Friday, July 31, 2009
The Vampire Diaries Start Filming in Covington
Covington has yet another persona. Our little town has been known as Hazzard County (The Dukes of Hazzard); Sparta, Mississippi (In the Heat of the Night); Haddonfield, Illinois (Halloween 2); and most recently Mystic Falls, Virginia.
Covington has actually been in many films and TV series. Here is a list, according to IMDB, of films and TV shows that list Covington, Georgia as a film location. It's a lot more than most people expect.
'The Vampire Diaries' is set in Mystic Falls, VA. After looking for a suitable film location (and all the Georgia incentives didn't hurt) the 'Vampire Diaries' finally settled on Covington. I know there are already previews being aired on the CW. Those are scenes from the pilot episode that was filmed in Vancouver, Canada.
Last Thursday and Friday was the official beginning to the craziness. The actual filming began. I rode by the set on Thursday and stopped for a few minutes on Friday. With my schedule, that was about all I could manage.
Both days, the filming didn't start until 5-6pm and ran through the night finishing up around 6am. The only issue I witnessed was massive traffic congestion around the Square on Thursday and Friday. On Friday, they temporarily 'blocked' a lot of parking spots around the filming location and that caused some issues with people trying to get where they needed to go.
Basically, the filming centered around one corner of the Square. It is actually a lawyer's office but the film crew has turned it into the Mystic Grille. They have painted the brick work dark green, placed a large 'Mystic Grille' sign above the door and placed tables and chairs on the side walk.
I understand that they are shooting ONLY exteriors on the Square and that the interior shots are being done on a local sound stage.
Here is a picture of the film area before it became the Mystic Grille.
The building in question is near the center of the photo. It is the small white building next to the town clock.
Here are some of the quick photos I took on Friday. They had reset the town clock for the filming.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
'Vampire Diaries' crew to film on square Thursday, Friday
The "Vampire Diaries" crew will be filming on the square from 4 p.m. to 6 a.m. Thursday and from 5 p.m. to 6 a.m. Friday. There will be cameras, equipment and vehicles on the sidewalks, curbside and streets around the square, and the crew will be holding traffic intermittently for filming. There will also be temporary road closures on both days of filming. If you have questions or concerns about settings for shoots, call the locations office at 770-987-0666 (Please note this number is not for casting inquiries).
Click here for the full article from the Covington News.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Just in case you are interested.... Vampire Diaries
New vampire TV series seeks extras
Open casting call Sunday
By Crystal Tatum
Staff Reporter
Covington News
COVINGTON - An open casting call for extras for the new television series "Vampire Diaries" will take place from 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday at Holiday Inn Express, located at 9159 Access Road N.W. in Covington.
"We are looking for all types of people, all age ranges, to work as paid extras in the series," which will begin filming in Covington on July 21, Extras Casting Director Marty Keener Cherrix said.
Those who attend the casting call will be asked to fill out an application and bring a recent photo, no larger than 4x6. Photos will not be returned. No experience is necessary.
"For someone who's never done this before and wants a real life behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to make a TV series, this would be a great learning opportunity, and you will never watch television the same way again," Cherrix said.
Extras are paid $7.25 per hour and will get overtime if the workday runs more than eight hours. They'll also be served "a wonderful, fabulously catered meal," Cherrix said.
The show, based on a young adult book series by L.J. Smith, will air this fall on The CW network.
Set in Mystic Falls, Va., "Vampire Diaries" chronicles the love triangle between popular high school student Elena Gilbert and two brothers - both vampires, one good, one evil.
The cast will include Ian Somerholder, best known as ill-fated Boone Carlyle on the TV series "Lost;" Paul Wesley, who has appeared in numerous TV shows, including "24" and "Everwood;" and Nina Dobrev.
Location Manager Jonathan Jansen recently told the City Council that producers hope the show will have a long-term home base in Covington.
The main filming location will be on the Square in downtown Covington, he said. Downtown locations under consideration are the law office of Jim Alexander, which may be used as the exterior of a restaurant; Scott and Sue Cole's house on Floyd Street, which may be used as the home of the main character; and the former Teacher's Toolbox on the corner of Washington and Church streets.
Twelve episodes of the series have been ordered, Jansen said, with filming to run at least through early December.
The series premiere of "Vampire Diaries" is scheduled to air at 8 p.m. Sept. 10 on The CW.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
The Vampire Diaries
Seems like Covington is about to get its next dose of filmiing. Not a theater-release film but a TV show. It will be the 3rd that has been filmed here in the last couple of decades. The other two were "In the Heat of the Night" and the good 'ol boys in "The Dukes of Hazzard". According the the article in the Covington News, filming will begin July 21st.
