How and where was THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW filmed! An in-depth look at the process!

if you love The Andy Griffith Show like I do and so many other people do it's without a doubt one of the most popular sitcoms that was ever made and you have probably watched episode after episode and never really thought about how the show was produced and how is filmed and exactly where it was filmed well today we're going to take a look at all that and we're going to look at one episode in particular and the episode is called the rumor we're going to really delve into this and we're going to look at every camera shot that was made in this entire production of this episode and I think you'll really enjoy it it should be it's a very detailed video that we're gonna have but I think you'll learn a lot and you probably will look at the Andy Griffith Show a totally different way from now on out when you watch it I know when I watched The Andy Griffith Show now I look for these little details like where it was shot at whether it was shot at 40 acres or whether it was shot on a soundstage and it will surprise you how much it jumps back and forth between those two locations so let's take a look at this I think you'll enjoy now let's lay a little groundwork on on where things were filmed The Andy Griffith Show was primarily filmed in about three locations actually four if you want to count one small area but let's go through those so you understand what I'm talking about as we look at the entire filming process the first acre the first area that we're looking at here is called 40 acres and it's it's a back lot that desi Lew had that that a lot of different things were filmed on The Andy Griffith Show was filmed there real McCoys there's just tons of stuff that was filmed on this back line and you can see from this picture you can see the courthouse the hotel the theater and this is a 1965 picture all the exterior shots of the downtown area were shot here and the exterior shots of the residential street where the tailor's lived were shot here now this is what it looks like today there are the back lot does not exist there's actually some sound stages there that are some independent production companies use but it doesn't look anything like it did back in the sixties it was that was completely demolished you can see in this picture the Triangle area those buildings is where the back lot said it was a triangular shape and you can see the green area just below that that's the Baldwin scenic overlook and you can see that in the background of a lot of the shots in The Andy Griffith Show now all the interior shots were shot in Hollywood at Desi Lucca hunga and this is a picture of that and it is it's a sound studio it's an actual sound stages now I think it's called red Studios but Andy Griffith's was filmed in sound stages one and two as you can see him numbered here Dick Van Dyke was filmed here I Love Lucy Gomer Pyle USMC a lot of stuff is still filmed there but this is where all the interior stuff was done now here's another look at soundstage one and two and you can see three houses here that sit right across the street the street is called Lillian way and that was used for a lot of different exterior shots the house on the right is Thelma Liu's house and that's that's at eight-thirty Lillian way it doesn't exist anymore there's an actual parking garage there now but all the exterior stuff for Barney going to Thelma loos house was filmed at that house and so so that is another location that was close to desi Lew kahuna so all they had to do is walk out the Lillian Way gate and they're right there so it wasn't that hard for them to film exterior shots there in the last place they film is the area that's used for the opening sequence and it's where they are walking to the fishing hole and that's Franklin Canyon Reservoir and that's that's north of LA just a little bit it's not probably about ten miles north of Hollywood but it's up through the mountains of the Hollywood Hills and that's that's where any exterior shots that needed to be around Meyers Lake or or something in the wilderness like the cave rescue when they did that all that type stuff the exterior shots were filmed at that location in in Franklin Canyon so it it has changed quite a bit now there's not near as much water in that like but that's where it all begins with opening credits and it was used quite a bit as an exterior location now you know the sights that it was it was filmed at so you'll kind of understand as I explain each camera shot where it was actually filmed at okay we're looking at a call sheet and a call sheet is what the studio used to actually inform to get everybody on the same page it's used by the studio to produce an episode and it gives all the details for the different places they're going to be to shoot an episode and you can see this one is from it says call sheet up here and it's it's from Monday March 9 1964 and the actual arrival time for for most of the people is 7 a.m. the shooting call is from 8 a.m. on and you can see the title is the rumor and it up here has the the series name The Andy Griffith Show and it's got Erin rube and then it just goes down and kind of gives you who all's involved in it and then it will list the different sets and it's it says exterior Main Street montage and then it says exterior town Street montage exterior market montage exterior barbershop exterior jewelry store exterior jewelry store again and then it says residential