Supernatural Set Visit - Part 3
Read Part 1 | Part 2

I know that you’ve all been very patient in coming back to read my reports from the SUPERNATURAL set visit. It’s been quite a while and that’s because I’ve had a lot of person stuff going on that hasn’t allowed me time to be online and/or writing. So let’s get right to the final parts of my set visits, shall we?

I think my favorite part of the day had to be when we were able to pop in on the Visual FX guys. It’s truly amazing that these guys create all of the FX in house and that they really only have the same 8 day schedule that production follows.

I knew I would instantly love these FX guys the second I walked into their trailers. The horror films of my childhood filled their walls, Friday The 13th, Dawn of the Dead, and the original Nightmare on Elm Street. The films, along with the original Halloween, that made me a huge horror film (and made me wet my pants in terror through middle school) as a child and probably warped my mind forever. I guess this led me in some ways to cult-like shows and films.

We were treated to the Supernatural Season 2 FX reel which was about a 5 minutes compilation of their favorite effects from this season’s first 10 episodes. I called it their Emmy Reel, some people laughed, but why the hell not? Some of the green screen work they do is incredible and nothing worse than anything else on television. In fact, some of the ghost shots, some gun shot wounds, some explosions (maybe featuring an arm hitting a door jam and splattering against the camera, maybe not!) and then the infamous black smoke are on par with a good amount of movies out there today.

These guys are pros, through and through. We found out that the exterior helicopter/Bank scenes in Nightshifter were 100% CGI. They used a still photograph of the exterior of the bank and then made composite upon composite and after 18 different layering/motion/effects composites came up with what we saw on television - a seamless computer generated shot and you honestly cannot tell has no real elements in it. Incredible work.

The funniest part of the Nightshifter helicopter scene is that in the background, atop one of the buildings is a billboard. A billboard of Sam and Dean. It’s the green promo shot from the fall’s CW launch campaign. Hysterical. If you weren’t looking for it, you’d never see it. I love that a shot of the boys got in and on the air without the audience noticing. At least, I didn’t see anything online saying anyone noticed.

*Fun Sidebar: While Rae and I were roaming around Vancouver over the weekend we found the bank that is used in the Nightshifter episode! We were so damn proud of ourselves because we just walked around all day and found a part of town that looked the oldest - then WHAMMO! There it was! We would do so well on the Amazing Race with our abilities.

We spent a good amount of time in the first VFX trailer watching stuff from this season including some of the work from Tricia Helfer’s incredible episode and some shots from Season 1.

Ivan, Grant, and Darcy were so cool to take the time and meet with us. They were psyched to get to share their talents with a captive audience.

We then moved on over to the 2nd trailer and found the gang behind the frame by frame effects. 6 or 7 guys zoned in on the computers and tuned out to everything that’s not on the screen. We got to see them putting together some of the graphics for the finale as well as the step by step process for a demon that’s coming soon. Some of the 3-D graphics were unreal. How the frak do these guys learn to do what they do? Its so beyond my mental capacity but it was great to witness first hand.

And the servers and CPUs needed to run and render the effects. I’ve worked on Final Cut Pro with no real effects, just rendering shots and transitions which can take forever so the amount of graphics used for just a 10 second shot on SUPERNATURAL takes a ton and believe me when I tell you, they have the power to make it happen in the fastest amount of time possible.

Visual FX are cool!

We eventually made our way into the sound stage where the actual shooting was taking place. Here’s what I will tell you before going forward…

The sound stage used for shooting is a dark and foggy place. It’s like being in the worst fog you’ve ever seen and realizing after a few minutes that your pictures just aren’t going to be amazing because of all this damn fog! That was a clever way of warning you that the pictures from this portion of the day are full of eerie moody fog.

This was really our first chance to eat all day. We hit craft service like a soccer team sick of eating their own and finding a craft services table in the middle of the Andes.

