NEWS & TUTORIALS on Royalty free music, Video editing, filming, video production

10 Helpful Tips for Shooting Film from a Drone

Today shooting film from a drone is more approachable and more affordable for filmmakers on a budget. Even a newbie can learn how to achieve jaw dropping, results that in the past were only accessible to mega Hollywood productions. That said, using a drone for cinematography can be challenging and not just because learning how to safely pilot one takes a while. It can take quite a bit of trial and error to create useable results.

  1. Before flying, make sure to find out about the rules in the area you’ll be working in – some country’s don’t even have rules in place yet because it’s still a fairly new technology. Also, use sound judgement when flying.
  1. Plan out each shot prior to taking off, making the most out of the drone’s battery life (currently, their drone batteries last around 15 minute each).
  1. Always check out the weather conditions in advance because if you fly your drone in unstable weather you’ll more than likely end up with unusable footage, especially in high winds. Flying in bad weather conditions can also be unsafe (crashing creates the possibility of shrapnel) as well as cause costly damage to the drone.
  1. If you haven’t had a lot of practice flying a drone, or none at all, fly it in a wide open space (treeless field, etc.), away from urban/congested areas, out of reach of homes, people and vehicles.

 

  1. Practice your skills, starting off by taking off, climb a couple of meters, hover, fly from point A to point B and patiently land. Once, you get comfortable with these movements and for the best results, practice flying the drone using nice, fluid, slow movements. Then, practice getting close to something, then slowly rising above it to showcase awe inspiring landscapes.
  1. Use the drone to tell your story in a way that outshines most other filmmaking tools. While drone technology won’t magically make you a fantastic filmmaker, it will definitely revitalize your ability to be a compelling storyteller.
  1. Keep possible distractions at a minimum (turn off that cell phone), focusing only on properly operating your drone and the story you’re creating
  1. Crashes are bound to happen, even for the experts. The best you can do is to figure out how to reduce amount of breakage. If you’re about to crash into something, but are in a position to move right or left, try turning off the throttle which will also stop the rotating propellers. This will reduce the chances of breaking the propellers, motor and other damage as well.
  1. Make sure that you don’t fly near airports or higher than 122 metres (400 feet). The last thing a drone operator wants to do is collide with a plane.
  1. Experiment with the camera’s settings so that you learn how to produce the results you want when it’s attached to the drone. The more you learn about this incredible technology the more effective you’ll be at shooting and discovering different, unique results.

Once you’ve worked your way through these 10 tips for shooting film from a drone, it will be time to get serious about the process and there’s a lot more to learn. For filmmakers, it’s a process that will end with incredible results.

 

photo credit: droneexaminer.com

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5 Common Filmmaking Mistakes You Should Avoid

As your career in filmmaking begins to develop, it’s important that your actions don’t end up derailing it during the beginning stages. Following are 5 common filmmaking mistakes you should avoid, giving you a much better chance of succeeding.

