PRODUCTION SHOOT DAY 86 of 110
Saturday, May 27, 2006
LOCATION: Alliance Capital Building, 1345 6th Avenue at 54th Street New York, NY
CALL TIME: 6:00 A.M.
WRAP TIME: 5:16 P.M.
SCENE: Captain Stacy and Eddie Brock watch in horror as
Gwen Stacy fights for her life after a photo shoot goes awry.

Yesterday's shoot was a great way to ease into the New York portion of our photography, but today we really captured the cavernous streets and tall buildings that we traveled so far to get.

Every set piece we shot in Los Angeles as has counterpart in New York at which we owe photography. For instance, Bryce Dallas Howard and all of the desks and chairs that went sliding out the window during the Crane Disaster on Stage 27 had to land somewhere; today they finally did, crashing to the ground outside the Alliance Capital Building with a little help from special-effects technician Mike Wever.

Mike stood atop a scissor lift twenty feet in the air, holding the desks, chairs and other office items just out of frame. When Sam yelled action, massive Ritter fans blew paper and debris about as Mike heaved the objects into the air. Below, stuntmen and women scattered. As the items came crashing down, James Cromwell's police cruiser roared down 6th Avenue and arrived amidst a chorus of screeching tires. As James got out and barked orders to his men, Topher landed via taxi and began photographing the pandemonium as background performers scrambled in search for cover.

The 1st unit photographed the chaos on the ground while the 2nd unit captured it from 635 feet above. The storyboards and animatics Sam masterminded for the Crane Disaster with story board artist Christopher Glass called for numerous vertiginous shots following Gwen and the debris as they plummet toward the earth below. To shoot the plates into which these elements will be inserted, 2nd unit and the Spydercam team rigged the Spydercam and released it off the front of the building, filming as the camera did a 635-foot controlled fall. This process and others were repeated throughout the day to achieve all of the plates for the scene.

The insanity erupting on the ground and falling form the sky was matched only the by the size of the crowds that gathered to watch. Although it was difficult to manage at times, it was really great to be reminded that Spider-Man 3 and what we are doing. The time to worry is when they find out what is being filmed and keep on walking. Thankfully, we have yet to experience that problem. If they thought today was amazing, I can't wait to see their reaction to what is in store tomorrow.

FROM TOP: Special-effects technician Mike Wever prepares to hurl a desk onto the Crane Disaster location. Debris rains down onto the set. Production closed down all lanes of traffic to achieve the photography for the Crane Disaster. In between filming, Alvin Sargent (LEFT) and Michael Riva discuss the Crane Disaster.