Hey Shadowhunters!
So, yesterday was my first day on set! After arriving on set around 2pm during the torrential downpour, I was drenched and freezing cold, but still very excited to be there! I first noticed the NYC taxis parked across the street, and watched them bring in the old style station wagon (which was used in a scene shot later that night). I wandered around the corner to see that they were filming behind the bookstore in the alley/parking lot. Eventually a few more people showed up and we quickly made friends with the police on site and they got us as close as we could get which was fantastic.
It was pretty slow going; we did hear them call “Rolling” and “Action” a few times, and overheard that they were filming upstairs as well. We got a few friendly warnings from the crew, just sort of telling us to be quiet, which as our group gradually became bigger, became a bit more of an issue. We did see a few brief appearances by Lily, Jamie and Aiden walking around and getting in their cars. Our first glimpse of Luke! The publicist came over to talk to us, saying that Robert was supposed to be there later that night. She also mentioned that it was a rough day for dialogue and that they were a bit behind. We then heard them call “last scene before lunch” and once the actors and crew had left, we decided to finally get some food.
After the break we watched the crew arrive and start setting up again. We moved out to the front, directly across the street from the bookstore and had the perfect spot to watch them film. They set up two cameras and multiple rain machines so they could film Jace, Clary and Simon running through the rain and then trying to get into Luke’s bookstore. While we watched them filming, we met Dudley, a stunt wardrobe crew member, and we were later joined by Anne who works for the agency.
They ran that same scene a bunch of times. Here’s how the scene sort of went: Jace, Clary and Simon running down the sidewalk in the rain, stopping at the gate in front of the bookstore, Clary would rattle the gate trying to get in and they would run around the corner of the store, Jace would stop to tell Simon to wait outside (I’m only assuming, as Simon didn’t follow them into the alley and looked upset at being left in the rain.) Then they moved the camera across the street, directly in front of us! It was so cool to be that close to the filming. They only asked us to move when they wanted to get some shots of the side of the street we were on. And even then, we weren’t asked to move far and they were very nice about it.
Then Aiden showed up. It was very exciting having all of them on set, however Jamie and Robert left after the inside scenes were finished. We watched as they moved the cameras back across the street (again in front of us!) and they started lining up all their cars. So Luke’s green truck was already there in front of the bookstore, there was another truck behind it, then a motorcycle, then the station wagon, then what I’m assuming used to be the Resident Evil ‘Raccoon City’ school bus and then two motorcycles behind that. We saw Aiden get into the truck with Lily and someone sat in the back on the edge of the truck bed (we assume it was Alcide). So they took a few shots of all of these vehicles driving away from the bookstore (we assume on their way to the final fight against Valentine).
We desperately wanted to be on the other side of the street, and a few of the crew members behind us suggested running across the street with our books and things we wanted signed. We were so nervous
to do it, thinking we’d be stopped before we even crossed the street. However we made it across and walked right up to Aiden and he was very nice about giving autographs, although he said no to photos because he was in costume (which we knew anyway, but we still tried) We left rather quickly because they were taking a few minutes before their next shot, like the director was telling Aiden what they were doing next while he was signing our stuff. We figured that was a good end to our day (around 12:30am).
Again, I need to thank Jessica (it was very nice to meet you!) and the crew, they were unbelievably nice to us and I can’t wait to go back again tonight!
Aathy Via TMISource
Hey Shadowhunters! TMI set day 14 was the last day the crew were working on scenes at Garrow Books and Curios and it was a really fun day on set for most fans! I made some incredible friends including @_DanilaMN, @whimsdoll,@InnerDraki, @nics_herondale and finally meeting @MichelleMags! It wouldn’t have been the same without you ladies! I love our fandom and everyone in it!
I arrived around 5:30 p.m after an amazing day at my UofT frosh week parade. I felt so bad for people driving downtown today because all the roads were blocked off for a bunch of first years, plus TIFF and soon to be closed off for TMI. There I met @humilityc and we talked with Gris, the security guard who was there since 7 a.m keeping watch until the crew arrived! Unfortunately she had to go at around 5:45 p.m. Just then I met up with @nics_herondale and@whimsdoll. One crew member who was there told us they’d be starting to film in 1 hour (around 8 p.m) We were waiting patiently until crew arrived and had a run in with a dead bird. Cars with crew quickly started to arrive and they closed off the road.
The lighting and equipment was set up along the side of the road and Harald Zwart was out with the rest of the crew discussing how they were going to film the scene tonight! At one point I even saw him on the ground, which was probably a demonstration of how Lily was supposed to be positioned for the scene later!
Karen came over to talk to us, which she so kindly always does and informed us that Robert and Jamie weren’t going to be in the scene. I gave her a drawing I made for Robert to give to him, but moments later she returns and tells me I should give it personally to him. All I can say is she’s awesome! One of the fans’ (@clarekennedy) friends even informed us she met and took pictures with Rob like an hour earlier! We even met s woman who was watching the filming with us who met Aiden at a bar a week ago! The cast is definitely being noticed out and about Toronto
Filming began around 8:30 and we even saw a little dummy fly through the air and an explosion where the windows broke! It was really exciting! The wolves were also on set and being guarded in cages at the side of the building. Lily’s stunt double was also present walking by us several times. It was nearly 9 p.m. when we were hanging around the back and this one crew guy who’s always there sprints past us. Something was definitely up! The driver who gets the actors was leaving and even asked us if we were having a camp out. We invited him to join us but he had to do his job. We had a fun discussion about TID and TMI theories of what’s going to happen in CP2 and CoHF etc (you all know how excited we get). Shortly after Lily and Aiden arrived on set and we just missed seeing them!
We then saw a crew member with curly hair walking by us, who was always smiling and saying hi to the fans when we saw him. I finally had the courage to ask him what his name was. He said his name was Hartley and he was a line producer! I couldn’t believe it and replied, ‘no you’re not… are you?” he just smiled and said “no really” I can’t believe I just said that to him. We then saw the tweets from Martin, the executive producer, and told @MichelleMags to ask him if we could meet him! When we went to the front side to see shooting he was there in his suit. We even spotted him taking pictures of Lily’s boots and moments later it is all over Twitter. How great is he?! While he was over by an ice-cream truck off to the side parking lot talking with 3 other producers (i’m guessing) including Hartley, he waved at us and tweets back to Michelle! Then Hartley comes over to us and tells us to come back around later for ice cream.
The first scenes they were filming were out on the street with a little girl. There was a smoke and bright lighting everywhere. Every time they said “action” I had to use all my will power to stay quiet and contain my excitement. They had to redo the first few takes because people were crossing the street on the side of the road they were filming. Soon after we hear Lily scream, “don’t touch me”
We then follow Hartley who treats us and tells us to order whatever we want at the ice cream truck! He was so chill and incredibly nice to the “dedicated fants that are here almost everyday” Some of us were waiting for vanilla, while other crew members came over to order too, including the make-up artist.
We walk back to the barricades, where we could watch filming and spot one of our crew friends we saw earlier. Not knowing what else to say I jokingly call him “muffin man”. Let’s just say he doesn’t like that name (he wasn’t mad, he just insisted not to be referred as that)
That concludes our not-so-typical-day on set!
