This afternoon we have a tour of Paramount Studios booked so we decided to walk to the metro station to try and find a map of the transport system to help us get to the Science Centre tomorrow then we could walk round to Paramount Studios, unfortunately we were so busy looking round we actually missed the road we wanted so had to walk back on ourselves, after turning round we eventually found it but although the station was very nice, they don’t actually have any information on the lines that you can take away with you, only what is up on the wall which isn’t a lot of use! We decided to walk back towards Hollywood Boulevard via Capitol records as that is one of the more iconic buildings in LA but it was a bit further away that we thought so by the time we got there it was time to go to Paramount. A brisk walk later and we arrived at the Studio tour entrance. The groups are kept small, only 4 – 6 people in each so to some extent what you talk about and see can be determined by the group. We visited most of the departments all of which for a studio of this size seemed quite small, the sign department for the whole of Paramount only has five people for example! We then went round the props department and went and talked to the person that is cataloguing jewellery her job is to try and identify what films a certain piece of jewellery was used in or find the jewellery that was used in a specific film. Although it is different now, in the early days of the film industry a necklace could be worn by Liz Taylor in Cleopatra one week then six months later be worn by an extra in a period drama, either that or they would take it apart and create something new so a lot have been lost. We walked round the costume department when we saw some iconic clothes, the jacket worn by Arnold Schwarzenegger in the Terminator films which is actually one of about 15 jackets as they have to have a number that are in different states of repair so that they can shoot scenes out of order! We also spent some time in the archives where they are in the process of preserving all the films we were allowed to walk round the shelves and they have copies of On the water front that they are copying onto a more modern format, but they also have boxes of films that are just sitting in the corridor either because they have only just received total rights to the film or they are trying to find something. We spoke with one of the guys that works in the department and it doesn’t really sound like they have a process they are working to, he gave an example where he was asked to find specific scenes in a film that hadn’t been used in the actually released film, after a lot of searching he actually found the bit of film he was looking for in a box with a load of receipts! From here we went to the outside sets, there is actually an exhibition on this weekend and they were setting up all the various bits of equipment they want to promote to the industry it was actually fascinating to see how they put film equipment onto cars but also the harnesses they use to keep cameras steady etc. At first I was disappointed that we couldn’t see the roads as they would look in a film but with all this equipment it actually made the whole thing more real in some ways. We walked round ‘New york’ which had an interesting layout, Soho right next to Wall Street which I don’t remember being the case when we were there! But all of this is just made out of plaster that is painted, Joe our guide explained that when they want to blow up a building they fill some cannons with sponges painted to look like bricks and when the ‘explosion’ happens it is actually all these sponges being fired that makes you think the building is being distorted and if they actually need it to look destroyed it is only made out of plaster board so they just build a new one when they next need it! We stopped for drinks and snacks before our final stop which was to go into a sound studio, unfortunately although they were filming NCIS LA it was actually for something that is shown on Nickelodeon that we haven’t heard of but all the same it was great to actually walk round a set. Unfortunately that was the end of the tour and all that was left was for us to receive a ‘complimentary’ film poster and leave the lot, it was a great tour and had lasted almost five hours although it didn’t feel like it so we walked back to Sunset and Vine and jumped on a bus back to the hotel where we had a quiet bite to eat then went back to the room, I think this is one of the most interesting things we have done in LA i really enjoyed it but tomorrow we are off to the Science Museum so that will probably be as good although I am sure very different!
