LEGENDS OF TOMORROW Set Visit Pt 2: A day on location [VIDEO]

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Brandon had been back in the Arrow studio that week so we asked if it was much different compared to shooting on location? “Much!” he laughed.

When you start off in Arrow, and Felicity calls you a ‘slimy little human’ as you’re playing this duplicitous character, did you mean to be like that – not show if he’s good or bad?

“Yeah he was meant to be this mysterious guy, in a ‘do we like him/ do we not like him’ way but I definitely think I softened his edges a little bit.”

Were you worried when you heard The Flash was introducing a character called Atom Smasher?!

“Yeah I saw that and thought that doesn’t look right! But in the comic I wasn’t sure if he was good or bad.”

Having met Brandon previously at Birmingham’s City of Heroes Con we asked if he enjoyed the convention. “Yes, that was a well-run show. And I always love being in the UK.”

We also chatted to Arthur about his new outfit as Rip Hunter, shooting in cold Canada and having the warmest costume with his long coat! Though he now lives in London, it turns out we both used to live merely 2 miles from each other in Birmingham, UK. I was surprised to hear this as he certainly doesn’t have a ‘Brummie’ accent.

“I know, I don’t, but I did a job recently in Birmingham which was great and I had to bring my Birmingham accent back which was really good fun. Though when I’m watching football or talking to my dad then it definitely comes out!” I reckon being able to switch between distinct accents like that is a sign of a talented actor, and I’m interested to see what his Brummie project is about.

Later in the LoT scene we saw the actors running for cover, diving behind a hay cart whilst explosions went off around them, before engaging in a shoot-out with villain Cronos (as shown in a promo). Glen based it on the scene in Arrow Season 2 where Oliver and Slade are running through a field on the island dodging explosions, trying to get to Shado before getting blown up. The actors have to try and run at a certain speed to match the camera shot, which can make it difficult.  “A lot of the time you take what you know works well and you adapt it”  Glen explained, adding “it helps to be able to say to the producers it will look like the scene when we did this…it helps put things into context.”

I was surprised to see the explosions were real fireworks – filling the air with a sulphurous smell, and at one point accidentally setting a fake rock on fire! One crew member was actually tasked solely with running around firing a smoke cannister to create smoke in the right areas. I was intrigued to learn that the ‘smoke guy’ had actually made a career out of creating and supplying fake smoke to film and TV sets!

Glen was hugely busy leading the group of >100 cast and crew. “You have to make so many decisions in the day like ‘Can I drop this? Can I combine this? Where am I at in the day?’ You’ve got to take care of the actors, got to make sure they’re in the right mode, you’ve got to make sure the shot is right. It can be very overwhelming.” Despite this Glen was so positive and complimentary to his cast and crew, often heard shouting ‘awesome’ and ‘you’re doing a great job’ which added to the warm atmosphere on set, alongside the glorious sunshine! At one point everyone stopped to sing Happy Birthday to a crew member Sherry.

Arthur had some trouble getting Rip’s cool laser gun to work and flash blue lights, but the finished shot was fantastic.

David was particularly friendly too, taking the time to explain some of the technical aspects involved in post-production, such as ‘colour timing’. “There are variations in colour between takes – even each person has different skin tone colour – so we try to even that out to make the edited version a little smoother.”

I’ve noticed the look of the Arrow and The Flash is very distinctive compared to say something like NCIS. Is that the way you film it?

Yes. We go in with a certain look in mind. This is DC comics – it’s not a real world look.

And when you time-travel e.g. going back to the ’70s would you make it look different so it’s obvious?

“Yeah we’re making it look softer.”

Which takes longer to shoot – action scenes or dialogue scenes?

“It depends – it depends on how complicated the action scenes are and it depends on how many actors are in the scene.”

We were then treated to a sneak peek of the night shoot scene with Team Legends on a rooftop! It looked stunning with the striking costumes against a glittering skyline. But I was curious as to how they got a camera up on the roof:

“They huffed a crane up there” Glen added,”it comes apart and they carried it piece by piece. Though actually in all those rooftop scenes in Arrow and The Flash we have rarely used a crane up there.”

One of the neatest pieces of tech David used was actually an app on his phone which tracked the sun’s position relative to the set, required to determine lighting, sunset and how late they could shoot, and where to position the cameras. It is the director who has final say on the locations they use.

Is it very different shooting the pilot compared to a regular episode?

“It’s different in that with the pilot you’re also developing the look of the show from the get-go. Usually the pilots are written larger so get more time.” A regular episode takes 8-9 days to shoot.