We had a great time shooting in Elgin this weekend. It’s a really pretty town at night! We filmed some scenes along the Fox River, and there was lots of neat wildlife around- skunks, racoons, geese, frogs, lions, tigers, bears… a four-legged animal wandered through the background of one of our shots and we’re still trying to decide what it was!
We definitely had a good team this weekend. From the camera to security to the actors, everyone put in a great deal of effort and hard work. It took us a few scenes to get our communication and method down, but we really flew through a lot of scenes after we found our rhythm.
The biggest thing I learned was that just because you can’t control a scene as if you’re on a studio lot, it doesn’t mean that it’s ruined. There’s a lot to be said for capturing the raw, un-produced reality of a location. Whether it was a busy liquor store or a noisy street corner, we couldn’t wait for the traffic to go away, and had to start filming- but I think it made our film better, more gritty and realistic.
And now- on to Post Production!