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Chicago’s New Normal

Each year, the Boys & Girls Clubs of Chicago hosts a Youth of the Year Competition and Dinner event at Navy Pier in Chicago. The Chicago nonprofit strategically places its clubs in communities where after school activities are needed the most. This past year has been especially violent in Chicago's streets. With this video, we wanted to show viewers what it's like for kids to live in some of these Chicago neighborhoods.

Chicago’s New Normal

What We Made
The realities of Chicago violence are staggering. We had the rare opportunity to film what happens on Chicago streets in the middle of the night. In creative planning meetings with our client, it was decided a live action video would be the best approach.

How We Did It
Three interviews were lined up all to illustrate the growing and persistent violence problem with Chicago’s streets. We filmed a ride-a-long with a journalist who captures everything that happens in the middle of the night in Chicago for the TV news stations. We interviewed a Chicago-based author and journalist who writes about violence and poverty and talked with a Director of one of the clubs who sees and hears about the violence each day. We also interviewed the President & CEO of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Chicago who talked about how Chicago violence has claimed the lives of several club and staff members over the past year. All interviews were filmed with our Sony A7Sii High Definition camera. We also flew our aerial drone to capture some aerial video shots of Chicago.

How We Delivered It
The video was first shown to a live audience of nearly 1,000 people at Navy Pier. After this video was shown, over $1 million was raised for the Chicago nonprofit. The video was then released online via social media.

“Once again – these videos are incredible. I am so in awe of the work you do. You tell these stories so beautifully, and with such impact. What a pleasure to work with you. Truly.” -Brice Kanzer, Assoc. Director of Development

Production Stills

Changing the way Chicago's youth sees our streets

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