House of Illusions

I have always thought of Hollywood as one big circus, not because of the craziness that goes on, but more as a Fun House amusement feature. More specifically I look at it as the Hall of Mirrors. I say this not because it is always changing or because the same street looks completely different from day to night, but because Hollywood is a city of illusions. If we did not have Penn and Teller, Chris Angel, Houdini and other amazing illusionists and magicians I would say that the city of Hollywood is one of the oldest and greatest magicians ever.

Hollywood has always been known for its ability to create anything it wants through the magic of smoke and mirrors. The director finds the most talented magicians in the arts and skills required to accomplish the desired look and effects needed to achieve their vision. For example, when the latest TRL (MTV Total Request Live) set was built the set designer was asked to create colorful light panels on the smallest budget possible. After doing some research they found that they could create the desired effect by painting metal pasta strainers bright colors, drill a whole through the bottom of the base large enough to fit a light bulb through to screw into a power source that would be attached to set structures. If you were to attend a taping of TRL or catch one of the final episodes before the show ends in November, you will see the bright lights lining the entrances to the main studio and they look as though they are amazingly bright color fixtures, not the smoke and mirrors that truly make up the visual appearance you are seeing.

These are common practices throughout the industry. Former sets are restructured and painted so that they do not appear to be the same house, street, car, or room show after show. The Munsters’ house has been seen in multiple films and television shows throughout the years, yet you would never know it was the same house unless you were made aware of the tricks used by the set designers. Even more impressive is the fact that the most elaborate sets could in fact be nothing more than large amounts of Styrofoam sculpted into whatever furniture, technological equipment, or fictitious shape needed to create the world of film and television. Nip/Tuck is one such set.

Walking around the Paramount Studios lot, you will pass several sound stages that are currently used for multiple scenes including the operating rooms used for some of the shows more graphic scenes. The unusual thing about the set is that each piece of equipment is nothing more than huge pieces of styrofoam that have been sculpted by the art team, which are full sized replications of an x-ray machine, CAT scan machine, and other large medical equipment they did not have budget for renting or a location with the equipment in the room, so they did the next best thing and created it in a cheap and effective way.

Dirty Sexy Money is another set that using magic tricks to create the elaborate sets that are seen in each and every episode. The limousine that the Darling’s are seen riding in is actually only half of a limousine. If you were to see it in person, it would look like a vehicle that had been ripped open by the jaws of life but the effect this trick has is that it allows for a camera operator and audio technician to be in the vehicle with the cast while shooting the scene. The trick is used to make the appearance that they are seen riding in the vehicle without limiting camera movement and acting limitations due to minimal space. Even their Manhattan penthouse is a façade with a window that opens to a cement wall. During an actual shoot when the window is in the frame, a canvas is placed in front of the wall that is a scaled painting of the New York skyline. Matte paintings and canvas are used all the time to complete a set when the actual location is not available or non-existent in the real world. Scaled models and matte paintings complete the façade that is sometimes needed with all of the fantasy worlds that Hollywood creates for us to escape in, yet little hints of the real world like a vase of flowers or fresh fruit in a kitchen make all the smoke and mirrors feel a little more realistic for the actors, as well as the audience.

Sets design is not the only use of magicians that Hollywood has been using since the first moving picture was released. Make-up, visual effects, scaled models of all sizes and animatronics are all tricks of the trade. Hollywood can turn the most beautiful actor into one of the most hideous monsters, which we hope not to encounter in our dreams. It can animate a metal skeletal structure covered with dark fur into a creature we know as King Kong. It can transform a Ford Mustang into a an outer space being we know as the autobot Bumblebee in a seamless visual effect that makes Transformer fans mouths’ water. It can also create worlds we only dream of from some of the greatest pieces of fantasy and science fiction literature, such as Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Interview with the Vampire, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, the upcoming release Twilight, and many others. But Hollywood is learning to adapt in many other ways.

Hollywood has adapted with the always-improving technology advances. Action films have bigger bigger explosions, more impressive fight sequences and amazing visual effects. Horror films have scarier villains, more graphic gore and the storylines are more twisted than ever. Drama films have more elaborate sets and wardrobes to fit the elegance of the period in which the stories are set in. Romantic–comedies are a little more physical in the humor and the dialogue and courting methods are changing with what it is like to date today in the real world like in Kate Hudson’s latest film, My Best Friend’s Girl. The language was harsher, the physical action more obviously sexual and frequent. All this would have embarrassed my Grandmother’s sensibilities and her era of the romantic comedy, such as Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in Top Hat or Jack Lemon and Shirley MacLaine in The Apartment, but all this said, the essence of the Hollywood Romantic Comedy is delightfully the same. All of these adaptations are needed for Hollywood to stay up-to-date with its story telling so that audiences continue to enjoy and love what the magicians come up with.