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 Hollywood has long been known as the "place"
where movies are made, but today more movies are made outside of Hollywood
proper than in the city itself. For example, of the major studios, only
Paramount is still located in Hollywood. Disney and Warner Brothers moved to the
San Fernando Valley years ago and the most famous of the Valley's residents is
the theme park Universal Studios.
Even in the heyday of Hollywood's "studio system"
some of the biggest studios at the time, MGM and Culver, (also known at
different times as RKO, Howard Hughes, and Desilu studios, home to the first
taped television show - The Lucile Ball Show) were both located in Culver City.
Today the Japanese company Sony owns what is left of the old MGM lot producing
such television shows as Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune.
Today many executive offices of the major firms,
an infinite number of small production companies as well as a few small scale
studios like MTV are moving to Santa Monica - Los Angeles' Westside. Likewise
many major movie productions are utilizing low-cost locations such as Vancouver,
Morocco and numerous points beyond. In our market driven economy, that quaint
English village could easily be a New Zealand re-creation and most any desert
scene is sure to have been filmed in Morocco. Both countries offer great
incentives for foreign movie production, and it's not just American films you'll
see taking advantage of the scenery and savings.
What may be even more surprising is that
"Hollywood" is not the most prolific movie producer, just the best know.
Annually India produces more movies than the US, nearly 800 per year, with a
history going back to 1897. Ten years later Brazil produced its first film and
reached its heyday in the 1960's. During the last few years a revival in
government film production assistance has led Brazil to once again take a
prominent position on the world's cinematic scene.
Of course the best know foreign film producing
countries for the English language market are Italy and France, but Hong Kong,
Iran, Afghanistan and of course Japan, all have long traditions of producing
films as well. So where ever you go in the world, you may just happen upon a
film shoot.
This month's selection of CulturalTravels.net Hosts,
offer some of the best tours I could find to acquaint the traveler looking for a
celluloid twist, on destinations both familiar and unexplored, a behind the
scene’s view at the grand illusion that is “Hollywood”. Most listed here are
single day tours, but for a multi-day experience, a number of companies offer
extended trips which heavily feature movies such as Salzburg's The Sound of
Music and England's Harry Potter adventures.
This
month's tour hosts review:
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Los Angeles Conservancy
Pick of
the Month |
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Location: Los Angeles, California
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| Specialty: Historic Architecture of Los Angeles |
| Why
We Like Them: Besides the fact they do wonderful work preserving and
restoring the underappreciated historic architecture of Los Angeles, the
organization offers over a dozen scheduled walking tours to educate visitors to
the numerous treasures throughout the city. Most tours operate once a month but the
Broadway Theaters tour is an every week event. Other
tours include Angelino Heights, Art Deco,
The Historic Core, Little Tokyo and
Historic Spring Street: Wall Street of the West.
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Article:
Los Angeles' Historic Theaters |
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MILA Tours to Latin America
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Location: Latin America and Hemingway tours - world wide |
| Specialty: Private tours to order and specialist tours to Hemingway sites |
| Why
We Like Them: For 25 years MILA Tours has been a leader in travel to
Latin America, and their newest offering, Ernest Hemingway Tours, is sure to
bring the same kind of quality and services to travelers looking to follow in
the footsteps of the author. Hemingway scholars will accompany each tour,
sharing their historical knowledge and leading thoughtful literary discussions
about the author’s influences and legacy. |
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Article:
Ernest Hemingway Travel Destinations |
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Wanaka Sightseeing |
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Location: New Zealand |
| Specialty: Day tours featuring, movie locations, culinary and the NZ
lifestyle |
| Why
We Like Them: With over twenty years in the tourism industry, Melissa
Heath has developed a company that specializes in movie
location tours. The guides are all great storytellers who bring the scenery
alive with their accounts of the scenes shot there. Most Lord of the Rings tours offer the
chance to experience the life of a Hobbit and handle many props from the LOTR trilogy.
Their new tour The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe will be
offered in Jan 2006 to celebrate the upcoming Disney epic series The Chronicles
of Narnia. |
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Article:
Movie Tourism in New Zealand |
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San Francisco Movie Tours |
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Location: San Francisco, California |
| Specialty: Movie Tours of the City by the Bay |
| Why
We Like Them: The City’s collection of movie sights, leading back the
earliest days of film, is simply too vast and hilly to easily explore on foot,
but this tour allows you to experience the here and now as well as celluloid
history in one afternoon. The tour features scenes from the films on the bus’s
video monitor and you can then explore in person the current locations. A novel
and fun way to compare and contrast real life vs. reel life. |
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Article:
Movie Scene in San Francisco |
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Johns City Walks |
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Location: London, England |
| Specialty: 90 minute walks featuring film
sets and literature |
| Why
We Like Them: John is a City of London Guide and has extensive
knowledge of the City both past and present. He offers two City Film Set walks
as well as a Walks with Words which highlights how language influenced the
City’s development. Minimum of two and max of 25 people, these walks are a great
value and opportunity to get up-close to some of the major movie sites of
London.
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Article:
London Filmmakers Spoilt for Choice |
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Sandra Shevey Walkabout |
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Location: London, England and New York |
| Specialty: Hitchcock’s London and New York |
| Why
We Like Them: Sandra Shevey is a historian who has written on
Hitchcock’s movie locations. A great insight to the master’s creativity, Sandra brings
the visitor into the mind of director and shares the secrets of his movies and
their locations. |
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Article:
Hitchcock’s London: The Great Illusion |
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Savannah Movie Tours
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Location: Savannah,
Georgia |
| Specialty:
Movie Tours
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| Why
We Like Them: With over 75 movies
filmed in Savannah since 1915, the city has a long history
of staring in the movies; the most memorable are Forest
Gump and Midnight in the Garden of Good an Evil. Hollywood
Ron, of Savannah Movie Tours, not only leads you on a
fantastic journey through this grand city, Ron has also
worked on a number of the films he features on his tours and
offers firsthand insights. |
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On Location Tours, Inc |
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Location: New York City |
| Specialty:
Movie and TV locations |
| Why
We Like Them: Four great tours to get you feeling like a character in
the shows themselves. These tours visit the real locations of such shows as Sex
in the City, The Sopranos and a number of other TV shows and movies filmed
through-out the city. A walking tour specifically of movies filmed in
Central Park promises to be an adventure. |
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