1st day of shooting all hands expected that they would be in studio just like all last days seem to be. However, when I struck out of Steveston that morning to go to Shut Eye on the best lead I had on Jeffrey Donovan since he came to Vancouver, I passed a set of signs I hadn’t seen before “JAFTS”. They were at No. 2 road and Steveston Highway. I pulled a u-turn and followed them down all the way to almost the water before I saw a familiar sight, the Green Machine, SPN’s craft service truck that only works on them as far as I’ve ever known. There was a relatively small circus set up with some trailers and more signs. I stopped and took a photo of the sign having figured out on the very first day what SPN’s signs were going to be for the year (and I was quite proud of myself, actually haha). I drove out to the water to see if I could spot the set and saw one of the boys’ trailers away from the circus right on a gravel lot on the water. They’re distinctive because they’re more like 5th wheels than star trailers and that’s unique even for Vancouver. I kept driving and ended up outside London Heritage Farm. I wanted to stick around but I had bigger fish to fry so I took off for Shut Eye.
After a successful day of actually getting to meet Jeffrey Donovan I headed back by the set to find that not much had changed. I pulled off a ways away and propped my phone on the dash of my car to do a slow drive-by of the area. It didn’t’ really seem like a place where I was comfortable hanging around since they had the boys’ trailers and various set stuff like a crafty tent that were on the open street. I didn’t want to spend time in the middle of that so I went home. Having seen the episode now I don’t think that was a crafty tent, I think it was the set where Dean, Mary and Cas had coffee across from the Vet Clinic.
A few days later I heard from a friend that those same signs had appeared down at Boundary Bay airport. I figured this was a good chance to check out some filming in hopefully a place where I could not be in the way and where it would be high volume, lots of people around. I headed down there, parked my car and walked into the dog park where SPN and it seems every other Vancouver-shot show spends a lot of time. I saw the filming set up at the end of the main road at the park and as I walked closer I again saw one of J2’s trailers sitting away from the rest of the circus (which was down across the street at the airport) and it sat on an intersection where people could walk by freely. I gave it a wide berth and went the other way after asking a PA if I could go down the road with the work trucks instead of going closer to the trailer and the actual set. I walked through hoping to find a vantage point that would be out of the way of the filming and soon found an open parking lot with not a soul around and away from all of the other trucks that belonged to the production. I recognized the side of the trailer as the one that they transport Baby(s) in and I was hoping there would be a PA there so I could ask where the best place to be was. But I found nothing but the trailer, wide open and an Impala sitting there. I took the chance to take a photo of the inside of the trailer from well back and also take a few more photos of Baby (without touching her or getting too close of course). I struck back out the same direction I was going before to try and see them filming but being in the summer the grass was too tall and there wasn’t much to be seen. Finally, after walking clear across the park I found a PA. I asked him where was a good place to be to watch and get a good vantage point and he said they were filming down the road straight ahead of us and so I couldn’t go down there. He invited me to wait or I could head back the other way (where I’d come from). He seemed to think it would be a while so I decided to go back after alerting him that a very important set piece (the Impala) was sitting unattended along with a wide open trailer.
Walking more I ran into Adam VFX and I chatted with him for a good long time way out of sight of the filming. It was nice to catch up and after that we walked back toward where I had started so I could hopefully see something that they were filming. I chatted with the PA around the intersection closer to the set than the trailer had been so that I wouldn’t be near it but also not too close to the set itself. They were doing a stunt with the car and had the whole section blocked off with no access for anyone due to safety. I was told that it was Jensen, Misha and Sam Smith on set and that they were close to taking lunch. There wasn’t a whole lot to see as they were prepping to do the car hit and practicing the angles. There appeared to be a lot of work happening but not any actual filming, just set up. Soon they broke for lunch and I took off to find a snack somewhere in town.
