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This Retro Map Showcases The L.A. Landmarks Of 'La La Land'
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Finding 'La La Land' (Designed by Brian Miller, courtesy of Fandango)
Watching the trailers for La La Land, which comes out next week, one can't help but notice that the every shot seems to incorporate at least one memorable L.A. landmark. Oh look, Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone are kissing on Angels Flight! Hey, there's people dancing in the middle of a traffic jam.
In fact, the film was shot at 48 locations across Southern California over a breakneck schedule of just 42 days. They range from the iconic (Griffith Observatory) to the mundane (the Harbor Freeway)—but the one thing they all have in common is that they are all distinctively L.A. Designer Brian Miller of Oktopolis highlights eleven of these locations in to a retro-cool map made for Fandango.
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Miller's map is inspired by the pictographic tourist maps of the mid-20th Century—the ones that served more as advertising than an actual road map. "For the look and feel of the map I found inspiration in vintage travel maps featuring roadside attractions," Miller told LAist. "Today we use our phones for navigation—we simply need directions to our destination. In the past the maps needed to grab your attention with art and color to inspire you to make the journey to see some place new."
It's a fitting style for both the designer and La La Land. The film itself is contemporary, but has the sensibility of a classic Hollywood musical. A look at Miller's portfolio, which includes posters and comic book covers, shows a reverence for the patriotic/propaganda posters of the Cold War.
And while the map only covers a fourth of all the locations used in the film, there's a helpful reason behind the ones that were selected. "La La Land is likely to inspire a new wave of movie-mad tourists wanting to visit its filming locations, so they can feel like they're re-experiencing the movie," said Fandango managing editor Erik Davis. "For Fandango's Finding La La Land map, we deliberately chose landmarks that figured prominently in the film and are also places that you can visit." Fandango's post also includes a guide to the context in which these locations appear in the film.
"After the film is released, it wouldn't be surprising to see couples Instagramming themselves in the same spot where Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone dance and sing about that 'view tailor-made for two' on Mt. Hollywood Drive," Davis added.
La La Land has been garnering Oscar buzz after it played at few festivals this fall and today was named the best film of the year by the New York Film Critics Circle. It opens next Friday at select theaters in New York and L.A. (including another L.A. landmark, the Cinerama Dome at the Arclight) and you can buy tickets on Fandango now.
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