In the fall of 2012, residents of several Georgia towns, including Athens, Gainesville, Dawsonville and Atlanta enjoyed seeing pieces of their own towns in the movie “Trouble With the Curve” when it opened in September. “Trouble With the Curve” is the story of a baseball scout who is nearing the end of his career. His daughter accompanies him on his final scouting trip and they attempt to mend their troubled relationship.

Since this is a baseball movie, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that one of the filming locations was Turner Field, home of the Atlanta Braves. Braves fans will like seeing the place their favorite team plays in the movie and perhaps look for their favorite seats in the stadium as they watch. In addition to favorite and familiar places, locals can also look for familiar faces in “Trouble With the Curve”. Several Young Harris College baseball players were part of the filming of this movie. In addition to baseball players, other students and community members can be seen in the movie as extras.

The longest stretch of filming lasted ten days and took place at the Amicalola Lodge on GA 53 in Dawsonville. In addition to excitement among locals, filming in the area created an economic buzz in the community. Local stores, restaurants and gas stations enjoyed extra business, and locals were hired for security and traffic direction during filming.

Several scenes were also filmed around Athens, GA. The Globe, a local bar, and Oconee Hill Cemetery, as well as various local businesses located in downtown Athens can be seen in the movie. Some of the Globes’ employees can even be recognized in the bar scenes.

Georgia is no stranger to the film industry. Many movie, television show and commercial producers have chosen areas in Georgia, particularly around Atlanta, for filming in the last few years. This is a win-win for Georgia as well as film and television show makers. Production companies benefit from generous tax incentives available for filming in Georgia and Georgia towns experience economic benefits during filming.

In addition to these important economic benefits, seeing a movie that was filmed in your own hometown is pretty cool. If you didn’t see “Trouble With the Curve” when it came out in September 2012, consider buying or renting it and watching it now. If you love baseball, this movie will have a special appeal to you, but even if you aren’t a huge baseball fan you will probably enjoy the story anyway and it will be fun to try and spot familiar local places as you watch.

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Listen up, bosses and HR folks.

We know you’d like to get rid of – er, donate – your branded drink holders, pens and notepads to your employees as gifts. But the desires of your employees are not much different than when they were students.

The delightful word folks at work want to hear is “incentive.” Well, and the word “fun.” (Of course!) Incorporating an outdoor movie with an incentive-based and fun corporate event is the key to employee satisfaction and participation.

Besides, you get to have some fun, too.

The awesome part about having an outdoor movie event is you can craft it to be as small or as ginormous as you want. Do you want it to be just your employees and families? Fine. Want the whole community in on it? Do it!

When we asked the social media universe what they think of when they hear the words “corporate picnic,” we got some great responses, including our favorite:

“Hot dog in a suit, holding lemonade away from self to avoid spillage, avoiding sitting down to avoid getting suit dirty.”

We love the idea of making the event a pool party. Here are some other event planning ideas for creating the perfect corporate event using an outdoor movie rental.

1) Fundraising: Does your company support a charity? Fabulous! You can use the proceeds from concessions to go towards your charity of choice.

Have attendees collect donations in advance of the event or during the activities. If you have been considering a charity and haven’t found the right one, check out Charity Watch or Charity Navigator for reputable organizations.

2) Volunteering: Consider calling for volunteers to help run the outdoor movie event. Think about giving the employees who participate a couple of hours off  for helping out.

You can also turn the event into a canned food drive, coat drive or any kind of physical donation event. You’ll be encouraging your employees to give back, helping your community and enjoying yourself all at once.

3) Rewards: You can make this outdoor movie event a reward for outside volunteerism, a great sales quarter or anything you choose! Remember, “incentive” is the key to engaging your employees. And what better incentive than treating your employees to a free movie on a theater-quality screen?

4) Competitions: Remember those field days back in school? Before the movie, have a sack race, bean bag toss or other games available for your employees and their families.

There are a lot of different possibilities when it comes to hosting an outdoor movie event for your company. Our turnkey system will take the stress out of event planning. Your only problem will be deciding which great activities to choose from.

And maybe you can give away the branded swag before watching the flick.

We’ve given you a few activities to get started in creating a memorable corporate picnic that includes an outdoor movie rental. What activities would you add?

What marketing tips would you give those planning this type of event? Let us know in the comments or our Facebook page!

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Southern Outdoor Cinema
www.SouthernOutdoorCinema.com

“The Last of the Mohicans” was filmed back in 1992, but the movie, which is set in the late 18th Century during the French and Indian War, still holds a very special place in the hearts of movie fans and North Carolina residents. The movie was filmed in several locations around the Ashville, North Carolina area, including Chimney Rock State Park, the Biltmore Estate, Manor Inn Apartments, DuPont State Forest, Lake James and several other locations.