Saturday, April 4, 2009
H2: The End
Friday, I dropped by on my last filming of H2. When I arrived, Michael was already there and we were waiting on Leigh-Anne and Brandon. Thanks to Michael, I was able to get my DVD autographed and get a picture with Scout. She was the sweetest thing. She told us that they had been shooting until 7am Friday morning. She also told us at the shoot she was cold and the rain didn't help. She showed us her bruised up arms. She's definitely a trooper. Leigh-Anne arrived right before Rob & Sheri Zombie. Sheri had her pug with her. After Rob walked her to her trailer, he came back to his and he was kind enough to sign my DVD and take a picture with me. Michael and Leigh-Anne also took pictures with him and he signed several things for Michael. Finally, Brandon arrived (you know I'm kidding) and not 15 minutes later, he had Scout's autograph on his mask. At this point, the crew was starting to clear spectators so we decided to head to the Hwy 142 Bar & Grill for dinner. We had a good meal, talked and had a genuinely great evening.
The filming is pretty much over and the Black Bunny Blog will be resuming it's nice boring, geeky and fun entries. You are welcome to hang around as long as you like. I just wanted you to know that most of the H2 posts are done. The only one I see ahead is the Fan-tom Jam Party Post and I will post some more H2 when the movie comes out in August.
I must tell everyone thank you. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. All of those who read, who posted, who emailed and who showed up. I have met some fantastic people that I will not soon forget.
I will leave this with a couple of slide shows.
First, my Trifecta:
A group of people that I have grown close to and to who part of H2 Posts and Pictures are credited to, The H2 Bunny Crew:
Lastly, a retrospective. Some of my favorite pictures, from beginning to end.
Good bye Mr. Zombie, Mr. Mane and Ms. Taylor-Compton. It was a blast!!
Friday, March 20, 2009
H2: The Procrastination
OK, last night was AMAZING (see MJagr26's comment under the 'H2: The Myers House'.) I have LOTS to write and pictures from Jason, Brandon, Leigh Ann, Michael and I'm sure Jonathan (hint-hint, I mean you have my primo Tyler Mane photo:).
Probably won't get anything up til tomorrow (and I'm hoping to have more from the shoot today to add - Micheal & Leigh Anne). Got home at 12:45 this morning, bed at 2am (yeah, I had the same issue Leigh Anne had - just couldn't wind down) and was at work this morning at 8am. So, I'm tired and I have tickets to the Thrashers / Red Wings game tonight.
On another note, I did go by the Myers house today at lunch. It was close to last night in appearance. They have moved part of the chain-link fence, piled up some of the weeds and fence vines and raked some of the leaves BUT I was able to get some decent dead-center, front-on pictures.
Oh, one more thing. I have a friend that was scheduled to be an extra in the Phantom Jam Halloween party scenes next week and he posted that they had changed the days to "Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon". Don't know what that really means...
Saturday, March 7, 2009
H2: The Production Office Call
So, I thought I would play nice and call the H2 Production Office and ask if I could get some "closer" looks at where they were filming and maybe take some set shots. I told them I was a local that was blogging about H2.
The short answer was "No". Legally, no photos and no else on set.
Oh well. That means I will keep an eye out for the next shooting location (supposed to be on 3/13) and see what happens there....
H2: Leigh-Anne's Pix
Leigh-Anne has some great pictures of Rob hard at work on the set when they were filming in Covington. I hope she doesn't that I shared some of them here.....
and of course, THE picture to have...
Thanks for Sharing!!
Friday, February 27, 2009
Halloween in the Rain
Tonight was a bad night for filming. It was cold and rainy. The shooting took place on Floyd Street. After I walked around for awhile, I was lucky enough to secure a great vantage point with a group of teens on one of the large front porches. Not long after I staked out my spot, a nice Production assistant came over and was giving us the 'rules' for watching the shoot. The first words out of his mouth was "you will need to go inside and watch through the window." Poor guy had no idea we didn't belong to that house. We politely explained that we could not go in. He told us that if we stood on the back corner, very still it should be OK.
He also described the scene that was going to take place. This was, technically, the first scene in the movie. It is after Laurie Strode shot Micheal. It is (supposed to be) around 5am. She is bloody and walking down the street with Loomis's gun. The police car pulls up behind her as she walks. CUT.
I tried framing and taking a few photos but soon realized it was a hopeless case. I was too far away for the flash to work and if I set a low ISO, the rain just blurred the shot. I decided that it wasn't worth waiting in the rain and getting sick. I decided to call it a night.