I came back in about an hour to the exact same spot with the same PA. He told me they were ready to do the stunt now and that they had planned to do it before lunch but he found out that there was a problem with the 2nd car that was supposed to do the hitting, it broke down. That meant that they only had one take to get this shot unless they could get that other car working. They had two Impalas that were ready to go for the ‘accident’ but now only one car that worked to ram it. I was told they were good to go and that this would be the take. Problem being that they ran it about 6 times with a near miss before they actually managed to get the Impala. I’m not sure how much of that was planned for practice but the PA kept saying that this was going to be the one, and then they missed and there seemed to be an audible groan. The trick was to hit the Impala to get it into just the right amount of spin to land it where the camera was and also hit it in the right place for the shot, not too hard and not to damage the frame or wheels or the people inside. With permission I recorded a few of the takes with my phone but I wanted t actually watch so I held the phone down. On the take where they actually hit the camera wasn’t even looking at the shot. Too bad. Anyway, I had to run but I left them to their business that day.
I couldn’t help but wonder when I actually saw the episode if when Dean and Cass push the brown SUV out and hide it into the bushes if that was the dead vehicle.
3rd time out for this episode was a place I knew that they would be this year for this episode. Logic dictates that a cliff-hanger must have resolution and they wouldn’t do anything else but pick up right where they left off with Dean and his mother. That meant the same park in New Westminster that they were at last season. Keeping an eye out via a friend I got a tip that there was action there. I headed over to find that they were filming in a house across the street. It turned out to be Crowley spying on the demons (the first time). I knew Mark was in there as someone had said they’d seen him go in but I wasn’t going to stay. I don’t usually like to stand around for interiors unless it’s a special occasion. It looked like they were a ways away from the park so I went and ran some errands to come back later.
Sure enough, a couple of hours later they were already filming when I arrived back at the park. The circus was set up like they had previously with Jensen’s trailer right at the top of the parking lot that was surrounded by bushes, the Green Machine up on the other side of the same lot and then everything else down on the main road. There were a few fans hanging around on the picnic tables that were relatively close to Jensen’s trailer. I didn’t want to be there and the set couldn’t be seen from that angle anyway so I started walking around to see if there was a vantage that I could see the shot and not get in the way. There seemed to be a distinctive absence of PA’s around and I had trouble finding someone to check in with as a fan so that they knew what I was doing there. I walked back further away from the set towards where they had put the graveyard last year but I couldn’t get an angle on the shot to see. I headed back out to the road and walked around the other side. There wasn’t a whole lot to see still, they had it blocked off with lighting bounces from pretty much every direction. I was hoping it was tightly controlled for lighting circumstances and not to keep fans out of the know. The secret was out already, Mary is alive. When I watched the show I noticed that the angles seemed to need the tight lighting so I hope trying to see wasn’t unwelcome.
As they changed angles I noticed there was a smoke machine with a guy fanning it standing in the middle of the field of the back side of the set. I figured if he was down there it was safe to go since it wouldn’t be in the shot. Also, there were no PA’s around but there were lots of people walking through with dogs and just out for strolls. I didn’t want to walk through in danger of getting too close but I did see a little more from where I was standing. I could see Dean and Mary sitting on the bench and talking and as the dialogue finished I saw him help her up and them walk away. Not a whole lot of excitement, that’s for sure. I didn’t get my camera out and take any photos, instead settling for some with my phone. There weren’t any PA’s to talk to, no workers to check with. I didn’t want to be skulking off in the bushes and causing trouble so I opted not to take any photos from that angle.
Soon they changed the set up again and this time it looked like they were going to be pointing the direction I was standing in as the smoke guy hid behind a tree. I went back to the sidewalk and walked back around the other side where I was originally. There were still fans hanging around and I stood up near the sidewalk away from the other people. I wandered down further where I had been before away from the set and trailers to see if I could see anything and found nothing. I moved forward because I thought I would have an angle not too far from the Green Machine. I was still a ways away from it (at least 15 feet) and kept backing up further but there was a stand of bushes and trees there. I didn’t want to appear to be hiding or get eaten by bugs. I stood for one take but it wasn’t long before they broke for dinner. I took off away from the Green Machine right away stood back by the sidewalk. Even that far felt too close when there was going to be people coming for lunch.
