@FringeOnSet: Remote Adventures in Set Hunting, 2010-2012

By Ellen (@FringeFridayNet - fringefriday.net)

Today, I run the general Fringe info Twitter account @FringeFridayNet - but it originally started out as @FringeOnSet, a Twitter account devoted to hunting down and tweeting information about the filming of Fringe on the streets of Vancouver, BC!  For two years, the FringeOnSet account was on the case - tweeting and retreating pictures and information on where you might see the cast and crew of Fringe filming the next exciting episode...

The funny thing is that I live thousands of miles away from Vancouver - on the East Coast of the USA. So I was pretty pumped to discover, one fine evening in July 2010, that the filming of the eagerly anticipated Fringe Season 3 premiere was happening - and people on the scene were tweeting about it - live, in real time!

Here's the first picture from the first day of filming 3x01 "Olivia" - the scene where Peter comes out of the government hearing to reunite with Walter and Bolivia.  It was filmed on the steps of the Vancouver Art Gallery, and here right before the eyes of Twitter, were John and Josh posing for the cameras of a lucky fan. So exciting… and so far away for so many of us! Thus the FringeOnSet Twitter account was born.

Although fans have always managed to find out filming locations of their favorite shows, until the age of Twitter, this knowledge wasn't available in real-time. Now it's possible for anyone to share filming location tips and head down to a location before the crews have even set up for the day. This can be a fun thing, or a not so fun thing (for the cast and crew, who are there to work). So, over time, I and my other set-hunters gradually started to develop a sense of restraint about what to share. (For example, tweeting random Fringe star sightings when they were clearly not on the job... that's something I personally wouldn't do.)

Some time around the end of the third season, the paparazzi and set tipster stuff seemed to get a little out of hand. Someone who was hanging around the set - we never found out who, but it wasn't a fan - claimed to have retrieved a discarded call sheet from the trash, and posted images of it on Twitter. What was on the call sheet document was EXTREMELY spoilery, and even though set reports are almost by definition spoiler-friendly, I refused to tweet it out, and I'm proud that so many other Fringe fans also refused to pass it on either. We were really pretty outraged and disappointed that someone around the set would have done such a thing.
(However, since the show is now over and all danger of spoilers have passed, here's a photo of the notorious call sheet in question and its shocking revelation that "Walternate kills Olivia.")

However, that incident gave me and some of the other "set stalkers" some pause. We certainly didn't want to do anything that would make things difficult for the Fringe crew or ruin the experience for fans. So, after that incident, I think most of us took care to think a little more carefully about passing out information on Twitter. At least one of the professional photographers also decided to keep a more respectful distance. Fortunately, our spies on the streets of Vancouver were also mostly very respectful of the crew.

One fun memory of the FringeOnSet experience was when a devoted Josh Jackson fan from Australia traveled to Vancouver in hopes of seeing the filming. By sheer bad luck, she had scheduled her trip just at the time that Josh would not be on set - the beginning of Season 4 filming, when Peter of course was not in any of the episodes!  It seemed she would have to go all the way back home to Australia without ever having met Josh on set.  However, one evening, Josh unexpectedly showed up at one of the exterior sets - and those of us watching helplessly on Twitter, thousands of miles away around the world (and in real-time, mind you) were in a tizzy! "OMG, someone in Vancouver has got to find her and tell her JOSH IS THERE!!!" We were trying to find out what hotel she was staying at, so we could call her and get her quickly out to the set!  It all had a happy ending though, as she was indeed at the location already and finally got to see him. Whew…

As Fringe drew nearer to an end of filming in the fall of 2012, I think paranoia about serious spoilers somehow getting out, was at an all-time peak! Those of us who enjoyed discussing spoilers and set photos, felt we had a duty to protect the spoiler-free from anything that might come up.  