This is where we encountered Samantha Ferris reenacting the Nathans eating challenge. I’ll say it again, girl can eat!

Exec. Producer and Director of the finale (part 2) Kim Manners came on over and was nice enough to chat with us. We found out that he never wanted to kill Meg, that he finds Supernatural to be a sort of extension of shows like The X-Files. He was great and seriously answered our questions for a good 20 minutes while they did the next set up on set.

I asked how the directors were chosen for each episode and how he ended up with Part 2 of the finale but not Part 1. He basically said that the episodes are assigned by Kripke and there is always discussion as to which person is best for each episode. Sometimes though, he admitted that he directed episodes that had weak stories so his job was much harder; that even though the plot may have been lacking, the audience was captivated either by the actors stepping up their game or by the direction.

He said the obvious, that the boys were seasoned professionals, goofballs, friends, athletes, and ultimately, pains in the ass!

Manners also let us know that the final three episodes were in great hands. Episode 20 “What Is and What Should” is directed by creator Eric Kripke. “All Hell Breaks Loose (Part 1)” is directed by Producer Robert Singer and as we know, Part 2 is under Kim Manners’ direction. It sounds like the last couple episodes are going to be out of control! Hell, given the spoilers I got on set, I know its going to be a wild ride to the finale (which airs May 17th).

After talking to Mr. Manners, we got some pics with the actors director’s chairs. Of course, I had to rub my hands on the seat of JPad’s and I may or may not have rubbed my ass on it as well. You never know!

A woman from the props/art department was painting a gun. This is not the famous Colt. Let’s keep an eye out for this gun in the finale though!

Then we headed on over and strolled through the actual set being used in the scene that Jared and Jensen were blocking. I’m not going to spoil anything other than to say it looked dank, full of cobwebs, and had some rickety-ass areas. As we left the set we saw the source of our foggy atmosphere. The overworked and under appreciated FOG MACHINE and fans for distribution.

Almost every scene on Supernatural is shot with Fog Machines, the fog does not show up on screen however. It gives each shot a nice grainy feel while allowing the DP and the lighting crew to create some incredibly interesting and visual lighting tricks. The fog basically allows them to manipulate light in a way that works best for this show. I can only imagine what the scenes where its supposed to look foggy turn out looking like in person. Soup, thick soup.

The group headed over to where all the monitors are and where the Script Supervisor and Director Kim Manners sit and survey the scenes. I’m sure you’ve seen these set-ups before. It’s got a couple monitors, a bunch of directors chairs, a bunch of head-sets and it needs to remain dead silent while filming.

Kim is great to watch, especially the scene we were working on. There are a couple intricate camera moves, zooms, and pans from just this one coverage angle. In this case, it has Sam as the main focus as he sits at a table. The angle is from behind Dean’s right shoulder. Eventually the focus shifts from Sam to Dean as Dean moves around the room, ending with the two boys standing next to each other in a two-shot.

With every move, pan, or zoom he would move his hands around in front of him, above him, etc. depending on what was supposed to happen camera-wise during the scene. It was similar to watching an Orchestra Conductor and you could tell he had a very specific vision and flow of motion for the scene. Amazing to watch first hand!

Now to give you a proximity report… The boys were honestly about 15 feet from us, behind a set wall. We could hear them faintly while they continued blocking the scene and running their lines but damnit we had yet to see them in character!

Showtime!

Kim Manners took his seat in front of Monitor A which had the live on-air camera. First take, the scenes playing out as it should, the camera catches Jensen as he turns and he has the goofiest, most over the top melodrama look on his face (he might as well have been biting on his fist and placing the back of his hand to his forehead, overwhelmed and overcome; it was that over the top) and the scene plays out in the most ridiculous of acting fashion. It ended with Jensen grabbing hold of Jared’s face, smooshing it around like silly putty and again, the place was in stitches. Jensen had the whole place rolling! Hysterical.

