Pushing the Location Envelope

We certainly didn’t expect to find a Park District connection to help us play hopscotch. Our layout was terrific...that of a runner, stretching at the end of his race. It required a high, overhead POV. The hunt was on for freshly poured, new tarmac. A beautiful surface was paramount, as it was the pallet holding our shot together. Scouting out a location brings on exciting, new adventures with every step, like being a detective. Getting this perfect, helps to make the shoot day fun for everybody.

Our surface was to be a graphic element as was our runner, crowd-control horses, finish line ribbon, cups and selected wet spots...all part of our canvas. The twist to our location was the pouring of asphalt, so it would be strong enough to walk on, and to shoot before the Park District painted parking lines. This gave us about a two-day window. Foremost keeping my shoot date in mind, I played hopscotch... navigating the list of suggested parking lots that were large enough for us and were scheduled to be resurfaced by the Park District. The crane, horses, props, and ‘runner’ was organized concurrently with the days of the location scouting. We always bring the “studio away from studio” equipment for any emergency short term needs.

The raw materials were staged and waiting for us at the park by the time my client, crew and I arrived. All we needed to do was assemble the pieces of our mosaic for our layout...and work with our very windy and chilly day.  The sun was in the exact position that I planned for at shoot time, plus very handily our pushpins and double edge tape secured our cups and yellow tape that kept blowing away! My crew kept our runner wet looking by spraying him down for that 'after race look'. Hopscotch and Don Levey makes people happy.