Warner Brothers Studios Tour. In the main building where you arrive there is/are a drinks counter/Starbucks, toilets and a merchandise shop.
We got there early, but were still able to get started straight away. So it wasn't as limited in time as stated on the map. We were also able to change the type of tour at the checkout. I guess they don't differ much either. There are 23 different topics. The driver will probably just tell you something different and from the outside studio buildings you will simply see another house from the inside.
You are carted around the outdoor studio area in an open car that can hold around 12 people, stopping at a few houses where you can take a quick look and also passing through an indoor studio (stage) where no filming is currently taking place. Depending on the tour, the driver then tells relevant stories, incidents and background knowledge. Ours was very relaxed, but still experienced and it was really interesting to see everything.
Unfortunately you are only allowed to create very short video sequences, otherwise I would have liked to have simply filmed the entire tour. And taking photos from the car or in a group is always difficult because there is always something/someone in the way.
There are various exterior structures from the 1950s, modern office building mock-ups, schools, parking lots, a park, a Mexican market square, smaller town centers with a church,... and the driver then explains everything that has already been filmed here: The Big Bang Theory, Gilmore Girls, Gremlins, Casablanca, Friends, Harry Potter, Star Wars, Batman, Spiderman, Matrix, The Girl with a Pearl Earring, La La Land, Bugs Bunny, Lethal Weapon,…
Then there is a small jungle area with a bamboo forest and an (empty) pond that has been used for tons of films: Lord of the Rings, Jurassic Park and J.A.G. On behalf of honor.
Depending on which background is desired, the entire outdoor area is simply hidden using a green or blue screen and something else is displayed. So it can be a lake, a raging sea or just a pond.
A house that we were allowed into looked pretty shabby from the outside and inside. Worn floor, peeling paint. There is no ceiling, because the camera team sits upstairs with all the technology, huge lights, microphones, exhaust pipes,...
The whole thing is then painted out for recordings, set up accordingly and retouched later anyway.
Taken from a distance, everything looks much neater or even real, e.g. depth posters that suggest that there is a hallway or a pool that is actually just 30 cm deep...
On the site with the indoor studios (stages) there are huge, soundproofed halls (all painted light brown). There are numbers on the outside and what is being filmed there. If a red lamp lights up at the entrance, it means that something is being turned there and entry is then prohibited.
He then let us into one of these studios, but there was a complete ban on photography and filming. It was a huge hall covered with thick, black soundproofing mats. Different rooms are recreated inside, a kitchen, a living room, a garden with a swimming pool.
After about an hour you are then dropped off at a building that houses a café (with toilets) and two museums (as a tour).
They are sorted according to different subject areas: Friends, Big Bang, Batman, Game of Thrones, Harry Potter, Matrix,...
Here you are shown the corresponding costumes and props, sets are recreated and it is partly explained how some of these shots and tricks work.
Or what the process of a film is like, from casting to reading the script, turning the script into a sequence comic and then the actual shooting. How the film material then has to be changed and pimped up in color so that it looks like the real thing (everyone knows from photos, where the lawn just doesn't look as nice and green as it does in real life) or is colored to have a retro effect or more sunshine or cold winter.
And you also learn how old films are restored, how sound recordings are dubbed and synchronized.
So the look behind the scenes at how a film is made was amazing. It changed the understanding of films even more, what a Sisyphean task there is.
And you could try out a lot of the work yourself, for example dubbing a scene. Or take pictures in front of a green screen. Sit on a Batmobile (motorcycle), pretend to ride it or play Quidditch while riding a broom (Harry Potter) and the background image is shown in the end sequence.
You can easily spend another hour there. Once you've seen everything (at your own pace), there are buses waiting outside that will take you back to the main building at the back.
For the Friends fans, the driver stopped at the park with the typical orange sofa and you could take photos there.
In the main building there is also a museum for a tour, with famous film themes, costumes and setups. And behind that is the entrance hall with Starbucks, shop and restrooms.