In a New York state of mind

I caught up with a movie being filmed around Pearl Street in downtown Toronto yesterday. Along the road were U.S. things like mail boxes and New York cabs. Nearby was a NYPD cop car and a fire truck.

You can look up the many films, television series and features being shot in Toronto on this website. For star chasing look up Daily Filming Locations from On Location Vacations.

See more set photos after the jump.

Flashpoint by Hard Rock Cafe in Toronto

The road beside the Yonge Street Hard Rock Café was closed to traffic today as filming on the television series ‘Flashpoint’ was being shot in O’Keefe Lane. The series continues into its fourth season and the cast was rigged out in their full Emergency Tactical Force (ETF) outfits.

Actor Hugh Dillon, David Paetkau and others waited for their scenes where they rush into the alley, going after some type of bad guy, automatic weapons at the ready.

The Canadian police drama takes a large crew to prep the actors and film the action. They also need a ton of security and actual Toronto police to keep people away from the talent and out of the camera shots. Luckily as a well known Toronto blogger I was able to catch some of the action.

See more pictures after the jump.

Hugh Dillon and 'Rosseau'

Updating his facebook status?

The film crew in the alley

Part of the movie set and support equipment and some real cops

chillaxin

Movie Cones

When ever you see a traffic cone you could be looking at a simple traffic issue (like those pesky potholes) or maybe you are looking at all the adventure and excitement that film and television has to offer. In film production they use the cones to provide directions for personnel to get to the film site and also to block off traffic to save the space for production vehicles. When you watch the cones it's almost like you are watching movie stars work their magic.  The second cone reminds me of Angelina Jolie. This must be an action move!

Filming at City Hall

Movie crews spent all day setting up at City Hall to shoot in Nathan Phillips Square on September 24. It is always surprising how much stuff is necessary to make movies. From snacks to makeup, film dollies and rails, lights and reflectors and all the people needed to staff and act - it's like a small army. I think the director was using a small lens to frame the upcoming scene while the camera gear was being readied for the new location.

The movie business is a lot like the army, hurry up and wait, and I think the boredom must get to the actors sometimes. Though the interest of the people who pass by is intense, people stop, look and continue on their way. Speaking of films my Youtube Channel is almost at 1 million views!

I think they must have pulled miles of cables under the raised floor of the square. This worker was dressed for getting in the crowded and messy underground space.

Ashley Tisdale - Sharpay's in Town

Movie crews filled the parkette beside Roy Thomson Hall on King Street for Ashley Tisdale's new movie Disney "Sharpay's Fabulous Adventure" which is now called "High Stakes". In the scene above actor-model Austin Butler from Hannah Montana and Zoey 101, films Ashley and her cute dog.

 Ashley of course famous for her Sharpay character from the High School Musical series.

As part of the movie magic even the cute little puppy had a stand in and when not being filmed he had his own chair.

Television: Flashpoint

The television series Flashpoint is currently filming seasion 3 around Toronto and the GTA and the crew was in Yonge-Dundas Square with a bunch of cameras and extras. I was disappointed not to see series star Enrico Colantoni while I was there but it was still interesting to see the work and equipment that go into television and movie production.



Toronto works hard to sell the city for filming with location images and information on their Toronto Film and Television Office (TFTO) website. You can even see the productions being shot around the city (updated every two weeks) at this link where I see that Saw VII is being filmed and will soon scare people in the theatres.