Is Chicago Hollywood's newest trend? (Roberts, Detroit: rent, wedding, gym)

[treemoni]

Hollywood began in Chicago (true story), so it's just cycling back home.

[UrbanCheetah]

Originally Posted by FAReastcoast

While Chicago is clearly an awesome city, I don't think television does the city-scape any justice. While I get that Chicago can be a refreshing change to NYC in TV/Movies at times, Chicago just doesn't give me thee wow factor on TV.

I think a lot of it is the way they shoot. I mean they show nothing special of Chicago on those TV shows. They never shoot on the beaches during the summer. They never show Millenium Park, or the Museum Campus. Or Lake Shore Drive. They show the typical downtown area, that in reality aren't all that unique.

That show Betryal actually did a good job.

[stephei2000]

Originally Posted by UrbanCheetah

I think a lot of it is the way they shoot. I mean they show nothing special of Chicago on those TV shows. They never shoot on the beaches during the summer. They never show Millenium Park, or the Museum Campus. Or Lake Shore Drive. They show the typical downtown area, that in reality aren't all that unique.

That show Betryal actually did a good job.

True, I think TV shows need to feature different areas of Chicago. All I knew before coming here in 2007 was tall buildings downtown and The South Side. I was in awe when I first saw Lakeshore Drive. I did not even know it existed.

If they shot more views like that Chicago would look amazing on TV. Unfortunately the only time I saw Lakeshore footage angles was on a story about Chicago Crime back in 2008 talking with Mayor Daley, but the views made Chicago look amazing!

[UrbanCheetah]

Originally Posted by stephei2000

True, I think TV shows need to feature different areas of Chicago. All I knew before coming here in 2007 was tall buildings downtown and The South Side. I was in awe when I first saw Lakeshore Drive. I did not even know it existed.

If they shot more views like that Chicago would look amazing on TV. Unfortunately the only time I saw Lakeshore footage angles was on a story about Chicago Crime back in 2008 talking with Mayor Daley, but the views made Chicago look amazing!

Right they just feature downtown buildings that's all. While downtown is one of the most important parts of the city, if not the most, I don't feel it gives you a true feeling of the city. I feel like a true feeling of the city would be shooting in places like six corners on Milwaukee/Damen/North, or Lake Shore Drive, or Logan Square, etc. What really gives Chicago it's flavor. Downtown is amazing but is very sterile in character. Everytime I see Chicago in movies and what not, for the most part, Chicago is displayed in a sterile manner.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by UrbanCheetah

Right they just feature downtown buildings that's all. While downtown is one of the most important parts of the city, if not the most, I don't feel it gives you a true feeling of the city. I feel like a true feeling of the city would be shooting in places like six corners on Milwaukee/Damen/North, or Lake Shore Drive, or Logan Square, etc. What really gives Chicago it's flavor. Downtown is amazing but is very sterile in character. Everytime I see Chicago in movies and what not, for the most part, Chicago is displayed in a sterile manner.

Totally agree. I was trying to even find pictures once of Milwaukee/Damen/North on a typical weekend night and I couldn't find anything. Not even videos. People are out enjoying themselves, so it makes sense. I love street scenes and street vibrancy, so maybe I'll become like Vivian Maier and take some random pics all throughout town.

It's true though, besides the downtown area, the image of Chicago is not much. It's usually just "ghetto" (which we know that not all bad areas look bombed out anyway). Some shows like Chicago Fire have done an OK job showing other parts of town, but it still doesn't make you get a feel for the city like it should.

[ChiNaan]

Originally Posted by UrbanCheetah

I think a lot of it is the way they shoot. I mean they show nothing special of Chicago on those TV shows. They never shoot on the beaches during the summer. They never show Millenium Park, or the Museum Campus. Or Lake Shore Drive. They show the typical downtown area, that in reality aren't all that unique.

Don't forget the elevated trains. Holy crap does Hollywood love them some el tracks. If you had never been here and only knew of Chicago from movies/TV, you'd think we have at least one track crossing every block and parallel tracks above 1/3 of our streets.

The way Chicago was portrayed in Blues Brothers and Ferris Bueller made me want to go there as a kid. I still have friends who want to see locations from those movies when they visit the city.

I have no idea why LSD isn't shown more often by Hollywood, though. It really should be.

[UrbanCheetah]

Originally Posted by ChiNaan

Don't forget the elevated trains. Holy crap does Hollywood love them some el tracks. If you had never been here and only knew of Chicago from movies/TV, you'd think we have at least one track crossing every block and parallel tracks above 1/3 of our streets.

The way Chicago was portrayed in Blues Brothers and Ferris Bueller made me want to go there as a kid. I still have friends who want to see locations from those movies when they visit the city.

I have no idea why LSD isn't shown more often by Hollywood, though. It really should be.

I think the only time I have seen LSD in a movie, was in some stupid Julia Roberts movie. It was actually a real nice scene. It's the view from in the area between North Ave Beach and Oak Street Beach and then pans up to the John Hancock.

I haven't seen the Blues Brothers since I was like 10 so don't remember much. But Ferris Bueller, I like how they represent the city. I feel like it real made Chicago feel like a cool and warm (people wise) city.

[andrew61]

Originally Posted by FAReastcoast

While Chicago is clearly an awesome city, I don't think television does the city-scape any justice. While I get that Chicago can be a refreshing change to NYC in TV/Movies at times, Chicago just doesn't give me thee wow factor on TV.

While Chicago doesn't look anything like NYC on TV, it still comes across as very photogenic, IMO.

One TV show I used to watch just for the Chicago scenes was the 1990s show "Early Edition", starring Kyle Chandler. I thought the premise was pretty hokey -- some guy gets tomorrow's newspaper today and then has to go out and stop all the disasters from happening -- but when it comes to showing different parts of the city, I thought they did a pretty good job.

[gerrythesnake]

Originally Posted by andrew61

While Chicago doesn't look anything like NYC on TV, it still comes across as very photogenic, IMO.

One TV show I used to watch just for the Chicago scenes was the 1990s show "Early Edition", starring Kyle Chandler. I thought the premise was pretty hokey -- some guy gets tomorrow's newspaper today and then has to go out and stop all the disasters from happening -- but when it comes to showing different parts of the city, I thought they did a pretty good job.

If they can portray Atlanta's Piedmont Park as Central Park in NYC in movies they damn sure can do the same with Chicago

[nearnorth]

Originally Posted by treemoni

Hollywood began in Chicago (true story),

Them plate tectonics is amazing, ain't they?