One day toward the very end of Season 5 filming, a local Vancouver guy named Sean (@scoobykoo) - who often snagged great candid pictures of meeting the cast of Fringe - posted to his Twitter account a seemingly innocent photo of himself with Joshua Jackson at an outdoor shoot, all smiles. Sean commented that he believed he was watching the filming of the final scenes of the show, although he wasn't sure. However, a few of us "trained observers" looked more closely at the photo and realized it contained a GIGANTIC spoiler for the end of the series... something that the photographer probably couldn't have known, but a fan would notice. Joshua was wearing the same gray T-shirt under his coat, that he had been wearing in the season premiere! The spoiler implications of this, were enormous... as Josh's costume implied that the last scenes of the season were from the same time frame as the first. (This, of course, indeed turned out to be the case, with the "reset" back to 2015.)

"OMG!" a fan DM'd me when she saw Sean's photo. "Should we ask him to take it down???" Well, we clucked about this nervously amongst ourselves for the entire afternoon, but in the end, wound up just hoping that nobody else saw Sean's photo and looked more closely at it. As far as we know, nobody but us diehard set watchers noticed!

All good things have to come to an end, and so did FringeOnSet. Filming concluded on the night of December 13 2012, and into the morning of the 14th. It was very satisfying yet of course, very poignant to man the Twitter account one last time and tweet "live" reports as the main cast members of Fringe wrapped the series one by one. First was Jasika Nicole... then John Noble and Michael Ceveris together... then Anna Torv... and finally, long after the sun had come up in Vancouver, Joshua Jackson.

No more vicarious set adventures from thousands of miles away... but, a probably lifelong appreciation for the people and places of the city of Vancouver, British Columbia! I probably know more about the streets and neighborhoods of Vancouver than anyone who hasn't actually visited there... yet!  -Ellen

Fringetastic Night: Meeting Josh & Anna

By Arianne Robbins (@fringe__forever)

It was the night of Wednesday, January 18th 2012. Aside from being clear and beautiful, it was also -17 degrees Celsius, the coldest day of the year. My mom, little brother Alex and I walked down Alexander St (in Gastown) at a leisurely pace, as our feet were already beginning to freeze and stiffen.

I clapped my hands in glee and smiled widely as I caught sight of black tents, accompanied by a set of tracks with cameras mounted upon them.

Next to the tracks, a silver Nissan Leaf was parked. I recognized it as Olivia's car! The set was like a beehive, there were constant movements and shouting. In front of the set, a group of people has gathered and were chatting excitedly. Once we reached the swarm, I reached into my bag and took out my clipnote. Inside, I had carefully arranged in this order, my envelope for Anna (containing: the drawing I did of her and a fan letter), two copies of a photo edit I did of Josh, John and Anna (hopefully to be signed!) and a printout of the filming notice with the address.

My small pale hands shook with nervous excitement as I clutched my clipnote tight, teeth gritted against the cold. My blue eyes wandered towards the tents in the left and I saw JOSHUA JACKSON! I whispered to my mom: "That's him! Joshua Jackson IN THE FLESH!" My mom just looked at me and said "Why don't you go over and say hi? You might not get the chance later!" And so I did! Calmly, I strode over to where he was standing, taking pictures with a couple of fans. Once they left, I looked him straight in the eyes and said "Hi! I'm Arianne. I'm a HUGE fan of Fringe! Could you please sign this for me?" I held out my photo edit and a blue pen.  He then asked me, " What's your name?". I told him and he replied "Arianne... Is that FRENCH?". I told him yes it was indeed! Then he went on to say how he and Diane have a house in France and how much they love it there. He and my mom talked for awhile too! He then signed " To Arianne, enjoy our show, Joshua Jackson". I thanked him and asked if I could have my picture taken with him. He encircled my waist with his right hand and my mom clicked away. I said thank you once more, told him he was awesome, and went back to stand and watch the filming.

I stood there, shivering and smiling like an idiot. In my mind I

thought to myself "WHERE IS ANNA?!?!" And right before my eyes, there she was. She chatted quickly with Joel and climbed into the Nissan Leaf. And just like that, the camera began rolling and Joel called out "ACTION!" She opened the door, looked left than right, stride down the street and caught sight of Peter leaving a building. He saw her also, and she broke into a run. He opened his arms to her, and she flung herself at him. He twirled her around while gazing into her eyes lovingly. They closed the embrace with a passionate kiss. "CUT!" Joel called, and they broke apart. Anna patted Josh on the back, they smiled at each other and she headed back to the car. There, she had her makeup touched up, and they filmed the scene again.

