Tag Archives: Transformers

Astar Over My Head

These shots are from a few years ago.  I had the privilege to spend a day with the late Alan Purwin during the filming for one of the Transformers movies in Chicago.  I got to fly with them on some of the shoot but I also was on the ground when they went off on part of the filming.  I put myself directly ahead of the Astar when they took off and Alan buzzed me.  I noticed when going through the images that the cameraman was tracking me with the stabilized mount on the nose as they flew over the top.

Helinet and Transformers

wpid7307-C59F2448.jpgEvery once in a while, I am reminded of something that has happened before and I realize that this took place in the days before I started blogging.  Then I have to decide whether it is fair to you, my dedicated reader, to roll out something that is several years old as a blog post.  If it is interesting enough, why not.  Besides, my life is not always so interesting so getting material is a case of taking it when you have it.

wpid7309-C59F2597.jpgThe subject in this case is a helicopter.  “no, surely not” I hear you cry.  It’s not like I ever write about or photograph helicopters.  This is true.  Indeed, this helicopter was involved in filming in the city which, as some recent posts will show, is not a particularly new topic either.  This film, though, was Transformers 3.  The filming of Transformers was a big deal in the city.  Major streets were shut for days at a time and set construction to make them look like they had been demolished was impressive.  As I think about it, I should probably post some pictures of that too at some point (note to self…).

wpid7295-IMG_8090.jpgAlan Purwin of Helinet was the pilot for the helicopter used for filming.  It was a Eurocopter Astar (Squirrel for those of you in the UK and Ecureuil for the French speakers).  It had a large camera mount on the nose to hold the cinema camera.  Until recently, it was relatively easy to tell movie shoots from TV shoots by the size of the mount.  Now film cameras are being replaced with such digital powerhouses as the Reds, the mount sizes are no longer so obvious.

wpid7299-C59F2302.jpgThere was filming day and night (including people skydiving into the shots from other helicopters and, if memory serves, the Trump Tower) and some pretty dramatic explosions.  The Astar would fly around the river a lot getting shots and sometimes the shots were of people on the buildings so it would be flying close to them.  All of this was a treat for someone like me.  Just watching it was great fun but I got some shots too.

wpid7303-C59F2351.jpgThe plan had been to write a piece on Helinet.  However, Paramount were not keen on having anything come out until the movie was released (a year later!) so the article stumbled a little.  Then, there was an accident on one of the sets out of the city in which a woman received terrible injuries and the whole production schedule changed and Alan headed off to other projects.  It would be nice to follow that one up again at some point.

New Transformers Filming

wpid7530-AU0E5323.jpgThe new Transformers movie is currently filming in Chicago.  Some aerial filming was recently scheduled and we got advanced notice since it was going to make things a little disrupted in the morning.  They were opening three of the bridges along the river and a helicopter was running through at low level filming sequences.

wpid7528-AU0E5313.jpgThe filming work was being carried out by Alan Purwin of Helinet.  Often, when filming is underway, it is hard to get close and get anything recorded.  Obviously, they don’t want people filming there own stuff.  Also, they don’t want you appearing in the shot.  Fortunately, I found a spot where they were happy for us to be and that gave us a view, even if it was a bit restricted.

wpid7524-C59F8446.jpgI actually moved from my first spot.  The helicopter was so low I could only just see the top of the rotor head as it passed.  The second spot gave a more open view.  Watching from that close was very impressive.  It took a couple of hours since they had to open up and close down areas between passes.  Watching them come in was easy but coming the other way was a bit of guesswork as the helicopter could be heard but only appeared suddenly.  Still, another good chance to shoot helicopters in the city.  Am I getting repetitive?

wpid7526-AU0E5243.jpgHere is some video I got too.

Movie Shooting

One of the things that happens a lot in Chicago is the filming of movies. These can be small scale movies that will be unlikely to make a big impact to blockbusters. The recent Batman films were shot in Chicago for example. One film that really took over the city for a while was Transformers 3. I haven’t been to see the film – Netflix for that one I think – but they really destroyed the sections of the city around where I live if the trailers are anything to go by.

The city granted them an amazing amount of access including closing Michigan Avenue for quite some time. A lot was filmed across the river from us on Wacker Drive. Two aspects of the filming were fun for me. First they had made some pretty impressive effects for the cityscape with ripped up concrete and destroyed vehicles scattered around which you could get very close to. The second thing was the use of aerial filming. A lot of filming was done from an Astar and it seemed to spend a lot of time hovering near enough that I could take photos – admittedly through the windows which doesn’t always help.

They also had some skydivers both jumping from helicopters into the city and also base jumping from the buildings. I saw bits of that but was not close to it all. I did see a few sequences being set up. It is interesting just how long it takes for a sequence to be put together, rehearsed and finally shot. I saw a bunch of guys on wires getting hauled into the air numerous times before they finally shot it with the explosions going live.

They also filmed a sequence with explosions along the rooftops of a number of buildings along the ricer. We should have been suspicious as we sat in our living room in the evening when we heard the helicopter again but it was only as the buildings started erupting that we realized what was happening.

I have no great interest in the movie itself but, having seen so much of the filming work underway, I shall have to watch it just to see the places we know so well getting mashed!