cn tower toronto

Toronto artist transforms local landmarks into otherworldly illusions

You open TikTok to find a video of the CN Tower. Everything seems normal... except it's covered in icicles? You scroll down and suddenly it's swaying violently in the wind, and the next thing you know it seems to be shrinking.

If you're worried about the sudden changes the iconic Toronto landmark seems to be going through, fear not — it's actually all part of one Toronto artist's work with VFX.

@nemya.begloo Freezing of the CN Tower. 😱😮 #cntower #cntt #cntowertoronto #canada #canadawinter #winter #frozen #toronto #torontolife #snow #torontotiktok #torontowinter ♬ snowfall - Øneheart & reidenshi

Nemya Begloo is challenging whether seeing is really believing with his mind-blowing VFX edits of Toronto icons. For the past six months, he's been posting edits featuring everything from the CN Tower to your everyday subway cars.

The videos range from pretty realistic to more out-of-the-box renditions — like a video of the Nathan Phillips Square skating rink collapsing.

@nemya.begloo Holidays in Toronto #toronto #canada #downtowntoronto #christmas #christmastiktok #christmas2024 #holiday #torontolife #holidays ♬ original sound - Nemya

With all the wild things that happen in Toronto, it's not unusual for residents to do a double-take at Begloo's edits. 

His most viral video of the CN Tower swaying in the wind gained over 8.6 million views. 

@nemya.begloo Have you ever seen the #cntower in the wind? 😄 #toronto #canada #canada_life🇨🇦 #travel #torontolife #torontotiktok #downtown #vfx #aftereffects ♬ original sound - Nemya

Begloo says the reaction to his videos have been mixed. "Some believe them, while others make jokes about them."

The swaying CN Tower video, for example, gained over 3,000 comments. Some seemed to take the video very seriously.

"[The] CN Tower was constructed using the post-tension concrete method. It is designed to sway out of true vertical, but not that much," said one commenter, sparking a small debate about structural integrity in the comments. 

Others had a more lighthearted response, making jokes about the situation. "Yes. This is how I catapulted my way to work in Mississauga Monday [to] Friday!"

@nemya.begloo In the subway 😀😮 #subway #subwaysurf #ttc #ttccommunity #toronto #aftereffects #vfx ♬ original sound - Nemya

Begloo says his work is purely VFX, but he gets many doubters in his comments. 

"It's interesting that since people have become familiar with artificial intelligence, they attribute anything strange to AI — when in fact it's made with visual effects software and a lot of time and energy."

Other doubters have resorted to the tried-and-true way of checking if the videos are real or not: looking out their window.

@nemya.begloo Thank you for all reactions and comments 🍀💚 #toronto #downtowntoronto #christmas #christmastree #christmasdecor #christmastiktok #christmas2024 #cntower #cntowertoronto #cntt #vfx ♬ Funny - FASSounds

Motivated by his recent success, Begloo has no plans to stop posting his VFX Toronto videos. So the next time you see a crazy video of Toronto on TikTok... you might want to take a closer look! 

Lead photo by

TikTok/@nemya.begloo


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