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10 Helpful Tips for Shooting Film from a Drone

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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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Learn from Video production professionals

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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!