When they stopped for a break before filming resumed, Anna was walking back towards the tent. I heard my mon say to me "THAT'S YOUR CHANCE!" So, I took it! I jogged over towards the tent, raising my voice slightly "Anna! Could I please talk to you for a second?" She stopped in mid stride and  turned towards me. I asked politely, "Could you please sign this for me?" holding out my photo edit and the blue pen. She took it from me, and signed it. I asked if I could have my picture taken with her, and she said to me "Of course!" in her super cute Aussie accent, and put her arm around me! After my mom took the first picture, she said to Anna "I'm sorry, your eyes were closed, could we have another?" Anna blushed, said she was sorry, and yes.

It was very sweet! My mom got a good shot of us, and packed away the camera. I turned toward Anna and pulled out the envelope I had brought for her, and handed it to her. She took it, looked me STRAIGHT IN THE EYES OH MY GOD, and beamed at me! "Thank you!!" she said. I melted. "You're very welcome!!" I said and smiled. Just as I was leaving, she caught my shoulder and said "I stole the cap of your pen!" and handed it I'm back to me. I smiled again and said that was perfectly okay. I told her she was awesome, and wonderful. Then we took one last look around, and left.

THE END!

Ps. I wrote this the day after it happened, back in 2012. I was only 14 at the time (I'm almost 18 now)!

Contact Arianne Robbins on:

twitter: @fringe__forever    tumblr : vancouverswan

Our Fringe Time In Vancouver In 2012

By Marielle van Veen (@mariellevveen)

Let me start by saying that I haven't been a Fringe Fan since it started. To be perfectly honest, I came across Fringe by accident in the summer of 2012. We binge watched the four seasons and were soooo bummed to have to wait for season 5, but also that it was already known there would only be a season 5.

Me and my boyfriend were in Vancouver for two weeks in september and october 2012. We knew Fringe was filming there, but we had no idea how to come across filmsets.

With the help of Twitter we found a location on Jervis street. We went there the night before and already saw that parking wasn't allowed in certain areas.

Since this filming location was only a 2 minute walk from our hotel, we were there around 9 in the morning. They were still busy setting up. We walked along the street and just waited. We felt a bit uneasy, because we have never seen such a big operation filming a tv show. Maybe it's because we're Dutch and obviously not used to big productions like this!

Out of nowhere, Joshua Jackson and John Noble were walking towards us, happily chatting. They stopped to get some coffee, looked at us and the two huge cameras (I felt so awkward!!) and continued their conversation. It was just too early and I was too shy to already ask for a photo, so I just let them do their thing.

We walked back to the set and a police man came over to ask us who we were. As soon as he discovered that we're just plain old tourists and not paparazzi, he was very friendly and told us about a great spot to see the filming where we could also take pictures.

They were filming the scene where Peter, Olivia, Walter & Astrid are exiting the pocket universe building and where Peter eventually gets shot.

The view was awesome! We could see everything very clear! And wow there are a lot of people involved!

When they were finished with that scene, they started with entering the building where the pocket universe is. There were also doubles for Peter, Olivia and Astrid.

We were able to see this being filmed from different angles. It was so awesome! 

After this scene was shot, Joshua Jackson got into a car and drove off.

We had to change accomodation that day, so we had to get our stuff and move. It was soooo far away from the centre, and because we would miss more Fringe being filmed it sucked even more.

At the end of the afternoon we headed back to the set, hoping to be able to see someone. Only John was there. He was filming shots that were used as material of the tapes before ambering himself.

I saw someone handing him things to sign, so I just didn't think and walked over. He was very friendly and took the time, even though he wasn't done filming! (We thought he was, we just got back)

He did the last scene and about ten minutes later they were done for the day! Sooo lucky to have been there just in time!

Jon Cassar also came to talk to us and also asked who we were, he recognised us from earlier, I believe it had a lot to do with my boyfriend's camera.

We also saw some scenes from S05E07 being filmed in the Olympic Village. There already was a group of people. We didn't stay very long, but Blair Brown was there. I love it how they put all these extra stuff in the shot. Like a train from the future, that isn't really there. Sometimes it's really hard to see where they filmed, I believe.

