The USA series White Collar shoots on location in New York City. A look at how a TV production films in Madison Square Park and other city locations.
White Collar
White Collar, a cable TV show airing on USA films on location in Madison Square Park. The show was created by Jeff Eastin and is produced by Fox Television Studios. In the park, Matthew Bomer the lead actor sat down among some installed chess players for an apparent meeting. The crew was shooting with a pair of Sony F-35’s, both mounted on dollies and shooting complimentary angles. This is a digital camera, with a lower resolution than the RED, but intended to replicate Super 35mm film.
Premium Rush
Premium Rush, with Joseph Gordon- Levitt films on the streets of Chelsea. Some really interesting camera rigs were being deployed, one on the front of a motorcycle, and another retrofitted on the top of a Porsche. David Koepp directs the action-thriller, a fast-paced story about a New York City bike messenger who is pursued by a dirty cop.
The Good Wife
The Good Wife is a legal drama on CBS currently filming its second season. It was created by Robert and Michelle King, and stars Julianna Margulies, Matt Czuchry, and Archie Panjabi. It is produced by Scott Free Productions and CBS Television Studios. Filming on location in a beautiful Greenpoint, Brooklyn catering hall, the set was designed to look like a banquet for 100 Black Men of Chicago, a chapter of the national community activism organization.
This is a new project from director Tony Kaye, best known for his controversial film American History X (1998). With Detachment, he again confronts serious social issues this time focusing on the American public school system. The project will present a three week long chronicle of students and teachers in a troubled district. Adrien Brody takes the lead as a substitute teacher who travels from school to school, remaining emotionally removed from the circumstances he witnesses. Marcia Gay Harden and Lucy Liu will also star in this Paper Street Films production. Filming has began in Queens and on Long Island.
This is the story of a flamboyant college student, Carmen, who comes to find that the soul of a vampire lives within him. He then struggles to choose between his friends and his destiny. Martin Yurkovic, co-screenwriter, will star as Carmen along with Dreama Walker of Gossip Girl. Bruce Ornstein gets the other writing credit, and will direct. Dan Stoloff is the cinematographer, shooting with a Red One. StudentFilmmakers Magazine visited the set, which was in an extraordinary Lower East Side building. The space, a former Gothic-styled church, was taken over completely by the production. The basement was given up to wardrobe, props, and other logistics. The balcony surrounding the main auditorium was used for lighting, and the floor below was a large open set. This room was cordoned off from all sources of outside light, and dense fog was pumped in. The eerie atmosphere was perfect for a vampire.
My Idiot Brother
A comedy starring Paul Rudd and Zooey Deschanel that portrays the relationship between a meddling brother and his three sisters. Rudd is known for his roles in Clueless (1995) and the Judd Apatow comedies Knocked Up (2007) and The 40 Year Old Virgin (2005). Deschanel is known for a number of performances, including in the films Almost Famous (2000) and The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy (2005). She is also a musician in the duo She & Him with M. Ward. My Idiot Brother is being directed by Jesse Peretz, who directed comedies The Ex (2006) and The Château (2001). Yaron Orbach is the cinematographer for this project. He has recently worked on the web series Funny or Die, but has also shot for television and for feature length dramas, comedies, and documentaries. This production is being filmed on various locations in and around New York City, from Washington Heights to The Hamptons, from a Chelsea Hotel to an obscure Williamsburg bar.
Not Waving but Drowning
This independent film will tell a coming of age story that examines the ways in which time can change us. Its focus will be on two best friends, young women, who escape small town Florida in search of themselves. The project is meant to seem like a glimpse into the diary of a maturing girl, unlocking the mysteries of a developing life. It is being directed by Devyn Waitt and produced by Nicole Emanuele, two young women who attended film school together in Florida. The production initially began in the Tampa Bay area, and has now come to NYC. The title of this film comes from a Stevie Smith poem, published with a collection of the same name in 1957. It deals with a man who, spectators thought, was waving, but he was actually drowning. The poem seems to bring up questions about perspective and about the impressions people presume about each other. It shows how wrong they can be, and how similar different actions can look from far away. It tries to remind us not to take for granted our perceptions.
Gun Hill Road
This is the first feature from up-and-coming filmmaker Rashaad Ernesto Green. Set in his native Bronx, the story deals with a man returning to his home after a three year jail sentence, and the struggles he faces in reestablishing his former place in society and his own family. Green holds degrees from Dartmouth (BA) and NYU Graduate Acting Program (MFA). He began his career as an actor, but has recently made a number of short films which have garnered critical acclaim and a good degree of attention. Notably, Choices was premiered at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival, and Cuts his latest, was a finalist in an HBO Shorts Competition. These achievements have led Green to receive a number of grants and fellowships which are helping him in the development of Gun Hill Road.
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