The next couple takes were more serious but these boys are not ones for playing it straight (god don’t I wish). They seem to really have a blast on the set and I guess if you’re there for 18 hours a day, this is the best way to pass the time.

Production handed out headsets so we could hear what the boys were saying while mic’d. It was very fun to watch them go from complete goofs to Sam and Dean in the matter of seconds.

All in all, I’d say we watched them film for a good hour plus before they decided to switch angles and the boys had a few minutes to chat.

First, Holly brought Jensen over to talk with us. I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again, he is not a small man. He’s probably 6′ to 6′ 1″ which in the world is not small. Standing next to Jared though, he’s Ryan Seacrest.

Jensen had water bottle in hand as he made his way over and introduced himself. This could be all in my head but he shook my hand for a little bit longer than one normally would. We made eye contact, and that was it kids… I quickly became a Dean Man. Shocking I know, but there was something in that handshake, the gaze, and in the way he said my name that just sent me overboard.

To be completely honest, it was like a whirlwind when he started talking. We asked questions, I stuttered over my question and he made fun of me. We’re good like that.

I asked him if the boys felt that they had more creative input this season given how secluded they are and how much of a family the set has become. Too bad I said creatively with many more letters (seriously it came out like this moment from DwTS) than are necessary or even there. It may or may not have come out as CREATITITELY. Yeah, he mocked me. It was hot.

Jared came swinging on through about 5 minutes in and after picking myself up off the floor we all just asked questions and they talked. They made fun of each other, talked about bonding over being from Texas and how they feel like brothers, etc. It’s cute their relationship. They honestly come across as people that care about their show, their crew, their supporting cast, and every fan out there.

Hell, earlier that day they had spent some time with a group from Australia who won a contest to come to the set in honor of Supernatural premiering down under. By the time they got to us they were behind in their shooting schedule and it as almost lunch time (at 7pm).

We didn’t get pictures with the boys (though we got some of the boys), we didn’t get to make out, there was no number swapping and we got them in trouble with the boss! The next scene was already prepped and everyone was waiting but they wanted to chat. Who are we to tell a Winchester to shut up?

Jensen and Jared love what they are doing and they love that we (the fans) are so invested in the characters they work on all day, all year.

Sorry we didn’t have time to ask all the questions you all submitted, we tried to keep it as conversational as possible but I’m not gonna lie… there were a good number of digital recorders shoved in their faces and a good number of flashbulbs going off yet they didn’t act as if they had to be “on.” They were just chill and that was great to see.

After leaving the boys to finish up their coverage before lunch, we headed on out and sampled the delicacy prepared. I had some killer black bean veggie meatballs, some brocollini, and salad. They had veggie meatballs! Love this set.

Rae and I were the only ones interested in heading on over to the wardrobe trailer after dinner and before heading out. There were no earth shattering revelations, nor were there any huge spoilers but the two women running the trailer (sorry I can’t remember their names) were incredibly entertaining and grateful for all of the fans.

It really is great to see that every single person we encountered was invested 100% in the success and community created by their show.

Before making our way back to R.G. and the van we walked through a cemetery set that smelled like shit. Literally, it was full of manure to keep the trees and the grass live while they film. Interesting! Some of the tombstones we saw them painting earlier in the day were all the sudden part of this set. Pretty cool to see the final stages of this set.

Thanks to everyone that made this day possible! It was unbelievable and I’m very grateful for their time. Holly, Winson, JAcks, JPad, and everyone else on set in Vancouver - thank you for your letting some fans in on the action!

You guys rock for sticking with me and reading all of these reports. I’m glad you found them enjoyable.

Remember, the final airs in 2 parts with the portion we saw being filmed airing May 17th! Here’s to a third season of some demon ass kicking!

The Full Set Visit Can Be Found Here!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 10th, 2007 at 1:14 pm and is filed under Ducky Does TV, Jared Padalecki, Jensen Ackles, Supernatural, TV Boyfriends, The CW. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.