In the summer of 2020, the Chicago Bulls reached out to Indoor Drone Tours for help with filming a closing drone shot for their Lollapalooza live segment. While there, they had extra time to film with the Chicago Bulls mascot, Benny the Bull.

Ilya Akhmerov, Head Drone Pilot for Indoor Drone Tours, didn’t know much about the beloved Chicago mascot going into the shoot.

“Everybody was talking like ‘Hey is Benny here?’,” Ilya said, “I didn’t know Benny the Bull before, when we met and figured out a couple of shots to film, he was really cool to hang out with.”

“Benny the Bull asked if we could shoot a few social media posts for his TikTok, Instagram, etc,” John Bach, Creative Director for Indoor Drone Tours said, “We came up with ideas together with Benny on-site, it was a crazy afternoon shooting all those videos.”

Ilya and John filmed a lot of different sequences with Benny, ranging from Benny riding his motorcycle, around his van, with Benny’s t-shirt gun, and with the Michael Jordan statue that sits in the United Center’s atrium.

@bennythebullPOV: you’re a t-shirt ##pov @johnparkerbach @ilya_fpv♬ 1812 Overture trap remix – Phortissimo

During the day, the pair also had the opportunity to fly in an empty United Center and through the Michael Jordan statue.

“We’re always looking for something to fly through,” Ilya said, “Find a gap or obstacle, no other camera can do that except a drone.”