After exploring the elaborate, detailed sets for Stargate Universe and Caprica, the third studio we visited on Syfy’s Press Day in Vancouver was shockingly minimal in comparison: a windowless warehouse, a bit bigger than the size of a football field. You certainly wouldn’t recognize it as a primary shooting location for Sanctuary. For a show that’s packed with exotic locales and bizarre creatures, the stage didn’t exactly give off vibes of Blockbuster Hollywood. (Although there was a display table filled with cool weapons and assorted props.) But it’s not the studio space itself that’s impressive, it’s what the Sanctuary crew does in the building that makes it special.
Sanctuary is the story of 157 year-old Dr. Helen Magnus and her Sanctuary – a worldwide organization that rescues, then offers refuge to weird and bizarre creatures from around the world. It was originally told in eight 10-minute webisodes. Last year, the show made the jump to television, and produced 13 hour-long episodes that aired in the US, UK and Canada. The show further expanded its scope, as well as fleshing out the supporting characters, including forensic psychiatrist Will Zimmerman, and the evil John Druitt, an immortal teleporter who was once married to Magnus. With the growth of the show, the mythology has also expanded, including the schemes of The Cabal, the Sanctuary’s nemesis, who have acted out in a big way in the two-part season premiere.
Now, with Season 2 already underway, it’s apparent that Sanctuary isn’t going to settle comfortably into a formulaic conflict, putting The Cabal on the backburner, and instead focusing on telling a wild mix of upcoming stories playing with different genres, including a riff on superheroes, an apocalyptic adventure, a psychological whodunit, and ending the season with — a Bollywood dance scene and a giant spider?
This season, the special effects team has had the chance to run wild, introducing a boatload (literally) of creatures. Lee Wilson, Visual Effects Supervisor on Sanctuary, kicked off things with a presentation, explaining the show’s unique filming process, which includes heavy use of green screen, combined with a state-of-the-art digital camera, the RED One. Wilson’s company, Anthem Visual Effects, is in charge of transforming the green screen into locations real and imagined all over the world, as well as the scores of monsters that populate the show. The filming process is comparable to the one used in Sky Captain and The World of Tomorrow and Sin City, but it’s unique for a television show to take advantage of this technology so completely.
The special effects presentation was followed by a panel interview with the cast and creators, and it didn’t take long into the Q & A to notice that everyone involved is genuinely enthusiastic about rising to the challenges presented in the special-effects heavy show, even if it means shooting a scene in Japan with only a handful of people working as crew and actors. (They were invited to Japan for a promotional tour, and decided to use the opportunity to shoot a scene. Writer/creator Damian Kindler jokingly compared it to going to the Arctic to get ice.)
I’ve cut out some highlights from the panel, which included from left to right; Christopher Heyerdahl (‘John Druitt’), Robin Dunne (‘Will Zimmerman’), Executive Producer/Director Martin Wood, Executive Producer and Dr. Helen Magnus-herself, Amanda Tapping, Writer/creator/executive producer Damian Kindler and Ryan Robbins (‘Henry Foss’).
Enjoy three clips from the panel interview. First up, the cast and creators talk about the creative freedom of working with green screens:
Amanda Tapping talks about the stresses of directing an episode in Season 2:
Things to come in Season 2! [The set visit took place before season 2 aired, so we’ve already been introduced to Kate Freelander, but there are other teases for what lies ahead]: