The zombie film 28 Days set up a few shots like this in downtown London ... but with a movie budget and some official clearances they were able to get some sunlit shots, which appeared to be taken very early in the morning. It was a great Danny Boyle movie, incidentally.
Within the past 10 years, I remember seeing another another film set in NYC which showed a scene in Times Square, completely devoid of people or traffic. It was quite striking. Anyone remember what it was?
EDIT: I see from the other comments it was Vanilla Sky
> 28 Days set up a few shots like this in downtown London [..] which appeared to be taken very early in the morning.
That's some of my favourite "London" film footage. Most of the time London is shown horribly in films, just hamfistedly moving from one obviously recognisable location to another. Even the BBC do this - Spooks and Luther seem to need every outdoor scene to be set in some well-known location, which is not only distracting but a little insulting.
Saying that, because it was obviously so early in the morning for logistical reason it pulled me out of the film, even though I guess in the film's narrative of "we must travel during the day" might neccessitate a "it's morning, thus we are now travelling again" establishing shot.
I don't mean to snark, that's not a meaningful phrase to this englishman with 10 years London living under his belt. I actually struggle with definitions of downtown or uptown, it's not something we would say. How do they apply to (for instance) NYC which I'm a little familiar with?
--edit-- yes I am drunk and this is a stupid question :)
In NYC downtown could be the southern portion of Manhattan and pretty much anywhere in Brooklyn. The two most southern (down) areas in the city, not counting S.I. which really doesn't count anyway. That is why the subway signs say Bklyn/Downtown. Uptown would be anywhere north of Central Park in Manhattan or anywhere in the Bronx. The most northern parts of the city. That is why the subway signs say Bronx/Uptown. In NYC the terms 'uptown' and 'downtown' are purely geographical.
In other cases I would consider the term 'downtown' to be the oldest portion of the city. For example in Philadelphia. This would be much harder to pick out in a city like London that's much older.
I live in Washington DC. Here, the term is only used when you are outside of DC and it is used loosely to describe any location inside of DC. If you were in Virginia or Maryland and said you were going 'downtown' that would mean only that you were going to any location inside Washington DC.
I'm a strange city I would assume the term downtown referred to the less kept more rustic area that looks kind of ghetto but is a little more artsy/trendy than the rest of the city.
Near Westminster bridge IIRC, but it's been a while since I saw the film. By US standards downtown would be the shopping district from Marble Arch to Trafalgar Square, if you were thinking of it in commercial terms, or almost all of zone 1. Of course over here Downtown is wherever the most tall buildings ae, whereas in London most of those seem to be in the City.
London is a basically a bunch of villages with dense residential areas filling the gaps between. I've gone whole 6-month periods never going further west in the city than Holborn (Kingsway), and whole years never going south of the river east of Greenwich.
You're suggesting that downtown is Oxford & Regent Streets, i.e. essentially high-street fashion shopping. Thing is, almost every shop on those streets is also in both Westfield malls on either side of the city, and many of the bigger brands are also on dozens of high streets across the city. There's seldom much call for most Londoners to actually go to those streets (IMO).
In a business context, downtown in London is the City, but the tallest buildings aren't in the City, they're in Canary Wharf, a privately owned near-island with 24-hour guards at all entry points, and barriers that go up on the roads at night.
>The tallest buildings aren't in the City, they're in Canary Wharf, a privately owned near-island with 24-hour guards at all entry points, and barriers that go up on the roads at night.
Not to nitpick but this isn't strictly true. The tallest building is in neither but very close to the City, then the 2nd tallest is in Canary Wharf but the third and fourth are definitely in the City again. You have some in the Wharf and some in the City after that but I am not sure if the difference regarding skyscrapers in the 2 parts is very relevant or explicit anymore.
The movie version of Godspell is filmed entirely in Manhattan, and the only people ever in shot are the 7-8 characters of the play. It's most amazing for the final shot which pulls away ina helicopter shot of lower Manhattan featuring a half built World Trade Center. It was an amazing effect.
Within the past 10 years, I remember seeing another another film set in NYC which showed a scene in Times Square, completely devoid of people or traffic. It was quite striking. Anyone remember what it was?
EDIT: I see from the other comments it was Vanilla Sky