In addition to little differences between the old and new studios including extra windows and doors, I've noticed lately that there's other additional changes. They've ported over the old sets and/or recreated them but they've added on to some of them. Of course, the walls on all the sets are moveable to make way for the camera but some of the interior sets we always see from at most maybe two different angles. That "third" wall or... in this case, the "fourth" wall is never or rarely shown.
We do occasionally see the front wall of the Kabin but not very often the wall with the magazine racks. We also occasionally see the Rosamund Street side interior wall of the pub though I don't think we've ever seen the wall in the back room in front of the table. We almost never see the wall opposite the sofas in most of the living rooms of the houses or the angle in the corner shop that faces the cash register counter. Most of the sets that I've ever seen are erected with three walls, the fourth free for the camera and crew and that's, of course, most logical.
But, in the past couple of weeks, we've seen some new walls. Not long ago we saw the one opposite the Platts' sofa when Gail was working on her letter to Michael and this week we saw the fourth wall of the cafe behind Maria. They've obviously built some new moveable pieces to those sets to vary the camera angle.
The cafe wall, in particular, is interesting. It always looked like the cafe was fairly spacious, more than the exterior space would allow. There is a few tables to the left of Roy's counter as you face it and the camera was usually beyond that. When we saw Maria talking to Marcus on Friday night's episode, we saw the wall and the fact that the tables are right up against it. I loved seeing that and it made the cafe interior feel a lot more realistic.
It's a small caff and there would be tables placed that way, against the wall. I've been on the set and the rest of the cafe really is small. I've seen takeaway shops bigger! It amazed me how the actors can move around the furniture without knocking chairs over or bumping into each other all the time.
I'm all for seeing what we've been missing all these years. From the days when Number 5 was owned by Ivy, we know there's a fireplace against the unseen wall there. I'm going to be watching closely to see if they've given us any other new walls and angles!
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6 comments:
It's not the first time they've shown the 4th wall in the cafe.
They showed it on quite a few occasions when Roy was playing chess with Mary and that was on the old set so,don't think this has anything to do with the move to Trafford Wharf.
There is also a fireplace at the bottom of the unseen wall in number 1. As a matter of fact, I seem to remember most scenes taking place in the past episodes with the unseen wall being the one that was always seen in those days...
Occasionally - but very rarely - the brick fireplace at No 5 is shown, including one episode fairly recently. Good to know it's still there, in all its hideousness:)
I spotted the back wall in the Rovers living room in an early 1970s episode - the only time I'd ever seen it!
We saw the fireplace sides of the back rooms quite a lot in the '60s' and '70s but it varied by house, and whichever side we did see, all that week's scenes in the house would be shot that way, rather than cutaway shots.
No.1 used both sides equally from 1972 when Ken moved in until the early 1980s.
No.3 seemed to swap sides depending on who lived there - when Frank Barlow or Ernie Bishop were around it was shot from the back wall with the fireplace in view, between then and since Ernie snuffed it we've only seen the opposite side.
No.5 was always shot from the back wall all the way until 1997, probably because of that lovely brick fireplace.
No.7 was built in 1982 when filming was becoming more standardised so it's always had the same viewpoint.
No.9 was always shot from the back wall until 1975, and the opposite side ever since.
No.11 shot scenes from both sides in the early 1970s while Elsie was married to Alan Howard, but only the fireplace side since, with a couple of exceptions in '77 and '78.
No.13 occasionally shot scenes from the back wall but since the mural went up we've always seen it facing that way as it was the house's signature feature.
Yes I remember regular shots from other angles in the past, Number 5 was the one that stands out particularly. These days we don't often see the fourth walls behind where the camera usually points from. I thought it was interesting to see the cafe, I really don't recall ever seeing that wall before.
Tvor,
We saw it in the past when Roy and Mary were playing chess.
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