I saw a lot of movement near where the group of fans sat on the picnic bench near the trailers. A couple of them got up and started to run toward the set. I soon saw why, Jensen was coming to his trailer. It was set up right where the path that started at the road, went through the park by the picnic benches and then to the parking lot met the lot on the corner near where they were shooting. Shocked, I finally drew the attention of the PA nearby and pointed. I mean, Clif was there but in my opinion, those people shouldn’t have been able to get that close in the first place to rush Jensen. He’s the last one that would take kindly to that kind of surprise on set. They were right next to his trailer and I saw one of them at least disappear around the corner toward the door. They came right back so I’m sure they were warned off quickly by Clif. They stood at the corner of the trailer for another few minutes, I guess hoping that Jensen would come back out but eventually the PA finally went and asked them to move back, but they did only go as far as the picnic table they had been at before. There was another picnic table that was up further near the sidewalk and during lunch I sat there as my friends started to arrive. We chatted and now that the PA’s were on lunch too we really had a chance to chat with the new ones. One of them kindly offered me a chicken strip and a few bites in my friends were like “Oh my god, you’re eating from the Green Machine!” so I snapped a photo. That’s why there’s a photo of a half-eaten chicken strip in my photos from this episode. Anyway, after lunch (and dark) they set back up to film in the same spot. This turned out to be the first part of the scene, which I knew when they did it because it was dark, like it was when the show ended as they were both walking around in the dark. Once the crafty had shut down I realized that from my bushes I was standing in front of before I’d be able to see the set pretty well. My friends and I went over to watch as they set up. We saw Lou carrying stunt mats around and then the start of the scene. We knew this was where they would pick up after the finale as soon as they started. We saw Dean approach Mom tentatively with a hand out and the first time we saw it, it looked like he just fell on his own. We freaked out because we though that Dean passed out. On further takes, though, we saw her throw him down onto the ground. It looked to us like Jensen did pretty much all the takes, although we were far away and his stunt guy does look like him from that distance. We were also keeping one eye on the fans that had rushed Jensen earlier. They weren’t watching the filming and a few of them had crept back up to the garbage cans right by the path where Jensen would be walking. Figuring that the limited PA’s had their hands full enough kept my camera in my bag. I didn’t want to cause any more trouble then they were already dealing with. Especially with new PA’s that didn’t know us.
The second part of the scene involved the dialogue with Dean on the ground and Mary holding him down. When she backs off and gets up the first time we saw it we waited with baited breath knowing what was coming. Sure enough the hug, the slow, tentative few steps that Dean took and then the savoury, calm exchange between mother and son made us all saw ‘awww’ as quietly as we could from where we were. After the hug the scene continued where they pulled apart and Dean and Mary continued their conversation. After a couple of exchanges, Mary pulled her arms around her like she was cold and Dean quickly shrugged his jacket off. They moved to the bench scene and Mary wore Dean’s coat (the actual same one that Jensen was wearing, too in case anyone was wondering). By this time, we felt maybe we could move a little closer as things seemed to calm down. Some of the runners had left and although there were one or two still there, we decided we could see if the PA’s would mind us crossing to the other path closer to the set but on the far sidewalk side, the road side, not the trailer side. Between set ups we wandered over to them and kind of asked if it was okay for us to be there. They didn’t mind and we stood closer to watch the rest of the scene on the bench. Not long after that I noticed the people trying to get at Jensen closing in on the trailer yet again and waved to get the PA’s attention to get them out of there. He went back over to talk to them. It was frustrating to have people trying to close in on Jensen when he was just trying to do his job. By then he’d obviously seen them so if he wanted to come and chat to them he could have. But he’s working and from what little I feel I know of Jensen, if he feels surprised or cornered he won’t chat with people or he will make it as short as possible. He seems to enjoy people talking to him like a person and not squealing and fangirling all over the place (imagine that). When there’s people that do otherwise, chances of him making an approach are less than 0 from what I’ve seen. For lack of a better descriptor, “Casual encounters” (Can you tell I’ve been rewatching season 8?)
Anyway, we finished watching and not really taking any photos of the scene, just a couple here and there and when they wrapped for the night our little group got pretty (and quietly) excited when we saw Sam Smith walking towards the trailers. We were quiet about it but that was decided as my main objective for the season. If I can manage to get a photo with Sam Smith, I’ll be happy.
Until next set stalk….
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