street and then Andy's house now where all these places located well on on this particular call part right here it lists 40 acres back lot and and on on the listing it's going to say Cole town store in coldtown Street is an old name for the area that the street that ran in front of the courthouse on the 40 acres back line and you see down here it says residential street they're actually talking about the street that runs in front of Andy's house and it tells you right here how many cast members which different cast members are going to be there you can see number one that's Andy Griffith and it it over here kind of lines them out it says Andy Griffith's number one Don Knotts is number five Betty Lin is nine and it goes down it's got Ronda Jeter at she's 19 but on each scene it tells you which actors are going to be there by number and then there's an exterior gas station scene and that's also at the forty acres back lot then it's going to say that the company moves to desi Liu kohanga and that is where the bulk of the interior shots are all the interior shots were shot now they're shooting on stage two in this episode they use stage 1 and stage 2 and what they were going to do is is they were going to shoot in the morning at 40 acres right here then at 3 o'clock they were are approximately they were going to move to desi Luca hunga stage 2 and you can look down here and and you'll see it says atmosphere in stand-ins and it's it's telling atmosphere and stand-in stand-ins are the people that stand in for for another person while an actor is being filmed reading his line as you look at these clips you're gonna think that Andy and Barney may be talking to each other but they really aren't they're being filmed separately and it's being cut together to make it look like they were they were conversing and they used stand-ins to create that effect they they seamlessly pieced together all this and you never know it's happening and this is what we're going to delve into a little bit how it bounces back and forth between the camera setups they use a one camera set up it's not like today where they today a sitcom will be done with three cameras and a lot of times be done with the in front of a live audience but this was filmed more like a movie was shot and resetting the cameras is a major deal these cameras are are huge and getting the lighting and the sound right is a major deal but you can see there's people that show up for the atmosphere and stand-ins atmosphere is the conditions around the shooting that day so if it's supposed to be raining that day then they make sure it has that atmosphere if it's supposed to be scorching hot then then that's you know they try to create that look you can see that that on stage two there they're wanting a painter to be there two o'clock I'm not sure why they would want that but what they are asking for that and you can see kind of that Vance scheduled into Tuesday they're filming only at desi Lucca hunga on stage two and they're shooting in the living room of Andy's house and they're shooting an interior shot of the kitchen and Andy's bedroom and you'll see all this as we walk through and step you through this entire filming process then on Wednesday they're shooting again at desi Lucca hunga and these are interior shots at the living room and it looks like it looks like court house exteriors that maybe some that I think that maybe some second unit stuff that I'm not really sure that and you can see as it lists down here it tells everybody when they need to leave the the crew needs to leave from the Desilu location going to the forty acres back lot from the Lillian Way gate and the Lillian way gate is there's a street called Lillian way that there's an entrance to the Desilu studios from there and the funny thing about it Lillian Way has three houses on it that are used in the shooting of Vande Griffith Show and one of them is Thelma Lu's house they they only use it for exterior z' but it's right in front of this gate so when you hear Lillian way that's what they're talking about an area right in front of the the entrance or exit - desi looka hunga and you can kind of see down here they're listening for a cameraman to show up and their camera operator to show up at 7:00 some assistants at 6:30 it goes down your key grips or your dolly grips people that that actually rig things the gaffer and the best boy it just goes through all the different people and needs that the production crew is going to need during that day you can see honey wagon they're calling for that on the forty acres back light at 7:15 the honey wagon is the portable toilets they have on on a truck and trailer type system and sometimes a lot of times they'll have hook to them they'll actually have the dressing rooms for the stars to get dressed in you can see makeup and hair is supposed to be there at 7:15 and 7 o'clock wardrobe managers just all the little details that that need to be in place for this to happen you can see that that some of the equipment they're using they're using a camera truck that it needs to leave at 6:20 for now that's pretty precise but where where this camera truck is leaving from it's leaving from Gower and Gower studios is a little ways away from the desi loo kohanga studio it's not very far but it's kind of down near Paramount Studios and that's the reason that the timing is a little bit different on that and they're they're getting a camera truck from that studio which is also a desi Luce to do you can see they're calling