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Susan Gittins

Longtime mainstream media (MSM) journalist and author Susan Gittins began writing about and photographing Vancouver’s many film and TV location shoots in the summer of 2010 after the Winter Olympics put the city and its beauty on the world stage. Movies and TV series often showcase the Vancouver area in similar fashion. Vancouver is Awesome commissioned her YVRShoots series in the fall of 2010 and it ran regularly for three years. She launched her own daily YVRShoots blog in the spring of 2012.

SHOOT: Walter’s Window into Another World at Coal Harbour for FRINGE 5×12 Liberty – Updated

In the epic Fringe trailer for this Friday’s two-hour series finale, we catch a glimpse of Dr. Walter Bishop (John Noble)’s cracked Window into Another World circa 1985 (cracked because Walter threw something at it after he saw Observer September interrupt Walternate’s discovery of a cure for his son Peter). Everything is coming full circle in Fringe’s fifth and final season. Walter must have hauled out the window from wherever he’d stored it in his ambered Harvard lab circa 2036 so that the team can have a look at Liberty Island in the parallel universe.

[sz-youtube url=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4jptm7Yedo&feature=youtu.be” /]

I suspect this will be an early scene of the attempt to infiltrate Liberty Island [to rescue the boy Michael from the detention camp] in the second-to-last episode called Liberty. Peter (Joshua Jackson), Olivia (Anna Torv), Astrid (Jasika Nicole) and Walter arrive in the dark van from last Friday’s episode and park it on the Manhattan shore [at Battery Park] — actually the seawall in Vancouver’s Coal Harbour in front of dozens of Fringe fans. In between takes, you can see good friends Jasika Nicole and Anna Torv crack up laughing.

Read More »SHOOT: Walter’s Window into Another World at Coal Harbour for FRINGE 5×12 Liberty – Updated

Canadian Screen Awards Noms for CONTINUUM & ARCTIC AIR as Best Dramatic Series

Lots and lots of tweets in my timeline from B.C. film & TV people yesterday. The good: filmed-in-Vancouver sci-fi Showcase hit Continuum and northern adventure CBC hit Arctic Air both nabbed first-time Canadian Screen Awards nominations as Best Dramatic Series, along with the filmed-in-Toronto Bomb Girls, Flashpoint and King. The bad and the ugly: Premier Christy Clark’s BC Jobs Plan boosted several industries last week but not our declining film & TV biz, provoking a  SAVE BC FILM petition and a hashtag #SaveBCFilm to wake up the government about the cost to the province of losing film & TV productions to places with better tax credits like Ontario. Among other things, American productions build the infrastructure that make local successes like Continuum and Arctic Air possible.

Back to the good: the made-in and set-in-Vancouver sci-fi procedural Continuum racked up the individual CSA noms too, with a writing nomination for its creator Simon Barry (in the photo below with cast ); a directing nomination for Jon Cassar; a VFX nomination for Adam Stern of Artifex Studios; and an original musical score nomination for Jeff Danna — all for the show’s stunning pilot A Stitch in Time which travels in time from Vancouver in 2077 to Vancouver in 2012.

Joining Continuum as a first-timer in the Best Dramatic Series competition is the filmed-in-Vancouver-and-Yellownife series Arctic Air from Omni Films. The visually-spectacular aerial adventure drama Read More »Canadian Screen Awards Noms for CONTINUUM & ARCTIC AIR as Best Dramatic Series

PROMOS: SUPERNATURAL 8×11 LARP and the Real Girl Promo Images

Next Wednesday’s Sam-and-Dean-go-LARPing Supernatural is the one I can’t wait for. It has it all: Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Jensen Ackles)  Winchester investigate the deaths of two players in an elaborate Michigan live-action-role-play game, Moondoor: The Battle of the Kingdoms, filmed mainly in Coquitlam’s Mundy Park. Here they find one of my favourite SPN characters, hacker Charlie Bradbury (Geek Goddess Feclicia Day), is Queen of Moondoor, and Dean goes undercover engaging in medieval cosplay.  TVLine’s sneak peek at The CW promo images of the episode are the first look at the actors on set, which was closely guarded by Supernatural crew during the several-days-long shoot in the wet park. I got access only after filming wrapped and cleanup crew packed up the tent below and other props.

