pluto

I see what you mean. You'd think it might be possible though if they tried to form some sort of agreement with the owners of say three or four main characters houses, so they were permitted to at least film some stuff there. The scenes filmed outdisde Tony and Rachels not so long ago added a nice dose of realism to it.

I've often wondered, does this large gap between filiming interiors/exteriors have a bearing on the almost non existent exterior filming on location at the various houses? I've always thought it a shame that we don't see more of the exteriors on film rather than just stock shots, like we used to with Summer Bay House. I imagine it is probably logistically difficult given locations are probably scattered around (whereas in Neighbours the houses are obviously all in one place and very near the studios aswell) but it seems a shame. It doesn't help that the exteriors seem to alter with every stock shot shown lol

I do agree about the back yard areas looking much better, they were always very fake looking, now they actually look more like a small back yard lol. I also agree about the school - I preferred the original school set, before they burnt it down in the bush fire of the 90's. It's always seemed abit of a strange set the later/current school set, horrible dreary colours and in need of a injection of life in my view lol. I think it would be nice if they gained abit more sense of place with the interiors too, different areas of the school that could be shown regularly. you only ever seem to see one classroom and the corridor on a regular basis now lol

Don't get me wrong, some of the new lighting/sets look great (such as the farm, the diner, leahs kitchen - though I agree about the fireplace aswell - etc) and of course they have to change and be updated, I just wish they were done more gradually, with some explantion and perhaps a bit more sympathetically to the characters living in the houses - the SBH set was redecorated in colours that i honestly cant imagine Miles or Alf ever choosing for one thing. And Leah's living room is dark beyong belief new lighting or not. It just appears to me that they all have the same 'look'.

I agree with that to a certain extent, the sets do look more natural. The only issue I have with the new set designs and lighting is that they seem to appear very 'samey' i.e Irenes house, Tony's place, Ginas house, they all are just white and decorated in similar fashions. I also think they should have offered some onscreen explanations for the changes. I also rather dislike some of the AWFUL wallpapers and colours used. Leahs living room is so dark with that hideous green wallpaper and the horrible pantomime purples and reds colours used in the Summer Bay house are just as bad. Would any of teh characters really decorate their houses in thsi way? I very much doubt it. I actually preffered the old look much more, I think sometimes it can look just abit TOO real. the issue with the light coming through the windows is again, making everything looks very dull and dingy.

I quite agree with you here, the new loaction they have recently been using for the Caravan park (a real life caravan site) is far too big in size compared to the original, and even subsequent versions. It's far too 'posh' and glamorous for a small seaside caravan park. I think this choice was a mistake and a shows a real lack of continuity to the history and supposed location of the caravan park. I hope if they do rebuild an exterior Summer Bay House set, that, as you say, they make it more in line with what long term viewers think of as the Caravn park, making it smaller, more intimate and less glam. Last year Cameron Walsh said they were supposed to start building the house in January but nothing has been mentioned since. I really do hope they go through with this. I loved the exterior shots of the house and it would be great to have the caravan park back on a long term basis and we might even get to see Colleen's mobile home! thats true its been donkeys years since we've seen Colleens mobile home - they seem to do less and less in the vans now generally or so it seems, apart from when the van was set alight with Jeff inside last year I can't think of any meaningful scenes set in any recently. I too used to love the 'outdoor' Summer Bay House scenes. They just used the same stock shot these days, I'm sure they could at least vary that a little.

I quite agree with you here, the new loaction they have recently been using for the Caravan park (a real life caravan site) is far too big in size compared to the original, and even subsequent versions. It's far too 'posh' and glamorous for a small seaside caravan park. I think this choice was a mistake and a shows a real lack of continuity to the history and supposed location of the caravan park. I hope if they do rebuild an exterior Summer Bay House set, that, as you say, they make it more in line with what long term viewers think of as the Caravn park, making it smaller, more intimate and less glam.

I recognise it as the same location they used last time for the Campbell farm. That's because it is the Campbell farm - Martha bought it when it went up for sale when Jeff and Annies grandfather died and Jeff couldn't carry on.