Where was Voicemails for Isabelle filmed?

The New Year's Eve scene takes place on Columbia Street in downtown New Westminster, complete with lingering Christmas decorations, the city's distinctive lighted crown banner and even the partially burned-out marquee at the old Paramount Theatre.

Another significant production base was Martini Studios in Langley, where numerous interior scenes were filmed. The facility housed custom-built sets designed to recreate Jill's San Francisco apartment, kitchen spaces and other interior environments.

And that bench overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge, the place where Jill processes her grief and eventually meets Wes? It was actually crafted using green screen technology at the renowned Martini Film Studios in Vancouver.

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Cinematographer Julia Swain and McKendrick made a rip to San Francisco during pre-production, to let the actual city inform their visual approach. They studied the light, the color, the texture. Then they went back to Vancouver and recreated it. When they finally returned to San Francisco on location, they had just two days and a very clear shot list.

Those two days yielded the film's most recognisable images. The Palace of Fine Arts — originally built for the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition — serves as a stunning backdrop in the film. The Powell-Mason cable car makes a memorable appearance, as does a walk past Lombard Street and a Chinatown sequence near the dragon mural at Commercial Street and Grant Avenue.

Waller Street appears in a voicemail scene where Jill reacts to a piece of good news just before a date. And of course the date scenes around Pier 39, including the iconic carousel. 

Two days in San Francisco. The rest in British Columbia. The result is a film that feels like San Francisco even when it isn't.