  1. Not Knowing Why You Want To Make Movies
    Filmmakers make movies for several different reasons, be it passion about a subject, the potential of $$$ to be made, and/or a deep love for the craft. Before you jump into an attempted filmmaking career, it’s important to determine what it is that drives you. Realizing the real reason (s) you want to make movies will help you predetermine which the road you want to take and increase your chances of success.
  2. What You Don’t Know Can Hurt You
    The majority of filmmakers begin their careers because they’re really great at a specific thing. Some have a flair for motivating actors, others excel at directing action and others, the lucky ones, are great multi-taskers (there aren’t many of these because filmmaking is so time consuming). What a lot of filmmakers fail to recognize is that it’s a business that involves a wide variety of unique skill sets. They overlook the fact that the craft also requires business management skills, from sourcing new clients and hiring actors to publicity and marketing, to managing cash flow. It’s not likely that you’ll have the expertise, or the time, to do it all yourself so don’t try. Successful filmmakers recognize their own skill sets and fill the gaps appropriately.
  3. Working with the Wrong People
    Filmmaking is a passionate, tiring and in many cases, spur of the moment business. Under these circumstances, it’s really tempting to hire people without thoroughly interviewing them and checking their references. Besides the interview process, its important to ask yourself if their experience and skills complimentary to yours and most important of all – will you feel comfortable working with them? Of course, make sure to have detailed written contracts in place, covering any and all creative collaboration.
  4. Been There, Done That
    If you’re going to the effort, including all the blood, sweat and tears, in order to create a short film, try to come up with something new and original. Whether it’s a new story, style, effect, plot, or techniques used, create something that makes people take notice and distinguishes your film from the countless others out there. While this is easier said than done, with a great creative team, it can be achieved.
  5. Emotional Triggers
    Instead of attempting to tackle a massive theme, especially if you’re new to the industry, concentrate on something smaller scale that both you and your audience have a personal connection with. Choose a dilemma or trending issued that most of us has experienced or felt, or an idea that most of us has had, and focus on that idea in your film, like no one has before. Taking this approach will help you come up with a film that’s genuine and sets off the right emotional triggers.

Putting music in your film has its importance; it can serve the emotional side of the movie and enhance the storytelling. It is essential for any film producer to keep the music in mind when shooting the movie.

Filmtv-tracks is a great source for premium Royalty Free Music where you can find the perfect music for your film at a very affordable price.

Needless to say, there are short films that have made some of these mistakes yet somehow turned out to be outstanding. That said, unless you’re already at the point in your career that you’re considered a world-class filmmaker, with the practical experience required to understand when, where and why to break the rules, you’ll want to avoid making the 5 common mistakes listed here.

Learn from Video production professionals

Follow Video production professionals

Video editing and post-production is a vast area and there are several things that have to be taken care of when you are dealing with videos. It is a continuously evolving industry and hence, there is constant learning involved. If you are looking for a particular technique in video editing, you can always search for it online and learn. However, it is a great idea to follow some professionals rather than randomly searching for learning something new. We bring to you a list of video professionals that are highly skilled and will give you the best tips!

  • Andrew Kramer

Founder of a popular online motion design and VFX company, Video Copilot, Andrew has also made a couple of videos about After Effects and his experience on After Effects made Video Copilot come up with plugins for After Effects like Element 3D and Optical Flares, which have now grown to become one of the most standard tools used in the industry.

He works closely with J.J.Abrams and has been a part of several popular films. Also, he was a keynote speaker for the Adobe AE World conference held recently.

You can follow his tutorials on Facebook, Twitter or YouTube.

 

  • Philip Bloom

One of the most widely followed video professional on social media; Philip Bloom is in constant touch with movie directors for all their video editing needs. He deals with the camera gear and the techniques to be used, which is an area that can be classified as pre-production. You can visit his website to know more about the camera and its techniques, or if you want to learn more about DSLR movie making. You can follow Philip Bloom across popular social networking sites.

  • Larry Jordan

A television producer, director and editor, Larry Jordan is also a member of the Directors Guild of America and the Producers Guild of America and is also certified by Apple in the field of digital media. Every week, he comes up with a newsletter and a podcast that is available on iTunes. He has done significant contribution to the field of video editing in the Final Cut Pro and Premiere Pro fronts. You can follow him on Twitter, Facebook and his own website, larryjordan.com.

 

  • Dave Dugdale

Dave Dugdale has come up with one of the best tutorials ever. He started his website ever since he started using a DSLR, so that you can also be a path of his journey and learn along. Now, his website features free tutorials, reviews about cameras and camera gears and there are also in-depth courses that will allow you to explore video editing and editing to its fullest. His site is called Learning Video, as he thinks that it can be a common forum where everybody who is interested to learn can learn.

You can follow Dave Dugdale on social networking sites or can navigate to his website called learningvideo.com.

 

So why wait? Start your professional video journey now by following these experts!