Credit: Cate Cameron/The CW -- © 2012 The CW Network.

Here’s a promo image of Dean in medieval garb with chain mail, a tunic and a shield and my photo of a prop portrait on the grass of the Queen of Moondoor looking a lot like the promo image of Felicia Day below.

Read More »PROMOS: SUPERNATURAL 8×11 LARP and the Real Girl Promo Images

IT’S OFFICIAL: THE KILLING’s Linden & Holder Back for 3rd Season & Start Filming Feb. 25th

What’s been talked about in Vancouver circles for months is finally official. AMC announced today it will resurrect The Killing for a third season of the Seattle-set murder mystery, which begins filming twelve new episodes here on February 25th. Last season our dynamic detective duo Sarah Linden (Mireille Enos) and Stephen Holder (Joel Kinnaman) had a tough time of it as they closed in on the  Rosie Larsen killer: starting with Holder finding out he’d been set up to frame a Seattle mayoral candidate Darren Richmond with a doctored toll booth photo and then getting beat up by thugs at the Wapi Eagle casino and left for dead, while Linden ditched her fiance, was suspended, lost custody of her son, got bashed on the head at the casino and committed to a psych ward for a day.Then they both went on the lam from the Seattle police force. No wonder Linden looked done-in walking away from the Larsen home in a final scene.

Events in the third season reportedly take place a year and a half later when Holder’s “search for a runaway girl leads him to discover a gruesome string of murders that connects to a previous murder investigation by Linden”, who is no longer a detective. That won’t last. It wouldn’t be The Killing without the comedy stylings of Linden & Holder, especially all the funny Holderisms — calling Chinese takeout “fu manchu poo poo MSG crap” while arguing that “pickles are vegetables”  or yammering in the casino “Where are the ladies?…I’m talkin’ real ladies. Ain’t no party without no trim”.

Showrunner Veena Sud returns too but no other cast, as far as I know. Read More »IT’S OFFICIAL: THE KILLING’s Linden & Holder Back for 3rd Season & Start Filming Feb. 25th

PROMOS: ONCE UPON A TIME 2×12 In the Name of the Brother Photos – Updated

Dr. Victor Frankenstein (David Anders)’s black-and-white world of horrors returns in flashbacks on next Sunday’s Once Upon a Time, as he tries to convince his father Alphonse (Gregory Itzin) that he can resurrect the dead. Does this have something to do with the doctor’s brother (Chad Michael Collins)? Meanwhile, in present-day Storybrooke, Dr. Whale (also David Anders) must perform surgery on the Outsider (Ethan Embrey) who crashed across the town border at the end of last night’s episode. What’s to be done with him?

Here’s the ABC logline:

While Dr. Whale treats the outsider, the townspeople decide what to do with the man who may know Storybrooke’s secret. Meanwhile, Cora meets with her daughter and Gold tries to meet with Belle. In another world, Victor tries to convince his father Alphonse that he can bring back the dead.

And here are some promo stills of Rumple/Mr. Gold (Robert Carlyle), Snow/Mary Margaret (Ginnifer Goodwin) and Charming/David (Josh Dallas) at the Storybrooke border trying to comfort a frightened Belle (Emilie de Ravin) with no memories of any of them.

Credit: ABC/JACK ROWAND
Credit: ABC/JACK ROWAND

Read More »PROMOS: ONCE UPON A TIME 2×12 In the Name of the Brother Photos – Updated

SHOOT: Anna Torv as Olivia at Fringe Division HQ (Vancouver Public Library) for FRINGE 5×12 Liberty

FOX’s Fringe series finale promo clearly shows the scene of Olivia (Anna Torv) getting an unfriendly welcome at the alterate universe’s Fringe Division Headquarters, aka the Vancouver Public Library, circa 2036.

Anna Torv must have felt like she was doing live theatre or being thrown to the lions late last November while performing this scene in front of hundreds of spectators with cameras — from fans of the show to others walking by who’d stopped to gawk like the rest of us.

