Philly.com have revealed that today’s filming is focusing around the Eastern State Penitentiary and later in the week Rittenhouse Square will be made up to look like Paris. Then, next week, it’s off to Princeton.

Transformers 2 cameras and crew have been all over (Fairmount Park, University of Pennsylvania) and today are due inside Eastern State Penitentiary, while Rittenhouse Square will double as Paris later this week. Saturday is the scheduled Philly wrap; next stop: Princeton.

John Von reports that a video shoot took place yesterday at the Laurel Hill Cemetery near to Fairmount Park, PA - he return with videos and pictures of the filming as well as the base camp. The green Chevy Beat concept car is visible at the base camp, whilst the video shows the helicopter used to capture the scenes.

Via TLAMB

Transformers 2 production currently resides at The Dairy Fields in Fairmount Park, which are reserved for filming. Braden has been on location, scouting for us fans, to find whatever scoops he can. He has noted that the actor trailers and camera equipment can be found off North 33rd street, close to the UPENN campus. The vehicles however are being kept in a second location, close to Walt Whitman Bridge.

On his stumblings he came across Optimus Prime, Ironhide, Bumblebee, an unidentified grey concept car - probably a Chevrolet (ZR1, C7?). You can find pictures below.

Via TLAMB

Emails have been sent out to employees at the University of Pennsylvania, warning of filming that will be taking place next week,

To the Penn Community:

DreamWorks Productions will be filming scenes for the upcoming movie “Transformers 2″ on Penn’s campus this week. The filming will take place in the Quad and both inside and outside the Psi Upsilon (Castle) fraternity on Locust Walk. Both Penn and DreamWorks staff will be on hand to help guide people around the area during filming in an effort to minimize any inconvenience.

Setup, filming, and set deconstruction are scheduled for the Quad from June 10 through June 12 and for the Castle fraternity from June 10 through June 15.

Via /Film

KVIA are reporting that the Transformers production team will return to Alamogordo, New Mexico where production has been preparing since April, with plans to shoot in the fall.

Michael Bay will return to New Mexico to film major sequences for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Governor Richardson announced Monday. The next installment of the box office hit Transformers is expected to hit theaters next summer.

Philly.com have pointed out that the Transformers II production team will very soon be starting their work in and around Philadelphia,

Keep an eye out for Shia LaBeouf, Josh Duhamel, Megan Fox and John Turturro over the next two weeks as Michael Bay puts Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen before the cameras in Philly, starting tomorrow. Among locations: Peco [Philadelphia Electric Company] plants along the Delaware, the University of Pennsylvania (because LaBeouf plays a college student), and Eastern State Penitentiary. Last week’s shooting in Bethlehem, Pa., was a blast, as the old U.S. Steel plant hosted explosions and whirring Black Hawk helicopters.

An anonymous tipster has sent TFLAB the Bethlehem, PA Call Sheet (wiki) and with it some massive spoilers.

MAJOR SPOILERS BELOW

To the top right of the image, it reveals that there are 84 filming days, not including scheduled breaks, etc.

Transport

The breakdown of the transport used during the shoot reveals 3 Arcee Motorcycles, an Icecream Truck, Ironhide, Stinger, Audi R8, 3 NEST Hummers, 2 Trikes, 10 ND Vehicles and an ND Semi, with Autobot drivers to be dressed in black.

Using the set descriptions, and location, it is obvious that the area we have seen is being used as a steel production yard - set in Shanghai, China. The scene breakdowns also reveal that the Icecream truck is a new robot - splitting in two (”twins”) around children whilst leaving them treats (comedy is back, excellent!). The Audi R8 is also a suspected Transformer, though it is not revealed here - it is involved in a chase through alleys, escaping from The Twins. There is no mention of the aerial pursuits we have seen in videos and images.

June 5th - 6th Schedule

Air and Space Museum

A second location, Smithsonian Air and Space Museum (Washington DC), has also been revealed in the Advance Shooting Schedule.

Here a Decepticon symbol is discovered on an SR-71 Blackbird, before transforming into Jetfire! There is also reference to letting “Wheels” out, possibly another Transformer.

Bumblebee and The Twins are also established in an alternative scene at a parking lot at the Sands Bethworks.

SHH are reporting via “Space Duck”, that one of the next filming locations, now that the four day Bethlehem shoot has completed, may be at the Air Force boneyard in Arizona, stating that preparation for the shoot has begun as the Tuscon facility.

Read the rest of this entry »

Slash Film have reported, via Jason X, that TF2 producers were scouting locations with scale models of Optimus Prime, Megatron and Star Scream:

My girlfriend works at Eastern State Penitentiary in the Fairmount area of Philadelphia. It was used as a prison from 1829 until 1971, and is now a historical site and museum. Anyway, at the prison today producers for Transformers 2 were on site with scale models of Megatron, Optimus Prime and Star Scream and were scouting filming locations in cell block 1 and the prison kitchen. Just thought I’d let people know that filming should begin here soon.

The Daily Pennsylvanian reports:

University spokeswoman Lori Doyle explained that filming would tentatively begin around June 12 with scenes using the exterior of the Quad.

According to Doyle, the extensive project is expected to involve about 200 people, 25 tractor-trailer trucks and cranes.

“They have their own landscaping people, they bring in their own catering, it’s a huge operation,” she said.

In addition, scenes will be shot at Psi Upsilon Tau fraternity house, better known as “The Castle,” and possibly on Locust Walk and Spruce Street, Doyle said.

Director Michael Bay was Undergraduate Senior Vice-President of Wesleyan University’s Psi Upsilon chapter during his time in college.

Penn’s Office of University Communications was unable to divulge specific plot elements as the result of a non-disclosure agreement signed with DreamWorks Pictures.