America 2014!!: Los Angeles - Day Two (Warner Bros. VIP Tour)

The second day of our time in LA saw us visit the Grammy Museum (good but no real picture opportunities) and go on the Warner Bros. VIP Tour of the studios (excellent and some great pictures as seen below).

The iconic Warner Bros. water tower

ER Helicopter Landing Pad

The helicopter landing pad used in the TV series ER, which was based in a parking lot (see below for a picture of this in use in the TV series)

The helicopter pad in use in the TV Series ER

Town Set-up

This is a standard town set-up used in many productions filmed at Warner Bros. studios. It is one of the oldest parts of the lot and has the look of an old city. Movies that were filmed on this lot include Spider-Man and Minority Report and TV shows filmed include Friends and ER.

The main street

A corner shot highlighting the vastness of the set-up

The inside of one of the doors showing the set is just a shell with nothing inside

Brick wall - or is it? It is in fact plastic made to look like brick. The brickwork is a pattern that repeats every 8 bricks - see below

Note the way that the pattern repeats every 8 bricks

This alleyway was used in the Spiderman film (see below)

This shot was taken in the same alley as the above. The fire escape is the same as the one shown above

The back of the above set, showing how it is just a shell

Shot showing how thin the 'brickwork' is

Jungle / Lagoon Set

A ranch / small building set in a forest used in various productions, including Merlotte's Bar in True Blood (see below)

The above dressed as Merlotte's bar in True Blood

Lagoon set

Another view of the lagoon

Midwest Street Set

The view from the end of the street of another of the sets at WB. This time the theme is a Midwest town

View of the square in this town

One of the houses in the Midwest town area. This house is different from those in the Town above in that it has an interior that can be used for filming. This house was used in the Friends episode that saw the flashback featuring the Prom

Screenshot from the episode of Friends showing the other side of the open door in the above shot

Another view of the midtown set

Other Random Sets

A Chicago set. The beige building was used in hospital drama ER as the ambulance drop-off point

The central park set

The above set used in Friends. This shot is taken between the two trees to the left on the above picture

Batman Exhibitions

Throughout the tour, there were two Batman exhibitions, one featured costumes and props from the films and the other featured vehicles used in the Batman films. All of the vehicles displayed below are fully functioning motor vehicles.

Me and Dave with the Batman costume used in the most recent series of films

Props and images from Batman Begins

Props and images from the most recent Batman film, The Dark Knight Rises

Here they are!

Harry Potter Exhibition

Also on display were props and items from the Harry Potter series of films...

A spider used in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

The fireplace of letters from Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone

The costumes worn by Harry, Hermione and Ron in the final film

Severus Snape's costume

The costumes of two death eaters

Voldermort's costume

The Big Bang Theory

The biggest TV show on US television currently films at Warner Bros. Unfortunately as it is a co-production, with Chuck Lorre Productions, no pictures of the set were allowed. However we did get to see the set. It was amazing how small it is compared to what you see on TV.

The plaque confirming what films & TV shows have occupied Stage 25, currently occupied by The Big Bang Theory

Friends

One of the biggest shows to film at Warner Bros was Friends. Although Friends ceased production in 2004, the coffee shop set has been preserved for the purposes of the tour...