Tuesday, September 15, 2015
This City Might Be the Most Overlooked Background Actor in the World
The Creators Project: Whether you know it as the Canadian Hollywood, or the butt of jokes about it being the Canadian Hollywood, Vancouver, B.C. is one of the most prolific chameleons in the movie biz, tricking audiences into thinking it's New York, Chicago, Gotham, Tokyo, Pyongyang, or Absolutely Nowhere, U.S.A.
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Interesting take from a local on film production in his city. I think Vancouver actually has a good thing for for it, even if the city itself isn't getting credit for its scenery. There aren't many cities that have the ability to pass off as hundreds of locations at once. For example, Pittsburgh is a beautiful and scenic city, but it has a very specific look to it. I'm not so sure Pittsburgh would be able to pass off as a city in Japan or France like Vancouver can. The only downfall I see in Vancouver's vague look is the lack of tourist attraction. For example, since Perks of Being a Wallflower was clearly filmed in Pittsburgh, the film perhaps has drawn some tourism to the city. In Vancouver, this is not the case, since most people probably don't know the films they are watching were filmed in Vancouver in the first place. With that said, I am sure the economic advantage of having Vancouver be a "blank slate," attracting tons of film production, far exceeds the amount of tourism they would benefit from if the city itself had the spotlight.
I've always been somewhat aware that there are a great deal of movies and television shows that are filmed in Vancouver. Especially when I started seeing similarities between locations in many movies. The one thing I never considered was how Vancouver and its people think about so many things being filmed there. On the one hand, there is something very exciting about seeing your hometown being featured in a huge, star-studded blockbuster; even if it is playing a character. But on the other hand, I can imagine how annoying it is, not only because Vancouver is never portrayed as itself, but also how much of a nuisance it must be to have people filming in the early hours of the morning, having people cover up the name of your shop, and having major streets close down. But as the video says, Vancouver is the perfect actor to play these characters. Having a city like this with so many blank buildings allows filmmakers to make a film anywhere is such a cheap location. But what I think the creator of the video is trying to say, is that the movie is developed for a specific location such as DC, Boston, Japan or LA, and the filming is set in Vancouver as an afterthought. What this guy wants is Vancouver to be the first thought. Not only have Vancouver play itself, but also just simply have a movie about Vancouver.
As sad as it is for Vancouver to not have an identity of its own, you've got to give it up to the art department and media department for being as badass as they are to transform the city into so many other different cities. It actually blew my mind that they filmed three very, very different cities in locations of Vancouver within a fifteen minute radius of each other. It's certainly interesting that all of our cities, when we film outside locations of them, immediately become representative of the cities they're being filmed in. Me, Earl, and the Dying Girl, for example, uses the Pittsburgh architecture to its advantage so well that it's hard to see it as any other city. And you can't just film in outside NYC without labelling it as such, because every street (save some parts of the boroughs outside Manhattan) are so iconic that you'd ruin the movie experience by lying. But Vancouver is a city that doesn't have that iconic quality to it, however beautiful it looks. And honestly, it makes the prospect of moving there even more attractive to me.
I have noticed, especially in recent years, that Vancouver frequently pops up in the credits of major movies. While I was still in high school, several of my friends and I even planned a trip (that never happened) to Vancouver to be extras in a movie based off of a book series we adored. In my mind, Vancouver developed a very specific identity. A different sort of Hollywood, without the apparent pretentiousness and plasticity. It seemed more genuine, and not as relentlessly overbearing as other cities known as popular filming locations.
I do understand the creator's call for more of a true "identity" for Vancouver. I do. And yet, doesn't every city struggle with this to some degree? As a resident of the Northern Virginia suburbs, just outside DC, I can't help but roll my eyes at the sweeping generalizations made about the area in every show that crops up about politics or the CIA or the FBI. The DC portrayed isn't the real, true DC. This problem of a city being recognized for itself is a double edged sword.
This article is really interesting because I never have really looked closely at the cities in movies. It is really cool how Vancouver can be transformed into different cities. This also points out how easily tricked we are by a few well placed signs. I especially loved how USA today newspaper boxes are considered to help Vancouver seem like an American city. Its really funny how such a small detail really goes a long way. I think that it is really cool how a city is actually an actor in movies. I thought that it was interesting how the same buildings and areas are used for different things, and just by changing the camera angle, lighting, and some SFX, it is a completely different location. I also thought that how buildings are typecast is kind of weird. The next time I am at a movie theatre, I will definitely pay more attention to the city around the action, as well as looking to see where it was filmed.
As sad as it is for Vancouver to have such a general identity, the thing that I was most interested in about this was just how drastically the combination of camera techniques, well-placed props, and lighting can change the city. In the video it shows the same theatre from two different camera angles, in two different movies. The space looked almost completely different! Of course, there were some recognizable features, but as an outsider they were two different places. Yet these tricks can only work their magic if one is unfamiliar with either Vancouver, or the city that has been disguised as. When movies supposedly take place in Seattle, sure the weather is the same, and the space needle hovers on the skyline, but there are other landmarks missing that a Seattle resident would notice. In their place, landmarks appear that are familiar to someone from Vancouver. It’s certainly something that I will be paying more attention to in the future!
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