Our Chicago crew handles the city permits, the airspace near O'Hare and Midway, and the lake weather, so the shoot day happens on the day you planned.
Chicago is where our crew is based. We shoot towers, conversions and model units with our own RED and ARRI cinema cameras plus an Inspire 3 drone from DJI, and we plan every exterior around the Film Office lead times and the season. Rates for cinema-grade production are on published pricing.
Five shots most Chicago launches ask for, and the approval each one depends on. Tap a number.
The city does not issue drone permits as such, but downtown flight plans go to the City and Chicago Police, sometimes with a closed set staffed by paid officers. Plan at least 10 full business days. Pilots fly under FAA Part 107, and much of Chicago sits in controlled airspace around O'Hare and Midway, which needs an FAA authorization, often through LAANC.
A small crew that does not block traffic usually needs no Film Office permit. Closing a street does: 72 hours in the CDOT system and 48 hours of community notice, or 96 and 72 hours in Wards 3, 4, 25, 27, 28 and 42, plus a traffic control plan.
Riverwalk permits take at least 10 days, with peak season restrictions. We book the slot when the launch date is set.
The Chicago Park District issues its own filming permits, and commercial photography on park property needs one. Navy Pier, Millennium Park and the CTA also permit separately.
Private interiors need the owner's written permission, not a city permit. We schedule around residents and the construction team, and carry insurance on every shoot.
Two TERAMOK-reported results where film and photography carried the campaign. The first is in Chicago. The second is in Europe, and the client's name stays confidential.
More dated results are on the results page.
As a photographer, I rank Chicago in winter among the best cities to shoot. Blue hour arrives in the late afternoon, so the towers glow while the offices are still lit.
The risk is wind and snow, not darkness. We hold two backup dates for every exterior and shoot interiors on the days the lake turns grey.
What I will not do is fake the season. If a building launches in spring, we film it in spring, or we label the work as visualizations.
Drawn from the National Weather Service's 1991 to 2020 normals for O'Hare. Use it to plan, then check the real forecast a week out. Select a month.
The snowiest months, with normals of 11.3 and 10.7 inches. Fresh snow on a rooftop can be a striking shot; we keep interiors ready as the fallback.
Snow fades and rain takes over, peaking in May with 4.49 inches on average. Trees are bare until late spring, so we frame streetscapes carefully.
Warm, green and no measurable snow until October. Long evenings give two light windows a day. Book the Riverwalk and parks early.
Snow returns, 7.6 inches in December on average. Holiday lights on the Magnificent Mile and early twilight suit retail and amenity films.
Usually not for a low-impact crew on the sidewalk or inside the property. You need a Film Office permit when you close a street or a sidewalk, use more than limited parking, or fly a drone over the public downtown.
At least 10 full business days for the city side, per the Chicago Film Office. Airspace authorization near O'Hare or Midway is a separate FAA step. We start both as soon as the date is fixed.
Yes. We plan two backup dates for every exterior and use interior days when wind or snow closes the window. Some of the best tower footage comes from clear days in January.
Expect $15,000 at the low end and $50,000 at the top. Where yours lands comes down to shoot days, drone work, permits and edit length. Photography can be added to the same shoot days.
Before ground breaks, we can turn the drawings into renders and walkthrough videos, each marked as a visualization. After that we switch to filming the actual site as it rises.
We will come back with a shot list, the permits it needs, the lead times and two backup dates. Then John confirms the price in writing.
Plan the shoot