitchen door in all the old sitcoms.   Really?  Does anyone have them at all in their homes.
Oh don't forget about WBOR in Garfield and Friends. The guy who runs it is like Mr. Goodmon from WRAL.
More info be obtained below, about WBOR in the TV Series.
https://garfield.fandom.com/wiki/WBOR
FULL ARTICLE ABOVE

kphoger

Quote from: roadman65 on May 04, 2022, 11:15:12 AM
Then that swinging kitchen door in all the old sitcoms.   Really?  Does anyone have them at all in their homes.

Every Sunday evening, we have church small group in a house with this type of swinging kitchen doors.  Does that count?

Keep right except to pass.  Yes.  You.
Visit scenic Orleans County, NY!
Male pronouns, please.

Quote from: Philip K. DickIf you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use them.



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