On my way out, I noticed they had "trashed" the Halloween Festival set on the Square. They had TP'd several of the trees and it was a general mess. I assume this is the aftermath. I asked when they were filming but Security was not sure. Sometime tonight or tomorrow. I think I'll head down tomorrow to see what I can see - rain or not.
But as promised, here are some dark, not so good or clear, video clips of Tyler Mane's Micheal Myers. Just look for the guy that is all hair and hoodie and about a foot and a half taller than every one else.
Mane and Zombie
The rest are miscellaneous walking scenes...
Halloween: Part 3
My car was in the shop today and Darrell could not come pick me up from work until 8pm. That wasn't going to work. I headed out on foot - it's really not a bad walk. I headed toward Floyd Street to get to the Square. While on Floyd, as I approached the East Street intersection, I noticed the houses on three of the four corners dressed in Halloween decorations. I don't know when or how they are going to be used...
As I reached the square, I realized the crowds had only increased since lunch. The film crew had much more of the square blocked off so it was difficult to get a decent shot of any filming. One thing I was able to investigate was the 'Bookstore" they had created. It was in the storefront of RL's restaurant just off the Square. While the bookcase facades were gone (they were serving dinner), the window display was still up.
I decided the Square was not worth it. I had good intel that there was going to be a Micheal Myers shot filmed about 2 blocks off the Square so I headed that way. There was an old house decorated for Halloween. The general rumor was this was the "Myers" House.
It was about a 2 hour wait before they started filming but, for me, it was worth it. It was a sequence of Micheal Myers (without the Mask, but I couldn't tell; all I could see was hoodie and hair) walking up a dark, foggy and leaf covered street while trick-a-treaters were running around. It was so very cool. The bad news was absolutely NO photography allowed. The good news is that a friend did some bootleg videoing. As soon as I can edit it down, I will post.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Halloween: Part 2
At lunch today, a co-worker had to go into downtown Covington for legitimate business and asked me if I would like to tag-a-long. Of course!
It was a mad-house down there. People, cars, cameras and wierd-o's all over the place. Anywho, I snapped a few more photo's.
I just love the Halloween decorations. The Square never has Halloween decorations, even at Halloween. Notice the book(s) in the window of the 1st slide....
At this point, everyone was out in full force. All the support crews were lined down one street while the camera crew was filming some scenes. I assume the shot they were working on was supposed to be from Micheal Myers point of view. Notice the branches, mounted on stands, strategically placed to the side of and in front of the camera.
Here are some stills of the scenes they were filming. Not very good. I had to stand across the street to take these. I like the fact that they added a smoke efect to the large pumpkin. We also saw some set dressing that was going to be used as part of the 'Halloween Warehouse'.
I head back out tonight. Now I'm after a picture of Micheal Myers himself.
It's Halloween in Covington
Some of you may already know but if not, the latest buzz around my hometown of Covington is the filming of Rob Zombie's Halloween 2. They have a short shooting schedule and are currently filming on our town square and nearby locations.
This morning, on the way to work, Darrell and I decided to detour around the Square. I wanted to get some photo's of the store fronts and sets before they were all taken down. We arrived about 8am and all was pretty quiet. I asked security if I could take photos and they gave open rein over all but a 20' X 20' section in the middle of the Square itself.
It was amazing to see downtown transformed into a Halloween Festival Setting in February. The store decorations are simple and old-fashion. They have primarily used flags, wreaths and cut-outs.
They have some great banners and 'old' feeling flyer's plastered all over the place. I really want some of the flyer's....
The sets are very 'old' style and quirky. Think a small town Halloween of the late 60's or early 70's. The main center piece is a huge walk-thru pumpkin...
By this time, it was around 8:20am and some crews were starting to arrive. We saw a film truck, grounds people and more of the quirky set pieces arriving at the Square. I was trying to get one last shot, traffic was in my way, and that's when I saw the man himself, Rob Zombie, walking down one of the side streets. I stood there pointing like a spastic fish trying to get Darrell to turn and see him. He was much more calm about the situation. The only person around was his security guy.
I ran (there was no walking) across the street and approached his security and asked if could stand to the side and take a picture. About that time, Rob turned around and asked "What?". His security guy told him we asked about a picture and he said "Sure.". Rob handed my camera to the security guy, put his arm around me and got Darrell into the picture. He was great about the entire thing.
Below is the preeminent photos. I have posted 2 versions. As you can see, I was just a little bit excited...
I love my husband dearly but I just had to do it.
