Films Set/Filmed in Chicago
For my Formal Film Study, I chose to study movies that were filmed in the beautiful city of Chicago. From many to pick from I went with The Dark Knight (2008), Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1985), and Home Alone (1990). I chose these three films specifically because they all show a lot of the setting throughout the film and highlight the city of Chicago.
The first film I watched was Ferris Bueller's Day Off. This movie has always been one of my favorites. I am a big fan of movies that were made in 1980s because so many iconic movies were filmed in that decade like this one and another one of my favorites, The Breakfast Club. If you haven't seen this movie before, basically, it's about a high school senior who is determined to have a day off from school because it is such a beautiful day and he does not want to be stuck in school. I know the feeling. Ferris and his friends head downtown after they ditch out on school. There is also a few scenes where Ferris is singing on a float during a parade on the streets of Chicago. The director of the film, John Hughes, wrote the screenplay in less than a week and shot the film on a budget of $5.8 million over a span of 3 months. This film features many famous Chicago landmarks including the Sears Tower and the Art Institute of Chicago. The film was said to be Hughes' "love letter to the city." Hughes stated, "I really wanted to capture as much of Chicago as I could. Not just in the architecture and landscape, but the spirit."
The second film that I watched was The Dark Knight. I also think very highly of this movie. It is definitely one worth watching. The Dark Knight was filmed primarily in Chicago, as well as in several other locations in the United States, United Kingdom, and Hong Kong. After doing some background research on this movie, I found out that Warner Brothers Studio chose to film in Chicago for 13 weeks, because Nolan had a "truly remarkable experience" filming part of Batman Begins there. Unlike Batman Begins, scenes of this movie were shot in a way that sort of "disguises" Chicago. Many recognizable locations were used in the film, such as the Sears Tower, Navy Pier, 330 North Wabash, the James R. Thompson Center, Trump International Hotel and Tower, LaSalle Street, The Berghoff, Randolph Street Station, and Hotel 71. Brach's factory was used as Gotham Hospital. The Van Buren Street post office doubles as Gotham National Bank for the opening bank robbery. Several sequences, including one car chase, were shot on the lower level of Wacker Drive. The Marina City towers also appear in the background throughout the movie. The difference between this film and Ferris Bueller's Day Off is that this movie "disguises" Chicago because they are really trying to show a made up city named "Gotham" and in Ferris Bueller's Day Off, they are trying to show off the city.
The final movie I chose was Home Alone. Everyone has seen this movie (at least I hope so), it's a classic. The film stars Macaulay Culkin as Kevin McCallister, a boy who is mistakenly left behind when his family flies to Paris for their Christmas vacation. Kevin initially loves being home alone, but soon has to defend his house from two local burglars. Home Alone was set and mostly shot in the greater Chicago area. The airport scenes were filmed in one part of O'Hare International Airport which is so cool to me. The scene where Kevin is in the flooded basement when trying to outsmart the burglars was shot in the swimming pool of New Trier High School. Unlike The Dark Knight, the viewers know that the setting of this movie is the suburbs of Chicago because it is blatantly mentioned in many scenes.
No comments:
Post a Comment