Thanks to Sam, below are images of a call sheet for filming in Chicago on July 27-28th, 2010 "with" Megatron and Ultra Magnus. Early this year a redacted call sheet was posted online with Magnus listed as a character. While not the same sheet this does further confirm that for at least a while the character of Sentinel Prime was going to be called Ultra Magnus. Test screening apparently drove the change from Ultra Magnus to Sentinel Prime. According to Sam, the head of what would have been Ultra Magnus was re-used as what the Apollo 11 astronauts step on and uncover as they explore the ship.

Last August, Transformers: Dark of the Moon was filming at a Chicago parking deck and Wabash Avenue that thanks to the Iridescent trailer (among others) we know was where they filmed the confrontation between Starscream and Sam. At the time the images shows Shia LaBeouf and Josh Duhamel (along with stunt doubles) flyng around on wires along with Sam wearing a "power glove" of sorts, which Jeff of Pixel Rally managed to capture. From that trailer and the pictures he has now created another gallery of images that compare what he saw last year with what is now on camera. Some of the comparisons have been tweaked to help with the imagery.

The left and two images below is a mix of his photos from then mixed with the trailer images. The fourth images is a track-move diagram. Jeff wrote, "Michael Bay set up a stereoscopic 3D camera that moves along a rail, and goes underneath two flipped cars... It was used to follow soldiers running, as it tracked along with them, and ended up at a 3rd overturned vehicle, where it filmed close-up on Shia LaBeouf and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley (who were hiding inside the flipped truck)." The last image is the spot Jeff took many of his pictures from and it is possible that during the scene when Bumblebee "catches" Shia and Josh, a speck of his head can be seen in the background. If you want Jeff's gallery of images from the parking deck filming and more, click here.
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New York Times has posted an article that discusses Shockwave and the scenes that were filmed in Chicago last summer with Transformers: Dark of the Moon director Michael Bay and Visual Effects Supervisor Scott Farrar. Among the highlights I found interesting is the middle base jumpers in the scenes we have seen is computer generated "since he has to land on Shockwave's shoulder." At the time I figured that scene would be 3D post-converted but it turns out the camera man that trailed the base jumpers had a small 3-D camera on his head.

Some filming occurred at 35 East Wacker Drive, specifically the Jeweler's Building which is described as playing "a significant role in the last part" of the film. The articles mentioned that in its first few years of existence (circa 1881) it had car sized elevators at street level for security reasons. After all leaving your car then made you more vulnerable. The article just drops in this historical anecdote for some reason so figure it might become useful once see the film. Read More »

Three quick stories around Transformers: Dark of the Moon about estimated running time, release date for Iridescent single and video from Chicago set that I don't recall seeing before.

Dutch website Pathe Cinema's page on DOTM put the movie's running time at 1 hour and 49 minutes. However, Nelson later debunked that writing, "False. It's over 2 hours." For Hollywood, 2 hours or less is the sweet spot with going past 2 and half hours only for good reasons. Guess we will find out soon where DOTM falls in that range. (via TFW2005, thanks to Sahara for the link)

It seems that the first single from the Transformers: Dark of the Moon soundtrack will officially be the remix of Linkin Park's Iridescent. No surprise. It also seems that release is coming up soon as Amazon UK lists the release date as May 16th, while iTunes has it at May 22nd and Amazon US shows a date of May 17th. So what we learned is the single may or may not be out sometime in the next two weeks.

So you know that scene in the trailer where Prime comes in swooping in and tears through the Decepticon ranks? Pretty sure the video below from Chicago last year is when that scene was filmed. Thanks to Jeff of Pixel Rally for the link.
Update: Thanks to Ian here is a little confirmation as he took a still from the trailer that matches the car flip at about the 49 second point in the video below.

An image posted on the Michael Bay Forums has added more confusion to the issue of what Transformer the Rosenbauer Panther airline fire truck seen in Chicago is. Set rumors and a toy listing indicated the character is Sentinel Prime but the image of a redacted call sheet now adds Ultra Magnus as a convincing candidate. It could even be one or both of these characters are pure CGI creations much like most of the Decepticons. As always, only time will tell. Thanks to Sam for the link.

Update: From Max in the comments, another call sheet image that once again references Ultra Magnus where it says "VFX:" near the bottom.

This Friday, the teaser trailer for Transformers: Dark of the Moon will debut with the next Chronicles of Narnia movie in both 2D and 3D (or next week with Tron). If you don't want to wait that long, then Apple Trailers has you covered with the official launch occurring at 4PM PST (7PM EST) on Wednesday, December 8th. Entertainment Tonight was rumored to be airing a sneak peak earlier today but apparently that didn't happen. Assuming the teaser trailer description is accurate, expect an emphasis on "tease".

This news comes from a new set report from Aint It Cool News' Capone from when Dark of the Moon was filming in Chicago in August. This set report begins by going into the recent rumor that the film was having real 3D problems by describing what he actually saw on set and how much nonsense the report is (for the same reasons I dismissed the idea). From the report:Read More »

Entertainment Tonight has posted their article of video of the behind the scenes report from the Chicago set of Transformers 3. The video includes set footage, explosions and the sales pitch of the movie from Michael Bay, Shia LaBeouf, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Tyrese Gibson, and Josh Duhamel. Pretty much no spoilers are revealed but the title does drop a "the" with official title being "Transformers: Dark of the Moon" which oddly enough does make a difference. If want to get a little meta, thanks to Colin Hinkle for the picture of behind the scenes of ET filming behind the scenes of TF:DOTM with Samantha Harris in the yellow dress. Also thanks to Teddy83 for the link.

"I think what we were lacking in the second movie was heart," says Shia about the last installment of the blockbuster franchise, 'Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.' "But, I think with the addition of Rosie and new characters … you still have the magic of the first film, but you have depth in the ending of the third."

"Sam's coming out of heartbreak," explains Shia about the film's emotional center. "He's looking for a rock. He's looking for stability. He's looking for a person who doesn't love him because of his involvement in the wars, or because of his involvement with the robots. … And, so he's looking to define himself and find a person who understands the definition and loves him for him, and he finds it in Rosie."

"The story, I think, is really rich," says Michael. "This is kind of a good old fashioned, kinda espionage 'Transformers' movie." He adds, "I just told Mayor Daley that I'm sorry about messing up his city."

Tomorrow night Entertainment Tonight will air a report from the Transformers: The Dark of the Moon Chicago set. This seems like a good time to flashback to some of the sites from around the Windy City through the lens of Jeffrey Marshall of Pixel Rally who brought us much of the images we saw from the filming back in July and August. Below is the second ET commercial for their report and also select images from his image gallery. It is worth clicking to as he provides little bits of info on what the image is about and who is in it. The highlights include some Bayhem, close-up of the 3D viewing setup, giant blue robot head, and more. Thanks to Jeffrey for the pictures.

Update: Added third ET TF3 commercial below.

TF3 Nostalgia Set | Full Pixel Rally TF3 Chicago Set

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