for the patrol car to be there at 7:00 they've got buses leaving at 7:00 and as you go down here you'll you'll see a first aid person there on the 40 acres back lot a script person a second assistant director and then you've got the welfare worker and the welfare worker is strictly for the children that are on there and specifically it would be in this one it would be Ron Howard and Rhonda Jeter they would be the the two that are in this episode and you can see it's 9 o'clock when they show up and if you look up here when when Ron Howard shows up and run Rhonda Jeter they both show up at 9 o'clock so this kind of gives you a roadmap of what's what's happening and we're gonna break it down a whole lot more in these upcoming shots now the opening sequence is shot north of LA at Franklin Canyon Reservoir the opening sequence shows Andy walking down Main Street talking to various people and then he looks in the jewelry store and sees Helen now this was shot on the 40 acres back lot the view then changes to Helen looking at a piece of jewelry and this is actually filmed on the soundstage at desi Lucca hunga then Andy decides to go inside the jewelry store this is filmed at the 40 acres back lot you then see Andy walk in the store and this actually is filmed on a soundstage now the same cameras used right here it's just a more close-up shot and this is at the desi Lucca hunga location now we see Barney walking down the street he's greeting people and this is all filmed at the 40 acres back lot the camera then switches back and this is back on that soundstage again at desi Liu now this is the same camera it just follows Helen and Andy over to the counter and they start looking at a piece of jewelry but still on the soundstage now we're back on the 40 acres back lot and Barney happens to look in the jewelry store and he sees Helen and Andy in there now we're back in the soundstage at desi Lucca hunga and you're getting a view that Barney sees through the window back on the 40 acres back lot and Barney walks closer to the windows so he can get a better view then we're back on the soundstage at desi Lew and Barney sees them kissing now you get Barney's reaction and I don't think this is on on the 40 acres back line I think this is on a soundstage but he's not standing where he was then we flash back to the soundstage and and he just double checks what he's seen then we go back to a slightly altered shot that shows his reaction again now this is a clause of shots after Barney goes until Thelma Lou you'll see three different camera angles you'll see a medium shot where we see both of them then you'll see two close-up shots where they alternate back and forth talking to each other now all of the Thelma Lou shots were all shot at once and all of the Barney shots were all shot at once and they used a stand-in to use each other's part or say each other's part and then they were cut together and editing now the thing I find strange about this is the the location they're using on the desi Lou kahuna set is actually the front porch of Andy Griffith's house on that set they've just replaced a bench there and they're using Andy's house as Thelma Lou sells in this scene now this next scene is Andy's living room on the desi Luca hunga soundstage soundstage - and it's Barney telling Aunt Bea about them going to get married now we're now in the courthouse set up in desi Lucca hunga and all of these shots are different camera angles inside that same setup and they're all shot at different times you will you'll see the interaction between Andy and Barney and when they're not together in the shot those were actually shot at separate times and neither was probably in the same room together when they shot these alternating shots Andy's trying to get a guy to take some quarantine signs down and Barney's act and just really strange because he knows something he shouldn't know now we're in the dining room on the soundstage at Disney Luca hunga and Andy and Opie err or trying to figure out why aunt bee is crying and Opie comes up with the idea that that it's an allergy problem problem they keep going back and forth and all these shots are are shot at different medium locations now we're back on the 40 acres back lot just a few houses down from Andy's house but Helen is walking she's called Ethel and in this episode but it's Rhonda Jeter she's walking her home and telling her to make sure she tells her mom to put something on her thigh and then Thelma Luke comes up and tell me lose all excited because she thinks she's getting married and then Thelma Lou walks off these are all shot with different cameras and or different camera angles now we're still on the forty acres back lot just a different location it's kind of on the outskirts of 40 acres and it's where Wally's service station is and and Barney and Thelma Lou and Gomer are talking about what to do about them getting married now we're back at desi Luka hunga the soundstage and this is the Taylor kitchen and it's Thelma Lou Barney and aunt bee trying to decide what they can do for Andy and Helen as a as a wedding present and so they go back and forth but each one of these shots is a separate set up especially the close-up shots when it's an individual person like you see aunt bee the other two people are probably not even sitting sitting around there and she's talking to a stand-in and vice versa when when it's just isolated on on Andy or on Barney and Thelma Lou aunt bee is probably not even there somebody else is just