AERIAL DOPS INTERVIEW
IT MAKES SENSE TO fly over big spaces FOR THE MOMENTUM you can’t get with a drone ”
© ALEXEY ORLOV
FLYING VISIT With limited time and strict budgets, it is vital for aerial DOPs to get the right shot
take the gimbal apart. It was like watch mechanics inside and my job was to keep it all ticking.” While the gear has evolved from Spacecam to WESCAM, from Eclipse to Shotover – and propagated worldwide – Goss is still in high demand even if the gear, pilots, helicopters or special Phenom jets command a premium. “Generally, I’m given a brief and they trust me to deliver. The production has to have confidence that we’re going to execute the brief because shooting from a heli still has a high-dollar value. “Some jobs don’t have the money, so they adjust their creative and shoot drones. There’s always a way to re- engineer something. You could use a stepladder or a crane, but the projects I’m hired for are the big movies that want the big shots done their way.” For bigger-scope shots, “it makes sense to fly an aircraft over big spaces with arcs and large movements for the momentum you can’t get with a drone.” Top Gun: Maverick raised the bar – but few films have the access or budget
to be made with the assistance of the US Navy. Even forthcoming Apple TV+ feature Mayday , in which Ryan Reynolds plays a jet pilot, was largely shot from helicopters aerially directed by Goss. Increasingly, he will work with the VFX supervisor to capture aerial plates. This will involve arrays of cameras configured to capture vast panoramas at high resolution for stitching in post. He finds previs shots a little exhausting because all the shots have been figured out, broken down and budgeted for. “There’s not a lot of room to expand. If I’m sent out to do three shots, I can’t come back and be like, ‘Guess what? I shot an extra 20 hours of helicopter time – and here’s the bill!’” he says. “You have to stick to the brief. But we do find moments where you shoot extra material and you’re wondering if that’s going to get recognised by a director or editor. I can sometimes come back with hours of footage that will never see the light of day.” He enjoys working with directors such as Denis Villeneuve, Alex Garland and
27
definitionmags
Powered by FlippingBook