Have you ever heard of the drama Pretty Little Liar? It’s a mystery drama series that has been earning a lot of attention since when it started in 2010. Recommended 14+, Season 6 of pretty little liars started off 2.25 million total viewers and a 1.06 rating among adults 18-49 in mid - 2015. (http://deadline.com/2016/01/pretty-little-liars-ratings-rise-shadowhunters-debuts-freeform-1201682580/)
On the 13th of February I had the experience to have a tour around the PLL film scene in Warner brothers studios tour.
Firstly, we were taken to the woodland of the tour, which had the wooden barn right next to it, where Alison went missing (picture below). However, the Pretty little liar fans, who were participating in this tour, pointed out, that the houses and sets, shown throughout the whole tour were much smaller and unrealistic than how it seemed to be when they were watching it on TV. Sienna Fenton, one of the viewer on tour, commented, “This is unbelievable, I mean what I saw on TV is almost 2 times bigger than the set… But it’s really interesting to see the set, in contrast to what we see on screen.”. For example, the set for Alison’s house, which looks so natural on TV yet in real life, had so much flaws - as the bricks of the house were not authentic. Next, we passed by, Emily’s house and Hannah’s house - that we could only see from the outside.
The most interesting part of this tour was when we were allowed in the indoor scenes of Pretty little liar, which we weren’t permitted to take photos of. In this indoor area, there were the school, lockers, Toby’s house, brew, Hannah’s kitchen and much more. Most of these sets had no ceilings and the floor was just plain. Also the outer walls of the rooms were just wood, which made it look almost like a construction site. Again, all of them were very small and vague. compared to what the viewers saw on the television. However, the most fascinating part was that these rooms and set were sometimes right next to each other. For example, the school was right in front of another character’s house, but they would adjust the windows and sections of the set to make it seem like they were in completely different places. But, another idea that surprised the viewers of the show was that it takes 8 - 14 weeks to film an episode, which means that it airs almost after a month it has been filmed. Also, the actors, on average, spend 12-15 hours a day as they have to film from different perspective and retake.
Overall, this really shows the amount of effort that is put into just 1 hour's worth of film and the difference there is with what we see on screen and in real life. This tells us more about the work it takes to become an actor and director. We show all learn to appreciate the work more, as behind the scenes, as actors spend up to 15 hours a day to produce it and more to edit.
Cho, JuHyun (Julie)
Year 9 (Grade 8)
Dulwich College Seoul