 Approximately 75 ethnic , social , and religious Chicago organizations were asked to provide candidates whose faces would be photographed for integration into the fountain . The subjects were chosen from local schools , churches and community groups , and filming began in 2001 at the downtown campus of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago ( SAIC ) . The SAIC students filmed their subjects with a $ 100 @,@ 000 high @-@ definition <unk> @-@ <unk> video camera , the same model used in the production of the three Star Wars <unk> . About 20 SAIC students took part in what became an informal master 's course in public art for the project . Faculty from Columbia College Chicago was also involved in the production of the video . The high @-@ definition equipment was used because of the scale of the project . Because the image proportions were like a movie screen with a width far exceeding its height , the camera was turned on its side during filming . 
