Entry tags:

celebrity sighting, chris meloni, filming, ice-t, my neighborhood, richard belzer, svu

Time to indulge in SVU...it's been so long. :D
Alright, SVU-time! (That's not as snappy as peanut-butter-jelly-time, but that's okay). Basically, the whole thing was just a trip.

The best part of SVU filming in my neighborhood was just how MUCH of it there was. They were here for two days straight and had at least four different sets within a two block radius of each other (not all at once)—two day sets and two night sets. And the set dressing and the equipment needed for all those sets and for lighting both day and night…walking around my block felt like I was walking around the back lots of Universal or something like that. The entire area was just movie magic where ever you looked. Not to mention the fact that every time I left my apartment I practically ran into Belzer, Meloni, or Ice-T or all three of them (but no Mariska Hargitay as she wasn't in any of these scenes). Also, the scenes themselves were generally interesting to watch film (one not so much, but one especially so).

So, all in all, a ton of fun and, as I said, just such a trip.

BTW, if you're not a fan of SVU, this will probably be long and boring. Heck, even if you ARE a fan of SVU, this still might be long and boring. Don't say I didn't warn you. :)



Legal stuff: all descriptions and pictures are owned by me. Please email or comment and get permission before reposting. It's easy, I'll pretty much always grant it, I just like to know where it's being reposted is all. Thanks!

NOTE: For even more photos, you can go to the photo set on flickr

OK, let's take these one at a time. Oh, wait! First, I have to have the pre-requisite Filming Notice. :)

Also, I want to give a quick idea of what it was like. I said that they turned the entire place into a back lot and I meant it. The four pictures below are taken of the four blocks that radiate out from where Prince St. and Mulberry St cross.









So, yeah, basically, whatever direction you looked, it was clear something was going on. Fun!!

OK, now on to the actual set report. Get ready, get set, go!!

Monday: Set 1: Day time shoot where Fin and Stabler are in a record store
As the title indicates, this was inside a record store and involved Fin and Stabler. I have no idea if it was a crime scene or just questioning a witness. Also, it was indoors so one couldn't actually see filming, but still, it was fun. Once again I am AMAZED at how much time and effort go into these things. It really is incredible. Finally, after a bunch of prep, the principles arrived: Ice-T and Chris Meloni are in da house! ;)





As I said, this was an indoor set so there wasn't too much to see except between takes. It was entertaining, however, to watch the extras that walked back and forth on the sidewalk across the street from the store. One crew member stood at one end of the side walk and another at the other end, each dispatching extras to walk through. And they recycled extras! An extra would get from one crew member to the other, then turn around, and at the right signal, walk back. My favorite was this guy in a blue fleece. When he walked in one direction he carried this book at his side and walked with a pronounced lilt/limp to his step. On the return trip, he walked normally while reading his book. Too funny. I'm so looking out for the recycled extras when this episode airs, lol.

And that was Set 1.

Monday: Set 2: Nighttime scene where Munch is crazy and gets attacked with a baseball bat.
You read that right. Yeah. After they broke Set 1, I went to my apartment to work for a while, knowing it would take them time to set up for the next shot. I headed back down around 6:30 and OMG, Belzer had arrived!! My timing was almost perfect, again, as I got there just as they were doing rehearsal for this scene. Unfortunately, even though it was only rehearsal, they were not allowing flashes so the pictures are a little crappy, but such is life.

Anyway, the rehearsal involved Munch coming down the street (and Belzer as he did it, kind of waved his arms and said something like "yelling crazy stuff, yelling crazy stuff") then this masked person came up and hit him with a baseball bat!! Soon after Fin and Stabler come running up to his aid, though I think Munch was going to grab his assailant and rip the assailant's mask off. In any case, watching rehearsal was fun. They all seemed to be in a pretty good mood and they all had fun swinging the bat, lol. A couple pictures below from rehearsal:





Then rehearsal was over and I, again, headed back to my apartment as I had a late conference call. But, of course, as soon as my conference call was over I headed back out, lol. I didn't actually see a lot of actual filming, though I did see them filming the scene that led up to Munch getting whacked. More on that in a sec. First, some pics of the set.








Alright, now for the scene that I saw, as told in little snippets:

• It was so fun to be around the set and hear over the radios as they were getting close, "Munch is getting wired up." And "We're padding up Munch now" (in prep for him getting whacked in the ribs).


• It was total fun when Belzer showed up on set. He brought Bebe (his dog), and often called out, "Oh Bebe!", lol) He also punched himself in the side a few times to show off the padding around his midsection.


• When they started filming, his "yelling crazy stuff" comment from before made more sense: in this scene Munch stumbled down the street screaming how the CIA was monitoring your thoughts. And he was dressed all scruffy and was all dirty and waiving a book and was generally crazy. Um…yeah. Interesting. No idea if Munch actually goes crazy or if he was undercover. One hopes the latter, lol.


