This studio is where my acting journey began, and I'm so glad I found it. From the very first…read moreclass, I felt a warm and supportive atmosphere where it's easy to step outside your comfort zone, learn, and grow. Every class is engaging, inspiring, and gives me something new to think about and work on. I really enjoy working with Ed. It's clear that he has a lot of experience, a strong acting background, and a deep understanding of the industry. I'm grateful for every piece of feedback because it's always thoughtful, honest, and gives me something to improve. I leave every class feeling inspired, more confident, and excited to keep learning. I highly recommend this studio to anyone who wants to grow as an actor.

I am writing this to share my experience as a former student to help future actors, particularly…read moreyoung women, make informed decisions about their training environment at the Chicago Actors Studio. The experience I had here nearly 13 years ago has haunted me, and nearly traumatized me out of the industry altogether. Thankfully, I went on to other schools and continued forging my acting career and have done well for myself. None of that was cultivated through the tutelage of Chicago Actors Studio. On the very first day of class, Ed Fogel, the owner of this school, announced to the room that I reminded him of his ex-wife simply because I was blonde, and stated that he was going to hate me because of that fact. Strange icebreaker, right? It was an uncomfortable beginning filled with copious amounts of seething hostility and too much personal information about this instructor. I laughed it off nervously, understandably thinking this was some kind of joke--albeit a very strange and humorless one. It was not. Throughout the course, his behavior was deeply unprofessional. He utilized targeted public humiliation, such as forcing me to repeat single lines mechanically without artistic guidance and yelling expletives or hurling insults my way in front of the class. It was clear to me: Ed wanted, not an actor making unique, intuitive choices, but a puppet that he could control. He talked to me like I was dense and laughed derisively as I "struggled" to parrot his exact inflections on words in my monologue. This did not feel like it was building my vocabulary or range of acting, nor did it do anything but erode my self-confidence. During partnered work, he openly bypassed me to apologize to my scene partners for being 'saddled' with me, claiming I would hold others back. "I'm sorry you've been stuck with her, but someone has to be. I know you can handle more difficult scenes, but we can't stretch her too far." This was said, almost verbatim, as if I were not there, standing right beside my scene partner. Even if I were truly a hopeless actor, this is not appropriate behavior to exhibit as a teacher in any industry. And the tired excuse of, "Well, this is a tough industry," is just that: tired. The acting industry, whether film or theater, has changed and progressed, and I've never experienced such flagrant bullying, abuse or unprofessionalism in the last six years as a professional working actor. Acting is a vulnerable art form that requires sensitivity and patience; and yes, grounding, too. But never does it require "tough love" that is really just abuse in disguise. While Ed may possess industry knowledge--which felt as dated and worn as the disgusting dilapidation of the building the school is set in--his classroom environment was not a safe or constructive space for artistic growth. Prospective students should be aware of this pattern of behavior before enrolling.

if you're looking to get some old media converted just look somewhere else. They take for ever to…read moreconvert your stuff and there is no communication whatsoever. When my tapes were finally done they decided to call me but I was busy and couldn't pick up the phone. After that the owners decided to just never call me back. On top of that there were issues converting one of my tapes and they never communicated that and decided to just not convert that one but still charge me for three tapes. Really unprofessional experience

I went there for video transfer.,, it took them 2 weeks as quoted and was no more expensive then…read morequoted. excellent job... They offer more services... video repair, rental and others... Bravo!

Chicago Demo Reel is amazing! Mark and Eduardo are not only incredibly professional and kind, but…read moretheir work is outstanding. I recently went for a vocal reel, film reel, and headshots. I could not be happier with how they turned out! Just a day after sending everything to my agency, I got two big auditions. Having the reels and headshots from them on my profiles has already benefited me so much! I cannot sing their praises enough!!

Chicago Demo Reels Prod. is excellent! I'm visiting from out of town and got an audition notice. I…read morefound them via Google, made the appointment the following morning and 2 hours later my audition is uploaded and sent to my agent. Eduardo is very chill, helpful and professional. They're just outside of downtown so parking was a breeze. I was in and out in 30mins. Life saver!

Chicago Scanning did an excellent job with my collection of standard and super 8mm home movies from…read morethe 1960's and '70's. I will be going back with my collection of VHS camcorder tapes from the '80's and '90's.

Outstanding group you can trust to provide the best service. They didn't just copy my old family…read morevideos, they made every effort and did improve the quality. Really, really pleased with the final product and how they handled the entire process. Highly recommend.

