Day 8: Chase through the Streets of Chicago!

Day 8: Chase through the streets of Chicago!

Today's film story is about the Chicago Street Chase scene. So about halfway through my 3rd feature film, Sundog, the characters flee to Chicago. They think they are safe until a mysterious masked man breaks into their room. This leads into a chase scene from the hotel to the streets of Chicago. This was my first time in Chicago and also the entire crew's first time in Chicago so we did not know what to expect. We ended up leaving the hotel at around 9 or 10 to start filming the chase.

It started at the Congress Plaza Hotel and ended up going all over the downtown area. Matt, who was the mysterious man, had to wear a mask and run through the streets being chased by Kyle, Faith, and Colin. This led to some mysterious looks. We ended up having no issues at all with police or security or anything. We just went on our way and filmed all over the streets.

Then it came time to the big alley fight scene. The script called for Kyle to catch up to the mysterious masked man in an alleyway and for a fight to break out. Now this is where things got tricky. We obviously weren't going to get permission for this so we just picked a random alleyway about a block from Trump Tower and started to film. We ended up doing a pretty awesome fight scene in the alleyway without anyone stopping us. The best part was at the end of the fight scene, after Kyle knocks Matt out, Colin and Faith find Kyle and help him move Matt's body. At the end of the alleyway a family is walking by and they see Faith, Kyle, and Colin carrying a lifeless body and putting it behind a trash can. You can actually see them stop and stare in the film. Hey, just another day in Chicago!

Lesson I learned: You can get away with a lot more than you think when filming in Chicago.

Trailer for Sundog