5 Smart Ways to Explore Film Sets Online – Our Culture

A film is visual storytelling at its best, put together by actors, producers, sound engineers, set designers, costume makers, and many others. However, once the movie is done, more often than not, the only thing that’s left is the set.

Some sets are kept intact and used as tourist attractions, like Hobbiton in Matamata, New Zealand, or the Great Hall, Diagon Alley, and Dumbledore’s Office from Harry Potter in London. Still, not everyone can afford to travel the world only to see film sets or locations (wouldn’t that be fun, though?).

Luckily, with today’s technology, we don’t have to. Here are five ways to explore film sets online.

1. Google Street View & Google Arts & Culture

These two platforms are some of the best ways to explore the world when you’re strapped for cash or don’t have the time to travel.

Google Street View places you right on the streets of any city around the globe, so put on your virtual walking shoes and enjoy the exploration! On the topic of film set exploration, you can “walk” through and visit famous filming spots, like the ancient Treasury building at Petra (used as the exterior of the Holy Grail temple in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, 1989) or the Great Skellig island in Ireland (made famous by Star Wars Episodes VII and VIII).

In London, you can even take a stroll on the famous Diagon Alley, see the train station platform (train included), or wander around the world of Harry Potter! To get there, just open Google Maps, search for “Warner Bros. Studio Tour London” and switch to Street View mode.

Google Arts & Culture gives you direct access to iconic locations around the world. This includes spots made famous by movies, but also museums and other publicly available cultural spaces that you may not even know exist.

2. Official Studio-Published 360° Walkarounds

Studios sometimes post 360° mini-tours from their lots or attractions. A good example is the Warner Bros. Studio Tour Hollywood — Experience The Jungle in 360°, which lets you spin around an outdoor backlot set, with interesting explanations on the background.

There are also situations when an actor or a producer will post images and videos during the shooting of a movie. This is a great opportunity for us, non-industry folks, to see the work that goes into creating these impressive stories.

After all, besides good actors and a solid team, you also need a fantastic set and props to make a film feel more realistic. All these elements and more are masterfully combined to bring you amazing adventures in universes far from ours.

3. Virtual Tours

Thanks to high-end tech marvels like cameras that can shoot 360-degree videos and pictures, we can enjoy realistic 3D tours of any location in the world. For instance, a 360 camera for real estate virtual tours can create click-to-move through spaces tours of museums, movie sets, churches, and even tourist locations. It’s also a great option for VR high-fidelity tours.

So, if you want to visit Downton Abbey (Highclere Castle, in real life), you can do so from the comfort of your couch. They offer 3D/VR tours (paid) where you get to explore the castle, relive sweet moments, and get transported through time and space into the story.

4. Behind-the-Scenes Videos

True fans love to see how the stories they love so much came to be, and here is where behind-the-scenes videos come in. Most of these are available on YouTube, like the  BBC Earth / Planet Earth II video series, where you can learn how they filmed the scenes, the equipment used, and more.

StarWars.som also published a 360 VR featurette that takes you onto The Last Jedi sets and even into the scoring stage. It’s an incursion into how music and film work together to create magic.

5. AR Lenses that Drop you “Onto” a Set

Big releases frequently launch AR lenses that put you inside their worlds (portals, room takeovers, costume try-ons) right in the Snapchat camera. Recent, well-documented examples include Barbie (official outfit try-ons) and Dune: Part Two (become a Fremen / sandworm ride).

If you’re not aware of this feature, open Snapchat and search for the film title in Lenses.

Wrap Up

Whether it’s Google Street View, a 3D tour, or a VR exploration, the experience is unique and can be your way of exploring the world. Give it a try and search for other famous locations and movie sets to enjoy!