Sometimes it is hard to believe that the magic of cinema is not born in unspoilt natural places. Indeed, it is born in places specifically designed to create the sequences we see in a studio, from a distant planet to a remote forest.
These facilities, called film studios, are therefore the places where creative teams from all over the world are committed to making the magic happen on screen. Over time these spaces have become larger and larger, until some of them have become parks for us visitors. In this article we will see which are the most avant-garde studios around the world.
For example, the London Garden Studios. With its 127.000sq.ft in total, this facility cannot be left out. In addition, from next month on there will be the possibility to invest in some projects. It is a space that has: 11 serviced offices, two shooting spaces (totalling 40,000 sq.ft) and a 16,000 sq.ft workshop, adding to the three soundstages, three shooting spaces, four large fully equipped production offices and workshop units already offered.
Let’s travel a bit further: in Morocco we find one of the largest film studios in the world. Located 5 kilometres west of the city of Ouarzazate, the Atlas Corporation Studios has an area of 322,000 square meters. They have filmed numerous movies here, including American blockbusters such as “The Mummy”, “Black Hawk Down” and “Star Wars”, and they offer every day guided tours.
The studio also offers: Knight Studios, photography & film – Killarney Studios; film – Phoenix Studios; green screen, film & photography – Q Studios; television, film & photography – Revive Productions – Refinery Post Production – Rockin’ Post Production – FiX Post Production – Riot Post Production – Ian Morgan – 3D Tree F.
Another important studio is certainly Cinecittà in Italy. Since 2011 you can also visit the “Hollywood on the Tiber”. Cinecittà’s Rome studios, in fact, has also opened their doors to tourists and enthusiasts, who can walk between the sets. The permanent ones that can always be visited are the reconstructions of Ancient Rome, The Temple of Jerusalem and Florence 1400. But, Cinecittà is composed of 19 indoor theatres and many other outdoor sets that are set up temporarily for film and television productions.
They hosted some classic movies such as “Cleopatra” and “Ben-Hur”. Much of the land has been turned into an amusement park to save the 100-acre lot from closing. This led to risks for the studios: in 2006 the parent company of 20th Century Fox, Newscorp, acquired the social networking site Myspace for US$580M in an effort to keep up with its main competitors as Disney, Paramount and Warner, which had already moved into the digital distribution arena.
Another studio that has certainly played an important role in the history of cinema is the New Zealand studio of WETA. It is part of the “Wellywood”, a community based in Wellington with several production and post-production facilities. WETA describes itself as part of a neighbourhood of creative companies’36, including Weta Workshop, Park Road Post Production and Stone Street Studios, forming a close creative bond.
Over the past decade, WETA has welcomed a number of large blockbusters from overseas studios, such as the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy (2001-03), “King Kong” (2005), “The Chronicles of Narnia” (2010), “Avatar” (2010) and “The Hobbit” (2012). In addition to post-production services, the production process itself is becoming a much more global practice, a trend that is facilitating this geographical move by studios.
