Either way, I don't think a few token establishing shots really count as employing a location. Employing something means using it, putting it to work -- not just putting a picture of it onscreen for five seconds.
OT: Greg Cox The 4400 novel
- Thread starter phrog
- Start date
Either way, I don't think a few token establishing shots really count as employing a location. Employing something means using it, putting it to work -- not just putting a picture of it onscreen for five seconds.
Try telling that to our receptionist at work. She uses her brain for about five seconds and she's employed.
OK, you got me there.
Since I'm not familiar with either LA or NYC, could you give me some examples of how pathetic their being? Is it just the establishing shots flying over the city or what?
Can't argue with that.
Gah, I can't believe I forgot about Ira Steven Behr.
Gah, I can't believe I forgot about Ira Steven Behr.
Who is actually visible during the last scene of the final episode. Look for the bald guy with the blue beard attending Collier's big pep rally downtown!
I believe exterior shots and outdoor stuff is done in NY. I have, in the past, seen crews all over Manhattan who when I asked what they were shooting they told me CSI.
^ Not all their outdoor scenes are done in NYC. Just as The West Wing would travel to D.C. every few months to do a bunch of exteriors there, and ER does likewise for Chicago, CSI: NY travels to NYC every once in a while to do some exteriors. But while they do do some exteriors in NYC, not all their exteriors are done there, and hoo hah can you tell the difference -- or, at least, I can.
The main difference between LA and NYC is that in the former, everything is spread out and sprawling. In NYC, everything is packed in and close together -- a claustrophobe's nightmare, as opposed to LA, which is an agoraphobe's nightmare.
So whenever CSI: NY films exteriors in LA, it's immediately apparent, because everything's too far away from everything else. (My favorite was the recent episode "Playing with Matches," in which the writers postulated the physical impossibility of "street luge" being done in midtown Manhattan. Street luge is a SoCal phenomenon, and could not possibly happen in midtown. The street they used as "the graveyard" was so obviously an LA street, it wasn't funny...)
The main difference between LA and NYC is that in the former, everything is spread out and sprawling. In NYC, everything is packed in and close together -- a claustrophobe's nightmare, as opposed to LA, which is an agoraphobe's nightmare.
So whenever CSI: NY films exteriors in LA, it's immediately apparent, because everything's too far away from everything else. (My favorite was the recent episode "Playing with Matches," in which the writers postulated the physical impossibility of "street luge" being done in midtown Manhattan. Street luge is a SoCal phenomenon, and could not possibly happen in midtown. The street they used as "the graveyard" was so obviously an LA street, it wasn't funny...)
Or anywhere as depicted on Supernatural....And let us not get into the whole issue of "Kansas" as depicted on SMALLVILLE . . . .
I stopped watching Supernatural after three episodes, it just wasn't holding my interest.Or anywhere as depicted on Supernatural....And let us not get into the whole issue of "Kansas" as depicted on SMALLVILLE . . . .
As for Smallville, I suspend my disbelief because Metropolis was never seen to be THAT close to Smallville in the original comics (is it an hour or two away these days?) While I don't read them, my uncle has an impressive collection and he reminds me on every occasion that "Smallville" got it wrong. Hell, I don't remember it ever being said that Metropolis was even in Kansas.
Get your points about NYC and LA though, but what about CSI:Vegas? How often are the exterior shots obviously NOT Vegas?
^^Well, to be fair, Smallville wasn't established to be in Kansas until Superman: The Movie, I think. The locations of Smallville and Metropolis have often been fairly vague, so I don't see a problem with employing poetic license. And it's kind of silly to say Smallville gets it "wrong" when it's clearly an alternate interpretation. I mean, that's like complaining that Batman: TAS got it "wrong" by putting Dick Grayson in Tim Drake's Robin suit or having Hugo Strange be a contemporary of Bane. Or that the X-Men movies got it "wrong" by having Iceman be a contemporary of Rogue.