It seems like all at once and out of nowhere I started receiving ads from a bunch of different film…read moredevelopment companies and those rolls sitting in the back of a drawer started screaming out to me to solve their mysteries. When I found that there was a shop right here in Chicago offering a first roll development and scan free I figured I would give the local option the first crack. So I signed up for the offer and placed some old rolls in a sandwich bag in my jacket pocket but then weeks passed by and it just kept slipping my mind. This was where Bellows first impressed me. I received direct messages from the shop saying that my offer would be expiring soon and asking if I'd like to extend the redemption date which was nice. I finally dropped in the day of that really bad snowstorm back in November and my first impression of the shop was positive. I liked the laidback and clean feel of the place. There is just about every type of contemporary film as well as some cameras and accessories available to buy and they had a good number of people at the counter for taking film development orders. There was also a tintype photographer doing a pop up event which is always cool to witness. I realized while I was there that my already amateurish photography knowledge was pretty rusty so I appreciated the staff going over things with me while I was filling out my development order form without being condescending. I also liked that they said that if the rolls came out blank or with no usable photos they would contact me about price adjusting. I went with the take your time option for development and scans for 3 rolls and the scans were ready for me in 3 days. The development came out about as well as they could with such expired film but nothing some color correction can't fix. They actually turned out a lot better than I expected they would and I am happy that I now have had some of the mysteries revealed. Bellows staff contacted me about picking up my negatives as I was traveling but a quick message and they assured me that they would hold onto the negatives for a little while longer. Although it's very much a shop for serious film photographers I think Bellows is a great local option for film development and I'll probably be returning with some more film to develop soon.

I recently have been into film and disposable cameras and was happy to have a film lab so close! I…read morebrought in film from 2024, 2010, and 2006 and surprisingly most of the pictures turned out pretty well! The location is super cute and they have a lot of film for sale. I brought in three rolls and it was around 50 dollars which did seem a little pricey to me but I'm also new to this so not sure what prices really go for. Everyone was super nice and were able to answer any questions I had.

Dear Yelp community,…read more My name is Troy Clendenin an avid Yelper when it comes to reviewing companies before making a purchasing decision to eat, find services and look at photos from service related experiences. I was in Chicago on September 8th-10th working at the GSX convention shooting a new series call READY. SET. DEMO. We didn't have any local contacts for video shooting or editing. I relied on Yelp to help me find a local vidoeographer. I contact Michael Slowik with Video Memories and he was extreamily professional and understood our unstructued shooting request. Mike and his team shot our footage, provided direction and edited all of the video. I can recommend this company any HIGHER than 110% satisfied without sounding like a paid commerical. If you are looking for someone for Photos, Videos or Editing you can't go wrong with these guys. They are Honest, Hard Working and true Professionals!!! My contact information is troy@thedemopeople.com and my number is 832.250.2737 if you want a personal recommendation from a REAL paying customer. #wow #highlyrecommended #goodpeople #greatvalue

Really nice gentlemen! Support your local small business. He…read morecares about restoring your old memories. He also said you can mail it to Walgreens but if you wanna help me out come on in

Peter and Casey are very professional and detailed. Their video duplication is done well and with a…read moregood amount of time. I have taken vhs and camera tapes to them for almost 10 years now and they do an excellent job! Their prices are very reasonable.

I worked with Tim and Jon recently to record a voiceover demo, and these guys are Total Pros…read more I'm a stage and screen actor who has always been interested in getting into voiceover work to supplement my income. My concern was always how expensive the costs were to rent studio time and pay for a sound engineer. For starters, the price is right. There is no other full-service studio in Chicago that I'm aware of that offers such a fantastic price for studio time AND an engineer AND the post-production services to complete my demo. Jon is an excellent sound engineer, and Tim brings to the table a great deal of industry experience to help choose the right scripts, coach you through the recording session, and to really craft the best demo. It was a lot of fun and totally stress-free working at The Foxhole on my demo. MOST IMPORTANTLY...with this demo, I snagged myself a voiceover agent at Naked Voices, one of the top voiceover agencies in Chicago. I highly recommend Tim and Jon and The Foxhole Chicago for your audio recording needs, be it voiceover demo, band demo, or otherwise.

My wife and I rented this place out to host our rehearsal dinner the night before our wedding. We…read moreworked closely with Tim Frank to get everything organized and he was terrific. The venue was very flexible with our needs. They provided us tables and chairs and allowed us to bring in our own caterer and beverage. The space is ordinarily used as a recording studio, and theater groups also rent the space out for their rehearsals - so the lighting and acoustics are awesome. It was exactly what we were looking for. It fit our party of 30 comfortably. It felt intimate, and not at all cramped. They have tall ceilings with exposed brick, and some of the walls have random strips of wallpaper from the 60s which gives it a real cool offbeat loft feel. There's a large chalkboard in the center of one of brick walls, before we got there they had inscribed a "Congratulations" with our names and some neat wedding bell drawings. We had our own special table for two with a king and queen chair. Very nice touch. Other cool features included a free old school juke box. Good selection of tunes. They had an iPod hooked up for us too in case we wanted to stream Pandora instead of using the box. They offered us use of a microphone, though we didn't use it. There were two people there the whole evening that were just stairs away in case we needed anything. Blake was really sweet about checking in on us to make sure we were all good. They had set up our tables and chairs before we arrived and were really helpful when we got there to help us with set up. When we were wrapping up, they even came back down to see if we needed any help tearing down. They had several coolers on hand that they let us use to store our drinks. There's a gas station conveniently located about a block away that sells ice. Plenty of meter and free street parking too. I would totally rent this place again for a party. Good people, great experience. Highly recommend.