“The Last of the Mohicans” takes place during the war between the French and the British for control of North America. Native Americans regularly provided aid during this war. The movie is the story of a Native American tribe with only two members remaining, plus a white man that had been adopted and raised as a Mohican. The man becomes involved with a British officer’s daughter, which creates trouble for both the man and the British officer.

The story is set in upstate New York in the Adirondack Mountains, but the Blue Ridge Mountains in North Carolina provide the perfect backdrop for the story in “The Last of the Mohicans”. Fort William Henry, for example, is actually located near Lake George in New York, but Lake James is used for the location in the movie. The final scenes of the movie were filmed in Chimney Rock State Park. A set of an Indian Village was built in the park for filming. The nearby Hickory Nut Falls were also used for filming several scenes.

Whether you are a local Asheville, North Carolina resident or a tourist, visiting some of the beautiful filming locations from “The Last of the Mohicans” is a fun and memorable experience. Chimney Rock State Park and Southern Outdoor Cinema partner together each year to produce an open air cinema experience showing “The Last of the Mohicans” where it was filmed. Guests enjoy a unique experience and watch the movie with the picturesque park in the background.

In addition to the movie screening, guests can choose to arrive early and enjoy guided one-hour hikes to see filming locations. Entertainment, movie merchandise sales, and concessions are also offered during this annual event. If you are in the area, consider attending this unique outdoor movie screening. If you decide to visit Chimney Rock State Park at another time, maps are available with filming location information available to help you find the places you are looking for.

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Remember the good old days of the drive-in? Loading the family into the station wagon, the sound of the tires driving over gravel and viewing the movie out of the back of the car. This year the drive-in movie turns 80 years old.

In June of 1933 Richard Hollingshead, along with is partners, designed and built the world’s first drive-in movie theatre. The idea was to create a family friendly movie experience, where movie-goers could watch a movie from the comfort of their own vehicles. Other drive-in movie locations followed suit and opened up in other areas in the years following; with the height of the drive-in movie occurring during the 1950’s.

Southern Outdoor Cinema can bring the mobile drive-in cinema almost anywhere. We are fully equipped with state-of-the-art digital projection technology and a FM stereo transmitter. A modern day twist to the drive-in is the boat-in cinema, where boaters on lakes and rivers can watch a movie from their watercraft. All of Southern Outdoor Cinema’s screen viewing areas sit at least 6 feet or more off the ground, providing the best possible viewing for your guests. No installation of loudspeakers is required. Your guests simply tune into the movie’s frequency on their radios.

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Southern Outdoor Cinema is the largest producer of PREMIUM outdoor movie events in the country. They are leading the industry with NEW & UNIQUE outdoor movie events. To begin planning your outdoor movie event contact Southern Outdoor Cinema at www.SouthernOutdoorCinema.com or visit their online photo gallery at www.facebook.com/SouthernOutdoorCinema for event ideas.

“The Three Stooges“, released in April of 2012, joins a long list of movies and television shows that were filmed in and around Atlanta, GA in recent years. Beautiful locations, mild weather and the presence of several successful production companies in the area make Atlanta, GA a hot spot for filming, particularly since the implementation of tax incentives for production companies in 2008.

“The Three Stooges” is a slapstick comedy that is based on the Three Stooges shorts that were popular beginning in the 1920′s all the way into the mid-twentieth century. The major difference here is that this movie places the Three Stooges in a modern setting. The main characters, Moe, Larry and Curly, cause all sorts of problems during their years at the orphanage where they were abandoned as babies. By the end of the movie, the trio shockingly find a way to save the orphanage from being shut down. The entire movie is filled with the hilarious antics of Moe, Larry and Curly.

These funny scenes are all filmed right here in Atlanta, Cartersville and Stone Mountain. Shots of the outside of the orphanage were filmed right in Cartersville in a home that was built in the 1850′s. This is not the first time this historic location has been used for filming. The movie “A Simple Twist of Fate” as well as several made-for-TV movies have used this very special historic location for filming.

If you live in or near Stone Mountain and like to frequent the beautiful Stone Mountain Park, you might notice something familiar about the zoo scene in “The Three Stooges”. The film crew worked their magic and transformed part of Stone Mountain Park into a zoo during filming, complete with a lion!

Several scenes were shot in midtown Atlanta as well. There are outdoor scenes that were filmed at Piedmont Park and street scenes filmed around downtown Atlanta. The party scenes from the end of the movie were filmed in a beautiful mansion located in Buckhead, the uptown district of Atlanta.

Whether you are a fan of the old Three Stooges shorts, a fan of slap-stick comedy in general, or you are just curious to see what “The Three Stooges” is all about, give this movie a chance and you will probably find yourself laughing as you watch. The movie features slap-stick type violence and some crude humor, but there is also an overall theme of love and friendship. If you live in one of the filming areas or visit frequently, you will probably enjoy seeing places you know and enjoy visiting in the movie.

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Southern Outdoor Cinema
www.SouthernOutdoorCinema.com