Skip to main content

Filming Chicago from the Air: An Interview with Geoffrey Baer and Eddie Griffin | Chicago from the Air

Geoffrey Baer standing on patio of tall building taking selfie with downtown Chicago in background

Filming Chicago from the Air: An Interview with Geoffrey Baer and Eddie Griffin

Over a span of more than 25 years at WTTW, Geoffrey Baer has explored the Chicago area by boat, car, bicycle, ‘L’ train, on foot, and even through a “time machine.” Now, with producer-director Eddie Griffin and a team of experts piloting a high-tech drone camera, Geoffrey shows you the city and its surrounding suburbs from the sky. Geoffrey and Eddie explain how it was done and give some hints about what you will see during the flight.

How did you come up with the concept for Chicago from the Air?

Geoffrey Baer: We’re always looking for ways to explore the Chicago area in new and compelling ways – by boat, car, bicycle, ‘L’ train, on foot, and even through a “time machine.” Filming with a drone – high above and sweeping around the places and spaces of our great city – provides a particularly thrilling perspective. An added bonus? It’s the ultimate in social distancing. Talk about finding a silver lining.

What is the journey you take during the program?

Baer: We divided the program into three parts, each with its own title:

  • “On and Off the Grid” explores Chicago’s iconic street grid. We follow how it developed and spread and the many places where it is interrupted – for example, by diagonal streets that follow ancient Native American trails.
  • “Doin’ Work” gives audiences an aerial view of Chicago’s sprawling industry and infrastructure. From the air, you can vividly see how it reshaped the entire region, and it has an awe-inspiring kind of beauty.
  • “City in a Garden” is the final section and where beauty really takes center stage. We soar above forest preserves, parks, and the lakefront, and marvel at a diverse array of houses of worship.

Describe the technical process of filming with a drone. Did you find it freeing, challenging, or both? Why?

Eddie Griffin: The filming of Chicago from the Air was equal parts freeing and challenging. On one hand, we had the freedom to film from any camera angle we could imagine because we weren’t bound by normal obstacles such as walls, fences, and buildings. If we needed to fly over something…we just flew over it! But it was also incredibly challenging, because there’s a high level of risk and responsibility you take on when putting a drone in the air. Drones may look like toys, but they’re actually small aircraft. We needed to assure everyone on the ground that we weren’t going to cause any damage or injuries. We also had to keep a close eye on the weather forecast, of course, because a sudden gust of wind can send the drone dangerously off course. And if anything happens to the drone, you also lose your camera. That could sink a documentary very quickly!

How did you choose which stories and locations to feature?

Baer: I was particularly interested in how the view from the sky helps us understand our familiar surroundings in new ways and lets us examine things in detail that we can’t see from the ground. A couple of examples: how Chicago’s arterial streets trace section lines laid out by early American surveyors to settle the West, and “ghost” infrastructure where abandoned rail lines and roads have shaped neighborhoods. I also wanted to fulfill a fantasy of really flying, so we dive off the edge of a 400-foot-deep quarry in Thornton, and get right up close to statues perched atop buildings that can normally be seen only from far away.

Griffin: We always kept in mind that there are plenty of breathtaking drone shots available on the internet. But they sometimes leave you wanting more. Our job was to keep the audience’s attention focused for the full 60 minutes of the show, and to do that, we had to make sure our shot selections were rooted in great storytelling. It can be eye candy, but it has to be engaging.

What do you hope audiences take away from the show?

Baer: As with all of our shows, I love it when people say, “I’ve lived here all my life, and I never knew that!” or, “I’m a recent transplant, and this helped me really get to know my adopted home.” This special might achieve that goal more than any other we have ever done because, unless you’re a bird, you truly have never seen Chicago in this way before!

Griffin: I hope audiences discover the same thing we took away from making the show – that Chicago is both super interconnected and beautifully diverse. We’re not just one type of city, and we don’t have just one aesthetic. We’re an industrial city, we’re a city of nature, and we’re a city of neighborhoods. It’s so easy to forget that when you’re experiencing Chicago at ground level, but it’s obvious from the air.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.