Even before cameras began rolling on "187," the director was at work with his crew to construct Trevor's world. Recalls Reynolds, "I didn't want to simply put a camera down in the classroom and just record. I walked through some high schools and noticed that, visually, they're sterile and boring. So I wanted to give each scene a different visual style that accentuates what we're trying to say."

Reynolds worked with director of photography Ericson Core to create a style that would force the viewer to look at the movie from a non-traditional point of view. Core brought his visual sense from the dozens of music videos on which he had worked. They decided to incorporate different color palettes between the scenes in New York and Los Angeles as well as mixing media. To represent the urban feel of the story, the 35mm film is accented with interspersed scenes shot on video; also, the film or video has been visually altered by pixilation in some scenes, which gives a purposefully grainy or pointillistic look.

"187" was shot on location in Los Angeles over the summer of 1996. The company filmed for two days in New York in October for the prologue scenes preceding Trevor's move to the West Coast.

Verdugo Hills High School was utilized for the high school where Trevor teaches after recovering from his stabbing. Marshall High in Pasadena posed for the Brooklyn school where the attack takes place. Other locations included Pacoima, Boyle Heights, under the Pomona freeway and at the Los Angeles river bed, all reflecting the parts of Los Angeles not proudly displayed to visitors but very real to the thousands of residents whose day-to-day existence is a tooth-and-nail struggle.

The gritty surroundings contrasted with many of the filmmakers' and actors' own experiences while in school, and brought the harsh reality of "187" into perspective.

© 1997 Warner Bros.