For this we used the existing old circus in the center of the capital Riga - an authentic location with a lot of history. We have secured the location for two days for prep and shoot and totally transformed it. Pre-lighting the location of such scale was quite a big number. We used ARRI 16SR 3 camera and a large lighting package on this production. All local.

Among local cast we had a fire eater, juggler, snake woman, clown, psychic, specially trained donkey, pigeons and even a camel.

The lead artist was Juha Muje – famous Finish theatre and film actor.

All costumes were made locally.

We shot a full day in the circus interior on day one, then shot a set in the studio on day two before moving on to the exterior location just on the outskirts of Riga.

A travelling circus set was created there and covered in loads of artificial snow supplied by a local FX company.

Despite a very short prep time the shoot went extremely well.

Such location as authentic circus may be difficult to find or secure in places like Finland and other.

Latvia on the other hand offers a range of very special locations and also an added value to the production.

You can actually stretch your 2-day budget to three days or short day budget to a really long shoot day budget here.