This probably isn't a real spoiler, but nevertheless, it's about 814, so I added spoiler to the subject.
Did anyone else notice that you can see "the fourth wall" in the shot that looks back out from the back of the hall by the locked closet? I thought that was very interesting since that area is usually open to the studio audience. They must have built the 10-15 foot section just for that one short (5 seconds?) shot.
This lead me to a question. Can you think of other times when we see shots of any of the regular sets in an unusual angle?
I was just wondering to myself about the times when someone's out on the balcony, whether any of the camera angles show the apartment "beyond" the sofa. I never looked before, and some time I'll have to go through my tapes and see.
I'm glad for this episode, because it finally answered the mystery. That damn door was driving me crazy since day one. Setting aside the fact that it must be the biggest apartment in all of New York, it struck me as bizarre that there would be such a long, narrow hallway running out of what's presumably the back of the building, since the balcony and the outside hall fall far short of it. The kitchen has a window, so it and presumably the bathroom have an outside wall; but the hallway to the closet is still too long. The bathroom is not that big. (I can't remember the episode, but when Joey starts pulling up tiles in the bathroom, you can see that it's quite narrow.) I forgot to bring my measuring tape :o> but I don't think the outside hall goes back that far. It ends at the stairwell, where there's a window but no other doors. (We don't see the kitchen window in the hallway, so the kitchen must go back further than the hall.) In Joey's apartment, there's a large window at the back of the living room, but the bathroom goes back further than that. I don't think there's a window in Chandler/Rachel's room. So it seems to me that the kitchen stretches back past the outside hall, with a long narrow part of the building sticking out containing the bathroom, some "dead space" and the Sanford's Closet at the end. That building has a weird layout.
(BTW, has anyone noticed that in TOW The Boobies, Rachel says "Chandler Bing, it's time to see your thing," and when she opens the bathroom door, the shower (and Joey) are right there inside the door; but in TOW the Kips, when Chandler and Monica open the door to check on Joey, the *toilet* is there, with Joey fast asleep, toothbrush still in his mouth. They must have done some major remodeling in there...)
The greatest mystery, though, is why I obsess so much about stuff like this. :o\
Yes, they must have done some remodeling b/c in TOW The Kips Joey is sitting on the toilet and it is on the left side of the bathroom, but in TOW The Ball, when Joey is using the bathroom, the toilet is on the right. What is that about?
At the friendstv.com site you can now take a virtual tour of Monica's apartment ... you would think this would settle the matter ... however, it's a tour of the set ... so no 'fourth wall'. Only some silly black F*R*I*E*N*D*S walls ... it's still cool though ... check it out.
You can also tour Central Perk and outside Central Perk.
-John C. "Get your non-believer ass out of my chair."
"John Carbone" wrote in message news:832a8.10119$[email]...
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They put those partitions up temporarily. I don't know why. Would people have a problem seeing the audience seats and the equipment that sits below the seats?
By the way, I couldn't tell from your post if you were familiar with the stage term "fourth wall." It refers to the invisible "wall" that the audience views through. The surprise is finding an actual wall where the "fourth wall" would be--as in the shot coming out of the hall in TOW The Secret Closet.
I think you got the idea, but I wanted to clarify for anyone who didn't get it. (I got an email, so I thought I'd share.)
"David Buehrle" wrote in message news:az2a8.379526$[email]...
get
Oh yeah, that's why I quoted 'fourth wall' -- knowing what it means, and that the black F*R*I*E*N*D*S walls were just partitions from the audience section. I guess it was easier to just do that, although if they were going to put up any walls at all, they should have filled in the 'fourth wall' with actual apartment wall, or they should have left it down so we could see how the audience section is. But I guess that is nit-picky. And outside Central Perk looks so eerie ... I hate scenes out there cause it never really looks like it's outside cause of the material and the lighting (I guess lights that bright would burn the actors).
Okay, so that was more 'rant-like' banter ... I am done. ;-)
-John C. "Get your non-believer ass out of my chair."
I know in The One With All The Haste (418) --- Which is the one where Rachel and Monica get their apartment back ... when Chandler and Joey return from the Knicks game, and Rachel, Monica, and Phoebe look out of the door with the chain on, you can also see that back 'wall' the wall we 'look through' to see the show. I am sure there are others.
-John C.
(SORRY FOR EMAILING THIS TO YOU DAVID B., I MISTAKENLY HIT THE WRONG BUTTON, SHOULD HAVE POSTED IT, RATHER THAN EMAILING IT ... SORRY ABOUT THAT)
"David Buehrle" wrote in message news:WBo78.356439$[email]...
"John Carbone" wrote in message news:TJB78.14932$[email]...
Rachel
BUTTON,
LOL I'm glad you are the kind of guy who can make a simple mistake. For a second there I thought maybe you wanted to keep it secret for some reason. I'm glad you aren't THAT guy.
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Another thing bothers me about the sets--exteriors don't match interiors. I think Emil and Trigger were talking about this too. From the exteriors we see a nice square building with a metal fire escape, and no sign of a balcony. Yet Monica's apartment has a window in the kitchen and in the living room, with the Sanford closet sticking out apparently to the edge of the balcony, perhaps a bit beyond, leaving unused space or a cut away section of the building behing the bathroom wall. Across the hall in apartment 19 there is a window facing the same direction as Monica's large living room window, plus we know that Joey's room opens across a narrow span to the "Morning's Here" guy's apartment. At first I assumed that Chandler's old room must be a corner of the building, but in the "Morning's Here" scene, there is a wall there.
So, what corner of the building is the common exterior shot supposed to be shooting? Are there exterior windows in the bedrooms at Monica's place? Could that be it? Or, even though they often zoom in on the fifth floor corner apartment, perhaps this isn't really a part of any of apartment 19 or 20. Maybe that's apartment 21 that you can only get to be turning left out of Monica and Chandler's door. Hmmm. That'll have to hold me for the time being.
"David Buehrle" wrote in message news:aVH78.358654$[email]...
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Very good observation. I got another one for you. Remember the episode where there was a lady peeking at Monica's apartment with her telescope? At some point Joey says to her that he can't walk around in his underwear in his apartment and I am wondering how she could see Joey's apartment since it appears that her apartment is across the window in the living room from Monica's Apartment.
Well, the big window in Monica and Chandler's apartment faces the same direction as the big window in Joey's place. If the building across the street is far enough away, she could have angle at each. It's just a thought, but it could happen. Do you suppose this is how Joey knew all about Ross's gags from his window across the way--gags like the shark attack, and watching TV.
"David Buehrle" wrote in message news:q_%78.1107$[email]...
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I guess it's possible but remember in the ep where Phoebe is in Ross's apartment (it wasn't his yet) and she saw Chandler and Monica from across? The angle from which we saw the shot, would not allow Ross's window to be seen from Joey's apartment. Ross, the telescope girl and the hot girl, all seem to be across the way and in no way visible from Joey's apartment.
The best time to see the fourth wall is when the friends are on the balcony, and our POV is towards their faces. Then you can see the blue wall, with a picture frame on it. My guess is that they shoot it twice: Once, in front of the audience without the wall (for the audience reactions), and then they shoot "off the balcony", which is the final product, with the first angle's audience track dubbed in.