Back in November of 2007, Comic Related was introduced to an individual who regularly works as an extra in the film industry. The individual, who calls herself Cassandra Faust, was good enough to share an ongoing series of first hand reports direct from the set of the upcoming Watchmen film. We're pleased to report that our dear Cassandra has made her way onto the set of Capricia, the Battlestar Galactica prequel which is in production at this time. Today, she shares a FIRST HAND report from the set. Ms. Faust has our sincere, continued and ongoing thanks...

NEXT STOP CAPRICA CITY

Cassandra Faust

With everyone still reeling from the big Season Four Battlestar Galactica finale, I thought it time to check in on what’s happening with the Caprica prequel. I was fortunate enough to work a couple of days on the TV movie recently and am pleased to be able to report on the goings on.

For those of you who don’t know, Caprica, right now, is a pilot for a spin-off series. The movie is set some 50 years prior to the current Battlestar Galactica series and tells the story of how the Cylons came to be created. I won’t get into all of the people involved with the movie as these details have been reported all over the internet. Instead I will concentrate on the scenes I worked on.

As with most aspects of film making, things were done a little bit backwards. The first day we were called to the Vancouver Film Studios where Galactica is shot and, before signing in, were directed to Wardrobe to get our outfits approved. The look was to be “New York, think 1940s”. This was only a general guideline however. Suits and upscale casual wear in muted colors were the order of the day for the men, brighter prints for us gals. But nothing flashy. We were morning commuters heading to work. Props included coffee cups, Caprica Times newspapers, and briefcases all liberally distributed. Most of the men were given fedoras and other brim hats, trench coats abounded.

The set was a mock-up of a subway car with a short section of platform. The first shot was simple: the grips shake the subway car to simulate it arriving, the doors open and we pile in. Or so we thought. Turns out us Canadians are just too darn polite. We kept trundling in respectfully and this just would not do. We had to be reminded time and again that we were “not Canadian” for this scene. We were rude, pushy New Yorkers. It did not take us long, however, to get into character.

As for the actors in the scene, Paula Malcolmson was there, unrecognizable to Deadwood fans with dark reddish-black tresses to play Amanda Graystone. Avan Jogia was also present. He plays Ben Stark. Try as I might to get my hands on a call sheet, I was unable to do so, but I think Genevieve Buechner was also there. The group of actors consisted of Malcolmson and 4 students who had knapsacks and wore school uniforms and coats. They push their way onto the train but one of the kids stays behind on the platform as the train pulls away, saying she’s sorry but she can’t go with them. This action, or in-action, saves her life.

The next shot was on the train. After we’ve pushed and shoved our way onto the car along with the actors, we pretended to be riding while they spoke their dialogue. I was not close enough to hear every word but got the gist of what they were saying. They are all very excited about where they were going, except for the Stark character who is quiet. One of the kids has a piece of paper that is a computer terminal of some sort and presses “keys” on it to call up information. This is probably something that will be enhanced with special effects. Finally one of the girls questions Stark as he seems out of sorts. He replies that he is sorry and unzips his gray jacket. A bomb is strapped to his chest. He yells out something about there being only one, true God, then detonates the bomb.

This scene was shot from many different angles, then it was time to film the beginning of the explosion. There were no pyrotechnics for the scene. We were told it would all be done with special effects. We merely had to scramble and panic for a few seconds before Stark explodes the bomb. The day’s work ended with us scrambling then lurching as the blast comes. The AD would yell out BANG and we would do our thing.

Between takes, we were asked if we would be available for a night shoot in downtown Vancouver. This was to be the beginning of this scene, before everyone reaches the platform, which is what I meant by things being backwards in the film industry.

I readily agreed and headed downtown two days later to commute to my screen death. The set this time was a real “subway” station. Here in Vancouver, our commuter train is called the Skytrain as it runs mostly above ground on elevated tracks, but in the downtown core, the stations are indeed underground. The station in use for this scene was the Granville station with the signs changed to Caprica City in white letters against a navy blue background. We had to wait until around 2AM to start shooting because the station is in use until after midnight by real commuters and the crew could not set up equipment until the station had closed for the night.

This night’s (morning’s?) work consisted of a number of shots. The first had the actors and a large group of extras heading down a very long, steep escalator, then turning to their left to head to the train platform. An equally large group of extras was heading up the escalator. This made for a lot of set up time between takes as each group had to return to their start points by coming up or down the escalators repeatedly.

The same group of actors as the subway shoot was present. They ride the escalator down, one of the students is pressuring Amanda Graystone about, I think, her father not being late for something “this time” as Amanda gets a call on her cell phone. At the bottom they then hurry to the platform to await the train they boarded 2 days ago.

This was filmed from many angles before the last shot of the night. For this one we had to cluster around the train platform. The actors had to push through us to get to their marks, then we all lean back as the “train” arrives. The train will be CGI so we had to lean back on cue as no real train was racing up the platform. A few takes of this and we were free to go at 4:30AM!

As I’m something of a newcomer to the new version of Battlestar Galactica, I was aware of how cool it was to work on Caprica but won’t be able to truly appreciate the experience until I’ve seen more of the show. And who knows maybe I’ll be asked to visit Caprica City again.

Until then, I hope you enjoyed the sneak peek.

Check out our previous Watchment set reports!