Tribune video from yesterday's Transformers 4 McCormick Place filming in Chicago

Seibertron wrote:

Metrosuplex wrote:Yeah, I gotta agree with the criticisms here.

1) Why not take out some human characters (or remove a superfluous chase, boom, "BB noooo! I LOVE YOU!!!" scene)? Take that extra budget and film the damn movie in Hong Kong! Like the previous posters said, Chinese people can tell the difference. How is this a good move for impressing Chinese audiences?

2) Chicago is a very SPACIOUS city compared to places like Hong Kong. You just can't narrow the streets physically to make up for that. And all the stupid ads? It looks like cheap wallpaper to make an ugly room more homey. I haven't been to Hong Kong, but I wouldn't go to Chicago and say, "Hey! This is like Hong Kong! But no Chinese ads!"

I have to disagree. Outside of people who live or work in Chicago and Washington, D.C., what percentage of people watching Transformers 3 Dark of the Moon knew that Sam's apartment was actually in Chicago even though fictionally in the movie it was in D.C. or that the highway chase scenes outside of Washington, D.C. was actually the Chicago Skyway (or at the very least the Indiana toll road)? My point being that this is really common in films and as a U.S. citizen, I really like that this effort is being made to keep business here in America and keep American actors employed (especially with all that they did in Detroit which really needs stuff like this).

I'll side with both parties on this one.
While I know basically nothing of the Chinese culture, I agree that the scenes of China should have been done actually IN China just to avoid the inconsistencies but at the same I have to agree that keeping as much of the film here in the States as possible is a lot better for the local economy. The thing with filming here is that yes, outside of the folks in the actual locations where the films were shot, nobody is going to know the difference or care. All of North America is like this which is why Vancouver B.C. has become a hot-spot for production companies. Portions of that city has been substituted for more cities than I can keep track of and most of us are blissfully ignorant. That's fine since it's still on the same continent and most of it all looks the same throughout. (Yes, there are some obvious exceptions)
However, when you go and try mimicking something half-way around the world that looks nothing like what you have in your own backyard, you better do a ton of homework first so as you don't piss off an entire nation. That's just common courtesy (which is NOT very common these days AT ALL) and simple respect.
I don't think Bay is really doing anything to worsen the rest of the planets opinion of Americans being stupid, ignorant, disrespectful a**holes. We've pretty much already cemented that opinion ourselves into the minds of the rest of the world and even being an American myself, I really can't argue with it. We genuinely DO have some of the dumbest, most narrow minded idiots on the entire planet living here and sadly, we allow them to leave our borders and inflict their stupidity on the rest of the world.

Seibertron wrote:I think you guys are blowing all of the Hong Kong stuff WAY out of proportion. I could care less if a movie filmed in another country inaccurately portrays America in a set and I wouldn't be surprised if most residents of Hong Kong felt the same way.

Probably... no, definitely a true statement. Honestly, at the end of the day when we are all walking out of the theater nobody is really gonna care one way or the other.(except the paid movie critics and those guys are full of crap anyways)
Those that do really have bigger issues and would have been better off putting the money spent on a movie ticket towards seeing a good therapist.



I still stand by original assessment of Americans though, even if it is just a stereotype. It's a well deserved one.

Seibertron wrote:I think you guys are blowing all of the Hong Kong stuff WAY out of proportion. I could care less if a movie filmed in another country inaccurately portrays America in a set and I wouldn't be surprised if most residents of Hong Kong felt the same way.

i completely agree.. i really couldn't care less if hong kong looks like the real hong kong or not.

plus.. generally in more modern cities there are places in every city that looks extremely similar to another city.. even if it's in a different country.

in addition, i was an extra for rotf.. the "paris" cafe scene with sams parents was filmed in the courtyard of city hall.. i don't remember anyone even noticing the difference in that scene. i mean.. it's basically an enclosed area that they made look like a street corner cafe. i have no doubt that they'd be able to make anywhere look enough like hong kong that no one will be distracted during the movie.

Wouldn't it be cheaper to load a private plane with camera equipment, fly to China, and take advantage of cheap labor ??? A dollar goes a lot farther in China than it does in Chicago.