Starfleet Academy / headquarters / assembly room

[Pariah Carey]

Academy is, seemingly, pretty far away from the Golden gate bridge...

Assembly room, however, seems to be right next to it...

Could somebody offer some perspective on the geographical locations in this movie? Like, where Starfleet exactly is in San Francisco...

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I heard that the Academy is supposed to be on the grounds of the old Presidio. Wherever that is. (I've never been to San Fran so I don't know)

 

[Santa Kang]

The Bridge runs South (SF) to North (Marin). The Academy looks to be south east of the Bridge. Not sure exactly were though to get that view. The Academy could cover the whole northern tip of the penninsula plus Alcatraz, Treasure Island and Alameda.

 

[Pariah Carey]

I missed one little detail. The Transamerica pyramid.

 

[Maurice]

^^^
This angle was taken from the west end of the Crissy Field Tidal Marsh (clicky), or perhaps as far back as the Marina Green. It doesn't agree with a later shot closer to the stairs, which puts these stairs at roughly the old Torpedo Wharf/fishing pier (clicky) WNW of Chrissy Field.

This view agrees with the second location of the stairs mentioned above. The hills behind the bridge are at the same angle relative to the bridge towers: again, near the Torpedo Wharf.

I can see both the Transamerica Pyramid AND the BofA building (the dark box peeking out from behind the palm) in this shot, which puts this location basically on the Embacadero just north of the Ferry building at Pier 3 or out at the end of the Pier (or roughly one pier north of THIS spot (clicky)).

Finally, to reinforce this all...

Here'a a detail of San Francisco Starfleet Academy cropped from wider VFX shot. Note the Palace of Fine Arts at the left edge, and note the two "blimp" hangars to the right of it: from which the shuttles are apparently coming. Directly below them is the Crissy Field Tidal Marsh I mentioned above, separated from the Bay by a strip of land.

 

[Pariah Carey]

So basically, they messed up the geography completely, or the Academy exists on two separate locations at the same time.

Awesome post, DS9Sega,thank you very much.

 

[Sabataage]

God, I love this effects shot.

 

[Maurice]

Well, to be fair, EVERY Star Trek film that's spent any time in San Francisco has effed it up. The only real glitch is the one mismatch at the steps, which is clearly the same building backgrounds that don't match. The other shot with the pyramid could be another facility. After all, the Academy of Art University here has campuses all over the city.

 

[Santa Kang]

You'd think ILM could get it right.

 

[Pariah Carey]

You'd think ILM could get it right.

ILM doesn't do the creative part of the film making process... They're only executioners... Their job is to make the SFX look believable, and if you ask me, they nailed it. This movie is probably their finest work alongside "Pirates of the Caribbean," "Iron Man" and "Transformers."

 

[JarodRussell]

I know you're tired of hearing this, but it's just another case where the creators of this movie just didn't fucking care.

 

[Santa Kang]

You'd think ILM could get it right.

ILM doesn't do the creative part of the film making process... They're only executioners... Their job is to make the SFX look believable, and if you ask me, they nailed it. This movie is probably their finest work alongside "Pirates of the Caribbean," "Iron Man" and "Transformers."

Being located in the Bay Area they'd have better access to the location, if you know what I mean.

Man, my jokes are fallign flat lately.

 

[Pariah Carey]

Being located in the Bay Area they'd have better access to the location, if you know what I mean.

LOL, I (Star Wars geek) totally missed that!

 

[Maurice]

Actually, now that you mention it, looking at those screen-grabs, those hangars are right about where Lucas's Letterman Digital Arts center is, so those shuttles are literally flying right out of ILM.

 

[Tom Servo]

I know you're tired of hearing this, but it's just another case where the creators of this movie just didn't fucking care.

Yep, and woop di do why should they, and why should we?

Who assumes that SFA is just on one patch of ground? There could be buildings all over the city.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

23rd & 24th C San Francisco appears to have some kind of wacky multidimensional aspect to it, so that locations are constantly shifting around. I've spent way too much time trying to figgure out just where the holy heck Starfleet HQ and the Academy are.

Collecting evidence throughout the years, my best guess is that Starfleet HQ is on the Marin side of the bridge, where Fort Baker is now. And the Academy is, appropriately enough, situated on the bulldozed remains of Lucasfilm's campus in the Presidio. It's the big red squarish shape on this map.

But the OP's photos make it look like the first one is taken from Treasure Island in the middle of the Bay and the second is from the Presidio (possibly west of the Lucasfilm campus) because there isn't any flat land to build on if it's from the Marin side west of the GG Bridge.

I can see both the Transamerica Pyramid AND the BofA building (the dark box peeking out from behind the palm)

So they're at the Ferry Building? And how depressing that the ugly ass BofA building hasn't been torn down by then.

If Starfleet is all over the place (and why wouldn't they take over former military sites at the Presidio, Fort Baker and Treasure Island?) then that's fine. The only thing that gets me is the "Crissy Field" shot that shows that somebody has flattened Pacific Heights!!!

 

[Maurice]

^^^
Which Crissy field shot are you talking about re Pacific Heights? The one of the shuttles leaving? Because the rest are taken towards the bridge from parts that are already flat.

Re the San Francisco geography in other films, I posted this (clicky) a while back.

 

[JarodRussell]

I know you're tired of hearing this, but it's just another case where the creators of this movie just didn't fucking care.

Yep, and woop di do why should they, and why should we?

Who assumes that SFA is just on one patch of ground? There could be buildings all over the city.

Because for 150 million dollars, this simply sucks. Jackson did the three LotR movies for 90 millions each and WETA showed a LOT more attention to detail for all the visual effects shots.
Consistently, this entire film has been designed for looks only and not for making sense. I prefer movies to be both (and at that budget, I expect them to be, because I've already seen cheaper movies which achieved that).

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Who knows how much of San Francisco survived World War III. They could have rebuilt the entire city for all we know. In which case, some of the details are bound to be a little "off" relative to what the city looks like today.

 

[JarodRussell]

Who knows how much of San Francisco survived World War III. They could have rebuilt the entire city for all we know. In which case, some of the details are bound to be a little "off" relative to what the city looks like today.

No matter what happens in WWIII, they won't put the Golden Gate Bridge and the Pyramid closer together at screwed up angles.