• After the first shot, he turned to the crowd and started saying, "I'd like to thank the academy, and my agent and all the people…" The crowd started clapping for him. The director then quieted us down telling us "Don't egg him on!" lolol

After they filmed his scene a few more times, it was getting late and they were going to have to set up for the next shot. I called it a night. It would have been fun to watch another scene, but, as I said, it was getting late and besides, I'd had my fun. :)

And that was set 2.

Tuesday: Set 3: Loading a body into an ambulance
Alright, day two of the SVU extravaganza! This scene was a day time scene. The scene was like this: a body is wheeled out of a building, Elliot trails behind, a crying woman walks next to it, a man has to restrain a distraught boy as they go by. Then the body is loaded into the ambulance while Fin, Elliot talk with the woman.

I watched them do the second team rehearsals (i.e. the standins. In the picture below, Fin's stand in is in the blue cap facing the crying woman's standin. Stabler's standin is the guy in the white/light sweatshirt walking behind the guys with the body. I love that you can see the taped marks on the ground where they're supposed to go. :)



Then first team rehearsals (i.e. the main actors. In the picture below you can just see Stabler's head behind the guy with the body, lol. And the distraught kid and the woman):



There was also someone (actually, two someones) from the Sopranos that were guest stars. I didn't recognize them, really as I don't watch the Sopranos, but as the guy was walking by, one of the other fans there asked, "Hey Ray, would you mind posing for a picture?" The guys smiles and says, "Yeah, sure. Anyone who gets my name right gets a picture." LOL Nice. I got a picture then, too, but it wasn't great (it's in the photo set). Also, Ice-T was very cool, waving to the fans at times while he waited on his mark for filming to occur. It was fun to be in this crowd of fans, though, as everyone was pretty excited to be there. "Oooo! There's the guy! You know, the guy! The detective guy!" (that just after Meloni showed up on set). And "It's Ice! I love Ice!" and "He's in the Sopranos!" Good times. hehe

I watched them film the scene (alas, they were pretty strict about no photos during the scene) and then they started doing close ups and there wasn't much to see after that so I headed back to do some more work. But I'll leave you with a couple behind the scenes shots:





And that was set 3.

Tuesday: Set 4: Munch, Stabler, and Warner talk over another body
So, Kristin and Shauna joined me after their work and we went set stalking together. Because friends that stalk sets together stay together! ;) Again, the lighting was low and no flash allowed!! (I'm talking to you, Shauna! lol)

Here we were able to watch rehearsal (Munch and Stabler walk up the sidewalk and around a corner where they meet Warner who is looking over an already-covered body. After talking with her for a while, Stabler and Munch set off into the street with flashlights in hand. And that's all I know, heh.

Here they are walking up the sidewalk…I LOVE Munch's shoes, lol, and around the corner, you can't tell but the person in the brown coat with the back turned is Dr. Warner.



But just in case you didn't believe me when I said that person was Dr. Warner, here she is studying her script as they get the body positioned:


Then, after rehearsal, things went dead for a while. Not much going on except more set dressing and getting things set up…it's actually pretty hard to tell what, if anything, was going on. Eventually, though, some extras were brought over and were placed in front of us. We started talking them up. They told us the episode was named "Babes". Good to know. I'm guessing a lot of "babes" get killed because this was the second body! The extras also said that all they knew about the scene was that they "had just witnessed a person on fire". Ooooo. That would explain why the FDNY—the real FDNY—were nearby. Fire truck, firemen, hose hooked up to fire hydrant and all. We were hoping to actually see the stunt where they lit someone on fire. Alas, we didn't. Shucks, lol.

Unfortunately, they also moved us before they started filming and there weren't many places to stand where you could see anything, so we didn't watch much of the actual filming. Though we got a couple good shots and Kristin and Shauna accosted Belzer at one point and got a pic with him! You go, girls!

So, since again it was getting late and it was hard to really see anything anyway and we were tired and as before, we'd had our fun, we decided to call it a night. But what fun! Seriously, what a trip.

And I'll just leave you with this last pic from Set 4. I love it. Why? Well, the prop police car has 16 PCT written on it (there is no real 16th Precinct in Manhattan so you know it's a prop), but more, look at the set of lights behind the car….it's just a set of cop car lights on POSTS and not on top of a car! LOL! That is total love. And finally, our Munch would appear to be yawning. Hee! He's tired, too.



And that was set 4. And that’s a wrap. :)

Legal stuff: all descriptions and pictures are owned by me. Please email or comment and get permission before reposting. It's easy, I'll pretty much always grant it, I just like to know where it's being reposted is all. Thanks!