Vancouver is one of the busiest film and television production centres in North America. The BC Film Commission logs over three billion dollars of dramatic production each year. This is great news for the people who shoot films here.
It's also great news for people like us who visit their sets to shoot behind the scenes for EPK, DVD extras, "making of..." projects and to conduct Junkets and SMT/Satellite Media Tours.
We shoot on-set interviews and B-roll for electronic press kits (EPK's), for DVD extras and for documentaries for A&E Biography, Entertainment Tonight, Intimate Portraits, BBC Movie Connections etc.
We've been fortunate to film private interviews with some of the biggest names in showbiz including Idris Elba, Angelina Jolie, Robin Williams, Johnny Depp, Richard Gere, Tom Hanks, Jon Hamm, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Nicole Kidman, Barbara Walters, Quinten Terantino, Homer Simpson (Don Castellaneta), Kermet the Frog and Miss Piggy.
We also shoot insert material to be used for playback within the film as News footage, computer displays or surveillance video.
For X-men 2, we were recruited as special skill extras to shoot and be part of the 'President's news conference' in the Oval Office scenes (that's me between Patrick Stewart and Halle Berry). We also shot the security camera video insert material which was displayed on the monitors in the control room of Stryker's base.
We've also helped out on other high profile shows such as Steven Spielberg's Taken where we combined playing the role of an on-screen "TV News Crew" with shooting for the DVD.
For the BBC documentary The Making and Kingdom Hospital, in addition to our normal behind-the-scenes coverage, we were able to film the surprise cameo appearance of author Stephen King and get a great on-set interview.
Often these shoots require multi-camera setups like our two-camera PAL session with the BBC's Michael Buerk interviewing Jim Caviezel about Mel Gibson's controversial project The Passion of Christ.
While Will Smith was here shooting I Robot, we crewed a three-camera shoot for an ABC Primetime feature interview of Hollywood power couple Will and Jada-Pinkett Smith.
Our experience in sport coverage proved valuable when we went ringside and supplied a 5-camera mobile crew to feed the jumbotron for the boxing sequences in Eddie Murphy's I Spy.
For Robert Redford's Spy Games, we worked with director Tony Scott to record the "Live from Hong Kong" news report (at the corner of Burrard and Pender).
Feature projects shot here which we have been able to play a supporting role include:
X-Men 2 – Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry, Patrick Stewart – Bryan Singer dir.
I Spy – Eddie Murphy, Owen Wilson, Sugar Ray Leonard – Betty Thomas dir.
Spy Games – Robert Redford, Brad Pitt – Tony Scott dir.
White Chicks – Shawn, Marlon & Keenen Wayans – Keenen Ivory Wayans dir.
I Robot – Will Smith.
The 6th Day – Arnold Schwarzenegger, Robert Duvall.
Antitrust – Tim Robbins, Ryan Phillippe.
Scary Movie 3 – Leslie Nielson, Charlie Sheen – David Zucker dir.
Elf – Will Ferrell, James Caan, Ed Asner.
For the Canal Plus Day in the Life of Jackie Chan project we actually spent two days with Jackie and were with him both on and off set. It was amazing to see the volume of work that he could deliver in just 48 hours.
Television Production
The Outer Limits, The X-Files, Millennium, Stargate SG-1, Smallville, The Highlander, Cold Squad, The L Word, The Chris Isaak Show and DaVinci's Inquest are just a few of the TV series produced here.
Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda is one of the most popular shows in syndication — we shot on-set promos with Kevin Sorbo in both PAL and NTSC for more than 100 broadcast partners.
We've gone behind the scenes for ABC Publicity to do EPK coverage on the sets of Kyle XY, Reaper, V, Samurai Girl, Red Widow, Imaginary Mary, Once Upon a Time, Somewhere Between, Beyond, Take 2 and The Good Doctor.
We filmed on the "Bridge of the USS Enterprise" and met Zachary Quinto and the cast of Star Trek Beyond with Rachel Smith for ABC Good Morning America.
Masters of Horror We shot EPK/DVD special features material for this Vancouver-shot series helmed by 12 directors acknowledged as masters of the horror genre. John Landis, John Carpenter, Joe Dante, Tobe Hooper and Dario Argento were among the directors invited by creator/producer Mick Garris. Starring roles included Robert Englund, Robert Picardo, Faruza Balk and Oscar-winning makeup FX artist Howard Berger.
Music Audiences love to be taken behind the scenes in the music business. We've interviewed Sarah McLachlan for Intimate Portraits, Nick Cannon for MTV Diaries, done a promo spot for Ice Cube and spoken with Snoop Dogg on the set of his local music video shoot.
Irish supergroup U2 likes to start their world tours in Vancouver. In 2015 we interviewed them for ARD prior to their iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE tour. We filmed them again in 2017 as they kicked off their Joshua Tree World Tour here.
Other music industry projects include:
Tour promotions for U2, Michael Bublé, Justin Timberlake, Nickleback and the Rolling Stones.
Behind-the-scenes coverage of recording sessions with Shakira at Bryan Adams' Warehouse Studio.
Backstage interviews with Beyoncé before her final appearance with Destiny's Child.
Sir Paul McCartney — concert video at the Millennium Dome, London, and promo interviews for European tour.
Mick Jagger & Keith Richards — Stripped promo interviews, Virgin Records.
Celine Dion — backstage visit and concert coverage for TF1 France's Star Academy.
The Cure — studio recording and interviews for Yahoo webcast, London.
Bryan Adams/Sheryl Crow — Fashion Awards, Royal Albert Hall.
Private performance concerts by Sarah McLachlan for AT&T's Blue Room and promo materials for the musical King Kong.
A segment with Elvis Costello for Jimmy Kimmel Live.
BBC Breakfast TV asked us to cover the Spice Girls on the first night of their world reunion tour, and we shot The Police kicking off their world tour for ARD. We went to Seattle for Germany's Viva 2 Charlotte in America special to interview Eminem. Work for record companies includes interviews for Nickleback's Long Road CD/tour, and their Netflix documentary Hate to Love. We've covered Janet Jackson preparing the EPK to launch her All For You tour and filmed Michael Bublé giving a rollerblading lesson to Australian TV legend Molly Meldrum. We also loved working with Michael capturiing behind-the-scenes footage for his NBC Christmas Special and also during the filming of his Super Bowl commercial.
We enjoyed helping director Leigh Brooks of London's Firebelly Films explore the Nickleback phenomenon in his Netflix documentary Nickleback - Hate to Love.
Animation and Electronic Games
Vancouver is now a world center for computer animation. Mainframe Entertainment produced ReBoot, the world's first completely computer-generated children's series, here. Slugterra and several other animated series also originate here.
Recently we filmed the artists at Digital Domain meeting with Audi engineers from Munich to collaborate on the futuristic Audi-branded virtual vehicle that Harrison Ford drives in Ender's Game.
Electronic Arts, the world leader in video game production, has a huge state-of-the-art facility here. At their Burnaby campus, 1,300 employees produce Need for Speed, NBA Live, NHL Hockey, Madden NFL and FIFA Soccer. We've gone behind the scenes at Vancouver's motion-capture studios to see "how they do it" for ESPN, German Television and many gaming shows.
We shot a promo segment on FIFA Soccer for Loma Media's Gametime and crewed a 5-camera shoot for ABC Good Morning America during Jesse Palmer's visit to EA with members of the U.S. Women's Team for their mocap session—the first female players ever included in the FIFA Soccer franchise.
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