[dtengineering]

We got to see a very little bit of the filming. Much of it happened while we were in class, and when they were filming after school they asked people to keep a respectful distance... I can't blame them... if I were spending the kind of money on a shoot that these guys were, then I wouldn't want to risk an interruption or too many "work in progress" photos being posted to the internet.

What was more interesting than watching the filming, at least from my point of view, was the work of the technical crew. About 7 people were at work transforming the filming locations a week before the filming started. Walls were "repainted" with MacTac (which could be pulled off afterwards), new light bulbs were installed to give the lighting the appropriate tone, fake columns were placed in the cafeteria, and eventually a forest of trees was "planted" in the parking lot behind the cafeteria windows.

The trucks and equipment required to film filled up the entire parking lot, and security set up a perimeter around most of the filming... not surprising considering that there were people flying in from across North America to watch the filming and track the stars. Not a LOT of people... but add that to the local fans and there would usually be a couple dozen people hanging out trying to see what was going on.

So it was kind of interesting... I did get to see "Edward" all made up in between takes a few times, and even saw a small part of one scene being filmed, but am not familiar enough with the series to know if I saw any other major characters. Frankly, I thought the technical side of things was far more interesting, and that the true stars of the show are really the ones behind the scenes who figure out where and when to shoot, and manage all the logistics.

Anyways, Twilight is all done now... but I had a chance to stop and watch the "A Team" being filmed a week or so ago... my wife's office tower is standing in for a German bank, and I watched BA (and his stunt double) all dressed in "commando black" limp across the street, through traffic (all European cars with euro plates, of course, including taxis with advertising in German) and smashed glass to pick up a briefcase-like thing. Apparently I missed out the previous week when they had people rappelling down the side of the building.

Jason