There was also something shot in a parking garage. I'm not really sure when that was anymore. We couldn't see anything, I believe we only saw John Noble briefly.

We rented a bike for a day. We took the whole seawall (of course) but we then headed to Kitsilano taking the Burrard Bridge. Along the water all the way to West Point Grey to the Harvard building. We loved it! It was really far, but it was totally worth it!

And of course, during our stay in Vancouver, we wanted to rent a car to go to Whister. We knew there was going to be Fringe filming, but decided that it probably wasn't gonna work to get a picture with Joshua Jackson, since we hadn't seen him anymore.. When we got back to the hotel, Twitter was full of pictures from people with Joshua Jackson from filming that day :( I believe it were shots from when he's turning into an observer? I was really bummed!

In 2013 we went to Vancouver again and we took the tour at the Orpheum. This was really great, even without the Fringe connection. So if you are there in July or August, this is totally worth it! 

All in all, we had a wonderful experience. Apart from Fringe, which will be always connected to Vancouver in our minds, we have fallen in love with Vancouver!

Can't wait to be there again (next week already!!) and look up some other filming locations.

Pics by: M. Elsenbroek

Last Day Treasure

By Angela514 (@angelamorales18)

Taking a trip over to Vancouver was something I have always wanted to do, even before Fringe. I've never been farther out west from Montreal, Canada than Ottawa, and I finally got my chance on October 29th 2012. It would be my first trip anywhere traveling alone, so it was a pretty big deal for me. I didn't want to spend my week waiting around for Fringe filming sets, and spent my week playing tourist and getting to know this beautiful city. I met Fringe fans, one of whom I knew from twitter, who took me around the city showing me different fringe filming locations, the Bishop house and the Irish Heather pub being my favourites, which was super cool, and I'm forever grateful for them. 

Before I knew it my week in Vancouver was almost over and I was to leave on Sunday, and although I fell in love with the city, I was disappointed I didn't get the chance to see at Fringe filming or meet the cast, I so yearned to meet Anna Torv and Joshua Jackson the most. When I heard a few days earlier that there would be filming a day after I was scheduled to leave, I debated for 5 minutes whether I should delay my flight two days. It wasn't a hard choice and I was quickly on the phone changing my flight. 

Monday was an extraordinary day for me, it was a beautiful clear day when I got up early and made my way to the area I knew they were filming at. I met some really great fringe fans and we spent the day taking pictures, admiring the cast, the crew, the sets. 

It was amazing! I met Anna first, and she is just absolutely gorgeous, and such a sweet girl, and she so kindly stopped to take pictures with us even though she was on her way for a break and set change. 

John was equally adorable, and was so happy to take a picture with me and pulled me right in, grabbing my hand, even though my hands were ice.

Meeting Josh was the highlight of my day, I was so nervous, I was literally shaking, and the extras we were talking to were very encouraging for me to go up to him to take a picture and to get his comic book signed, I finally worked up the courage and had a friend come with me. I had come up with so much to talk to him about, and yet when the time came I went completely blank, I don't even remember much of what I said, but he was so beautiful in person, I was just left speechless. All I remember was he was very impressed that I came prepared with a black and silver sharpie so that he could sign my comic book and my season 1 dvd cover. Best moment of my life!

I managed to stop Blair Brown for a picture and autograph, and although she is intimidating on Fringe, she is absolutely such a sweetheart, and super happy and friendly with her fans.

Before long, it was dark, and the filming just wrapped for the day, we realized we were outside watching filming for 10 hours straight, but it was one of the best days of my life and I will forever treasure it, I am so lucky to have had the chance to meet them.

And... Action!

By Marielle van Veen (@mariellevveen)

Me and my boyfriend were in Vancouver for two weeks. We were able to see a few days of fringe filming. 

We saw them filming scenes for episodes 6 and 7 of season 5.

We were so lucky to see this being filmed! 

My now husband took the broadcasting clips and put in some shots that we filmed.

As soon as I have the time I will tell the full story!

For now enjoy!!