Still, Smallville has often postulated an implausibly brief commute between its titular burg and Metropolis. I'll grant that. It would pretty much have to be a suburb of Metropolis to justify the travel times we've seen.
Still, Smallville has often postulated an implausibly brief commute between its titular burg and Metropolis. I'll grant that. It would pretty much have to be a suburb of Metropolis to justify the travel times we've seen.
I don't mind that Metropolis is in Kansas, according to SMALLVILLE. I was mostly joking about the oddly Northwestern terrain you see on the show sometimes. Mountains, pine forests, waterfalls, pine forests, etc.
Kind of like that famous shot in RUMBLE IN THE BRONX in which you can see the Cascade Mountains looming over "New York".
Kind of like that famous shot in RUMBLE IN THE BRONX in which you can see the Cascade Mountains looming over "New York".
From what I saw of Vegas when we driove there from Phoenix, they do a pretty good job . Pretty much all of the Southwest looks the same, so as long as they aren't in The Strip it's pretty easy to pass LA off as Vegas. Same goes for Phoenix, when we went we joked around about not even having left AZ because we honestly couldn't tell the difference.I stopped watching Supernatural after three episodes, it just wasn't holding my interest.Or anywhere as depicted on Supernatural....And let us not get into the whole issue of "Kansas" as depicted on SMALLVILLE . . . .
As for Smallville, I suspend my disbelief because Metropolis was never seen to be THAT close to Smallville in the original comics (is it an hour or two away these days?) While I don't read them, my uncle has an impressive collection and he reminds me on every occasion that "Smallville" got it wrong. Hell, I don't remember it ever being said that Metropolis was even in Kansas.
Get your points about NYC and LA though, but what about CSI:Vegas? How often are the exterior shots obviously NOT Vegas?
Regarding Smallville... I've just kinda related Metropolis as Kansas City and Smallville as Leavenworth. (The fact that KC has been mentioned in one episode not withstanding). Based on the vast differences Smallville has to pretty much all other incarnations of Superman I've just accepted that Smallville is its own entity in its own universe where things are all quite different.
Back on topic though... I'm VERY much looking forward to the 4400 books and desperately hope that, whoever TPTB are, approve any proposals to do books set after the end of the series so as to wrap that ridiculously large dangling thread up.
Back on topic though... I'm VERY much looking forward to the 4400 books and desperately hope that, whoever TPTB are, approve any proposals to do books set after the end of the series so as to wrap that ridiculously large dangling thread up.
Back off topic 
, what amuses me about the show is that -- since the needs of episodic TV required them to populate Smallville with any and every establishment they needed to drive their stories, including a large high school, numerous businesses and industries, and ultimately even its own university (though that came later) -- they justified the name "Smallville" by claiming it was a city founded by a Mr. Small, rather than going with the original, more literal meaning of the name as the quintessential small town. I suppose putting Metropolis right next door was another way of filling that storytelling need. (By now, though, the show has reached the point that it might as well be renamed Metropolis, because so much of the story and action takes place there now.)
, what amuses me about the show is that -- since the needs of episodic TV required them to populate Smallville with any and every establishment they needed to drive their stories, including a large high school, numerous businesses and industries, and ultimately even its own university (though that came later) -- they justified the name "Smallville" by claiming it was a city founded by a Mr. Small, rather than going with the original, more literal meaning of the name as the quintessential small town. I suppose putting Metropolis right next door was another way of filling that storytelling need. (By now, though, the show has reached the point that it might as well be renamed Metropolis, because so much of the story and action takes place there now.)
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Waitaminnit, waitaminnit ... Keith and Greg, you're telling me that Smallville AND Supernatural are not really filmed in Kansas?
That's just crazy talk.
Bubba D. (Okay, the joke here is that I've lived in Kansas for almost 40 years)
That's just crazy talk.
Bubba D. (Okay, the joke here is that I've lived in Kansas for almost 40 years)