 

Read More »SHOOT: Anna Torv as Olivia at Fringe Division HQ (Vancouver Public Library) for FRINGE 5×12 Liberty

WEEK: January 7-13, 2013

  • Sunday, January 13th – Once Upon a Time 2×12 The Outsider has Rumple finding a way to cross the town border without losing his memory of his son Bae, Hook stealing Bae’s cloak,  a Rumple vs Hook showdown and then a big twist involving Rumple’s beloved Belle.
  • Sunday, January 13th – CTV airs a promo for Vancouver detective series Motive during the Golden Globes with the tagline: The Murder is Just the Beginning. Debuts on February 3rd after the Superbowl on CTV.
  • Sunday, January 13th – Cult panel at the Television Critics Association (TCA) winter press tour, with cast Matt Davis, Jessica Lucas, Robert Knepper and Alona Tal and Farscape creator Rockne O’Bannon. Debuts February 19th on The CW.
  • Sunday, January 13th – The CW president Mark Pedowitz says new version of Vancouver-filmed pilot The Selection still in contention for pilot order. Tells TCA winter press tour that he loves the new script.
  • Friday, January 11th – Fringe 5×11 The Boy Must Live – the third-to-last episode features naked Walter in deprivation tank and father-son bonding between Walter and Peter and between September and his son, the child Observer! Oh, and someone must die for the plan to work.
  • Friday, January 11th – Arrow Fraturday: star Stephen Amell steals a motorcyle in a scene at Portal Park as news breaks of his Christmas wedding to longtime girlfriend Cassandra Jean; his stunt double rides the motorcycle down the stairs at Oceanic Plaza and over a prop Starling City cab into prop traffic on West Hastings. Arrow crew then moves to underground parking at the Vancouver Convention Centre to film overnight scenes until Saturday morning.
  • Friday, January 11th – Supernatural Fraturday: films overnight again inside Century House in downtown Vancouver.
  • Friday, January 11th – City releases promo image of  sitcom Package Deal, featuring Randal Edwards, Julia Voth, Harland Williams and Jay Malone.
  • Thursday, January 10th – Sitcom Package Deal tapes in front of live studio audience in Burnaby.
  • Thursday, January 10th – Once Upon a Time films at Deer Lake Park with Charming, Snow & Henry on set.
  • Thursday, January 10th – Arrow films at the PNE
  • Thursday, January 10th – Supernatural films inside Century House in downtown Vancouver.
  • Thursday, January 10th – Red Widow panel at TCA winter press tour. Debuts March 3rd on ABC.
  • Thursday, January 10th – News via @Lemon_Buzz that feature film Ninja Turtles closed its Vancouver production office and opened a NYC production office = Vancouver loses another feature film.
  • Thurday, January 10th – Premier Christy Clark’s BC Jobs Plan boosts several industries but not our declining film & TV biz. Click on the SAVE BC FILM petition and sign it to let her know the cost to the province of losing film & TV productions to places with better tax credits.
  • Wednesday, January 9th – Fringe showrunner Joel Wyman and cast Lance Reddick present early screening Read More »WEEK: January 7-13, 2013

SHOOT: SUPERNATURAL’s Kill of the Week at Century House Downtown for 8×15

While the two Js — Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles — provided eye candy for the People’s Choice Awards cameras last Wednesday night, Supernatural crew set up a shoot in the alley next to Century House downtown. Is the young lady with the fishnet stockings and pink platform-heeled shoes, Supernatural’s Kill of the Week? The man she chats with does walk away after their encounter, leaving her still standing, so we will have to wait and see. When the Winchester brothers did return to Vancouver, happy with the show’s two PCA wins — for Favorite Sci-Fi/Fantasy TV show and Favorite TV Fan Following — Supernatural crew had moved out of the alley and into Century House for Thursday and Friday afternoon and night shoots. Nothing was visible from the outside of this heritage granite building so there are no clues as to what went down under its Victorian chandeliers.

Read More »SHOOT: SUPERNATURAL’s Kill of the Week at Century House Downtown for 8×15