I went to Pinewood Studios last weekend -- where Superman, The Shining, Aliens, Batman, The Dark Knight, and all the Bond movies were filmed -- so it's quite a movie mecca. I can't say what I was doing for contractual reasons (beyond obviously being involved in a film), but it's not as exciting as you might be assuming, so please don't worry about it...
The weekend was good fun, even if there's only so much you can't see of Pinewood's inner workings. Apparently, the 007 Stage contained the Forbidden Forest from Harry Potter, which was filming both days, but things were dead beyond that. There wasn't enough going on to justify a proper, extensive post on the subject, so I'll just break it down into some random observations instead:
- I stood beside the tree planted in memory of "Q" (the late Desmond Llewellyn) and Barbara Broccoli's parking space.
- I wandered around gardens used in countless movies, particularly many of the Carry On films and the opening sequence of From Russia With Love.
- I saw trophy cabinets in an art deco-style admin building, containing a selection of BAFTAs, Oscars, Emmy's, etc. The visual effects Oscar for Superman was there. Plus lots of signed photos and storyboards from films like "Children Of Men" and "Little Shop Of Horrors."
- I went inside a post-production office building which contains lots of subsidiary companies, most working in TV. If you want to know where they colour grade My Family, I'm your man.
- It's kind of cool to see massive posters for films on current release (like Creation) on the side of stages, and knowing those films were recently being made inside.
- There was a gigantic bluescreen in front of a water tank (for filming ships at sea, etc) and some fake streets to gawp at (some used in The Bank Job, apparently.) That said, the in-development "Project Pinewood" will make that side of things a lot more impressive, as they're going to recreate streets from world-famous cities like San Francisco, Amsterdam, New York, etc. When that's all done, they need to open this place up to the public and start doing those guided tours you see in Hollywood. I wanted to see a tour guide barking information through a megaphone to a carriage of holidaymakers, but it wasn't to be.
- The entrance is very swish and American (see above), in contrast to the quaint "traditional entrance" to the studio you may have seen in old newsreels from the '60s.