sitting in and so they banter back and forth and finally decide on a bed with a hoop on it now this looks like it's done on the 40 acres back line but this is actually in on the soundstage and this is the front main street setting on the soundstage and Barney and and Floyd are going back and forth now this is a desi loo soundstage this is a room that's set up to look like Andy's bedroom this is probably actually something they had to build especially for this because it's not a site that was seen very often where there was they were shooting in his bedroom but all these camera angles are different camera angles except for a few tracking shots where they track them walking in and out of the room all of them are separate and isolated shots that they they have to set up and shoot now here we are on the soundstage that's the courthouse at desi lue and Barney's walking in to tell Andy that they're going to take them out to dinner and this is the same camera shot just a close-up shot in a distance shot and the funny thing is that they have removed the wall that is behind the file cabinet so that they can get the camera shot that they have right now now we're back on the soundstage and Andy's bedroom at desi loo now we're at the Taylor living room where you see Aunt Bea walking down the stairs and each one of these shots is an individual reset of a camera and this is all done on the soundstage there it at desi loo now we're back at the courthouse inside the courthouse on a soundstage and Barney is trying to stall Andy about taking them out to eat and he's actually going to take him over to the house and show him the new bedroom and everything and surprise them but all these are distinct separate camera shots and not everybody was present like you're seeing him right now they was all cut together and they were all these individual shots were shot at different times and made it look like they were all together now we quickly cut back over to Andy's living room on the soundstage now here we are in front of the courthouse with Andy leaning on the squad car and they're still trying to delay going over to Andy's house but this is actually shot on a soundstage it's not only 40 acres in front of the courthouse at 40 acres this is the area that is actually on the soundstage now we're back at Andy's living room which is on the soundstage and the all these are separate shots so separate that Floyd actually puts on two different pairs of glasses during this now we're back to in front of the courthouse they're in the car about to go to Andy sounds and this is on a soundstage at desi Lucca hunga now we're back at 40 acres and actually sitting out in front of Andy's house and here comes the patrol car and Gomer is going to try to whistle and he can't whistle because he's got food in his mouth and you'll see the squad car pull up here in front of Andy's house in his drive and they will walk up on the porch and look like they're going to walk directly into the house on the 40 acres lot but they don't they actually walk into Andy's house on a soundstage it looks like they walk straight in from outdoors on the 40 here's live but they don't they're they're walking in to a soundstage set and all these shots are all separate they flash back and forth between Andy and the crowd and Andy and Helen is are so surprised because they don't know anything about this marriage thing that that Barney has come up with so they just look amazed and then they walk upstairs now we're going back up to soundstage room it looks like it's upstairs but it's not actually at upstairs it's Andy's room and the whole thing kind of explodes in that and they find out that Marnie has dreamed all this up just because of something he saw and each one of these shots that you see was a different camera angle there were a few tracking shots in this part here but most of it was just different camera shots that were done done at different times and they can continue to talk and and Barney's feeling like a idiot and Andy tries tries to smooth things over as he usually does and they tell everybody to go downstairs and unless let's enjoy everybody's company and then Andy starts to talk to Helen a little bit about maybe getting married at some point when they're ready now we're back downstairs in the in the living room and we're going to move into the kitchen here and these are all separate shots on the soundstage and Barney's trying to to give everybody their money back and he's arguing with him about how much they actually donated towards this and Helen and Andy walk on past just leave the craziness alone so that's how the rumor ends and there's a hundred and sixty-three separate camera shots in in this episode if you think about it there's a lot to making an episode of The Andy Griffith Show when we watched the the thirty minute episode we don't realize what all has gone into it and how much driving around was involved and it's just kind of amazing to look at it in realistic terms thank you so much for subscribing to my channel and and watching my videos I sure thank you for watching

Channel: LandumC goes there

Views: 203,994

Rating: 4.8526568 out of 5

Keywords: andy griffith show, desilu, 40 acres back lot, 1960's sitcoms, andy griffith, where was the andy griffith show filmed, how was the andy griffith show filmed, franklin canyon reservoir, don knotts, Betty lynn, Landumc goes there, where it happened, hollywood filming locations

Id: 0H0I6sC5Y7s

Length: 31min 11sec (1871 seconds)

Published: Fri Dec 20 2019