+ SUNDAY, DAY 2 of 2
6am: Day 2 of shooting begins. The sun continued to cooperate with us, however the bitter weather also persisted. A quick glance at the storyboard gives you an idea of how long of a day we were facing!
7am: Shoot Location #7: RBG Lounge. We slowly ventured our way over to our first shoot location at RGB Lounge with our handsome model/lifestyle photographer, Edouard Pierre. Nic, his wife Kelsey, and baby girl Emiliana, greeted us at the door and watched us do our thing. As we arranged our bedroom set, we paid another visit to our friends at The Wormhole for some more gourmet motivation. Sugary, buttery breakfast pastries from Artemio’s was utter edible poetry (seriously, the butter-sugar bread is a must try…nom nom). We all make sure to show love and support our local establishments. 😉
9am:Shoot Location #8: We rushed to the CTA Western Blue Line to film our next scene. We nervously shot the exterior and interior train scenes with little-to-no distractions aside from the dozen security cameras we passed. We did encounter the train conductor staring us down, giving us the “you should not be doing that” look. Besides the implied disapproval, we got away without a single hitch!
11am: Shoot Location #9. Logan Square Skate Park. We picked up our next model, Kevin Penczak, (Chi-town skateboard extraordinaire) up at the local McD’s and were off to shoot the skateboarding scene. Kids of all ages were already up and chomping at the bit. Sounds of boards popping, sliding and grinding echoed throughout the underpass refuge. Kevin sessioned the park and surrounding area for a while, keeping us entertained while our teeth and knees chattered from the absence of sunshine. Edouard got wise to the suffering and started doing the running man to keep up his body temp.
1pm: Return to RGB. In the midst of the manic morning shoot, we forgot to shoot the last pedestrian scene. Luckily, it was just an exit scene that took less than 30 minutes to shoot before finishing off the skateboarder scene & lifestyle shots at The Bike Lane.
2pm: Shoot Location #10: The Bike Lane. Yes, the same Bike Lane. We were back again to shoot our car meet scene. Over a dozen cars carefully saturated the entire parking lot. Across the street, we saw that the Wu Tang Clan was performing that night at the Congress Theater. This scene drew not only curious onlookers, but potential business partners over wondering exactly what we’re doing. Shortly thereafter, we were graced with nine beautiful boxes of assorted pizzas that arrived just as we were finishing our shoot. Starving and yearning for replenishment, we inhaled the pizza without hesitation and trekked on to our very last scene of the weekend.
4pm: Shoot Location #11: Dragonfly Mandarin. Tom, the manager on duty, met us at the door and invited us in as if he were expecting us. We all got ready for our cameos with wardrobe changes, bag configurations, lighting arrangements and camera placement. Once the details were worked out, several local celebrities made their entrance, including b-boys Jarius King aka Man of God and Bravemonk (community breakdancing icon and role model), B96’s DJ Flipside and Julian on the Radio (from the Jay & Julian Morning Show) and our fave Chicago bartender, model and The Playboy Club actress, Suchada Chaiyadej. We selected Isela Herrera to be our VIP Bartender, pulled in Michio Fukuda to help shoot, brought in Adrian Domingo to do some behind-the-scenes shots, and Elisha Apilado continued her Social Media teasers for our avid fans and followers. Once Flipside was set up and ready to go, Bravemonk helped us get the crowd hyped by showing them how real hip-hop ambiance falls into place. Amongst the head-knocking crowd, Julian was throwing down some slick signature “WADDLE” step. After filming 4 scenes, we were official DUNZO!
8pm: WRAP UP! We celebrated with our loving fans and shared stories while dining at Dragonfly’s restaurant.
As long as the days endured and as taxing as our ambition became, this was something we could never forget. We hope you enjoy the teaser video and photos. Stay tuned for the FINAL CUT next month! (full gallery on next page)