Picture of the month - January

Governor Phillip and Governor Macquarie Towers – The Matrix Reloaded, The Man Who Sued God, Mission Impossible 2, Risk

Opera House likely to get Heritage nod

 

The Sydney Opera House – World Heritage site and popular movie location

Peter Lewis, ABC News, reports

The Sydney Opera House looks likely to obtain World Heritage listing this week when international delegates meet in Christchurch, New Zealand, to consider adding it to the register of sites.

There has been a sea change in attitudes towards World Heritage listing since the battles in the 1980s over the Tasmanian wilderness and Queensland's wet tropics.

They are now among Australia's 16 sites of natural and cultural significance.

Also on the list - the Great Barrier Reef, Uluru, the Blue Mountains and Melbourne's Royal Exhibition Building.

UNESCO's director of World Heritage Francesco Bandarin says this week the 21-country committee will hear 45 proposals for listing alongside 830 sites including the Great Wall of China, the Taj Mahal and Mt Everest.

He rates Sydney's Opera House a strong chance, calling it an icon of world architecture.

The Sydney Opera House has appeared in several movies and television shows. 

In the Cheryl Ladd television movie Now and Forever (1983), Ian Clarke (Robert Coleby) is having lunch at a café next to the Sydney Opera House when he is befriended by a woman who buys him a drink. Little does he know about Margaret Burton’s (Christine Amor) past and the trap she is luring him into. 

The iconic building was also featured in Panic at Rock Island (2011), The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008), Godzilla: Final Wars (2004), Mission Impossible 2 (2000), Looking for Alibrandi (2000), One Night Stand (1984), and Starstruck (1982). More recently, the Opera House forecourt hosted the taping of Oprah’s Ultimate Australian Adventure (2011).

Aussiewood: our guide to Australia’s film studios

A Few Best Men starring Olivia Newton-John was shot at Fox Studios in early 2011

Excerpt of a report by Georgina Pearson on the Encore Magazine website

Sydney

As Australia’s largest production facility, Sydney’s Fox Studios is spread over a 32-acre site with 155,000m2 of sound stages (eight) supported by 35,000m2 of offices and133,000m2 of workshops, construction space and art departments.

Nancy Romano, chief executive of Fox Studios told Encore that for Fox, it’s all about bringing in the big productions.

“We have three of the largest sound stages in the southern hemisphere and hence, we really lend ourselves to features that have large sets. For instance currently we are shooting The Great Gatsby and in the past have shot features such as The Matrix Trilogy, Mission Impossible II, Moulin Rouge, Australia and Wolverine.”

However, where the studio really shines is in its wider cinematic scope – Housing over 50 television and film related businesses, the studio is also neighbouring (AFTRS), the Australian Film, Television and Radio School and the Brent Street Dance School – which Romano sees as a point of difference – positioning Fox as a truly creative campus.

Romano also told Encore that its lighting department is one of a kind.

“We are the only studio that offers our industry a “one stop shop” – particularly since we recently launched “Fox Lighting” which, in itself, gives us a competitive advantage as we are now Australia’s largest studio and leading supplier of lighting equipment.”

Alongside the big budget films, Fox has been home to massive domestic TV productions such as Australian Idol and the X Factor, and is presently filming
Good News World, Celebrity Apprentice and Kitchen Whiz.

When touting for new productions Romano said it is important to use incentives that will benefit the local industry.

“We use everything at our disposal as we understand the benefits to NSW and the local industry – this includes both federal incentives and state incentives.”

With such a huge complex to fill, it would seem that Fox must sit empty for half the year in between big shoots. Romano explains that while recent dollar strength has found international productions slightly lacking, the complex is almost always buzzing.

“There are many factors which determine when and if productions come to Australia. Currently the lack of international productions is predominantly due to our rising dollar coupled with a Location Offset that is not competitive enough with other countries and certain US states, which makes life a real challenge to keep the studio busy all of the time. And Fox Studios Australia is never really completely empty. Whether it’s a feature, a television production, commercials, music videos, a fashion show or a launch, there is always something happening.”

Picture of the Month - October

Bare Island – Mission Impossible 2

Sydney on Screen: Where Opera Meets Oprah

Click on picture for larger size!

Excerpt:

"Successful daytime soap The Bold and the Beautiful (1987- ) chose Sydney for an on-location shoot in 2007 to celebrate the show's 20th anniversary. Much of the filming took place on the city's waterfront. On arriving for the opening of the international Forrester fashion boutique, Brooke Logan (Katherine Kelly Lang) makes a beeline for Circular Quay and Bennelong Point to take in the sights. Hit television series Dynasty (1981-1989) featured establishing shots of Sydney in a 1986 episode that saw Alexis Carrington Colby (Joan Collins) travel to the Australian Outback on a surprise visit to see Ben Carrington (Christopher Cazenove)."

"Just past the intersection of Hickson Road with Towns Place, you may recognise the overpass ahead of you featured in The Matrix (1999). In the classic scene shot in front of the overpass, Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss) rushes towards and into a phone booth seconds before it is crushed by a truck. When Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving) inspects the wreckage, Trinity’s body is gone. The same overpass was used in Kangaroo Jack (2003) and Better Than Sex (2000) starring David Wenham and Susie Porter."

"Argyle Place underwent an incredible transformation during the filming of Mission Impossible 2 (2000) when it stood in for Spain. In one shot, a religious procession celebrating the “Fallas de Valencia” marches up a dusty and gravelled-looking Argyle Street, past the Garrison Church. In another, Tom Cruise runs up candlelit stairs that link Argyle Street to Watson Road. These steps as well as the church can be seen in Playing Beatie Bow (1986)."

For information on how to obtain your copy of "Sydney on Screen: Where Opera Meets Oprah", contact sydneyonscreen@hotmail.com