AERIAL FILMMAKING GE AR .
is something Williams recognises. “We are getting demands for flying bigger cameras, faster. One of our newer rigs allows us to fly the Alexa Mini up to 50 miles an hour. People tend to use the Freefly Alta 6 and Alta 8 for slow and classy takes, but we’re often asked to do high-speed tracking shots. Maybe we’d be tracking a motorbike with Bear Grylls on the back!” As Williams goes on, though, not every job demands the highly kinetic first-person approach. “They want the ability to do those kinds of shots with a big drone, not FPV-style, so we’re not going under trees and through tunnels. If we have enough space, we’ll do that with one of our bigger rigs.” Williams and co-founder Pete Stanton handle what she describes as: “Heavy-lift stuff – Alexa Mini, Red Monstro and things you’d see on feature films.” Increased demand, though, has meant expansion. “We’re in the process of putting a third full-time team together. And we have another two teams, one of which specialises in the DJI Inspire 2, and another that does micro drones you can fly indoors, along with a lot of FPV. One of our pilots has been flying at competition level for six years.” FROM ONE EXTREME XM2 Pursuit’s Aaron Corera spoke from aboard a ship en route to the Antarctic, illustrating how extreme an environment filmmaking can demand. With offices worldwide, “XM2’s Aaron Corera spoke from aboard a ship en route to the Antarctic, showing how extreme an environment film can demand”
Corera sums up what he does succinctly: “Moviemaking is all about the shot where the audience goes, ‘how did they do that?’. We’re developing kit that ticks all the boxes we need to shoot in new ways.” Perhaps as a result of that R&D, the company increasingly finds itself consulting on approaches to a sequence at an early stage. “Most of the time, the production says, ‘here’s what we want’. We can do that,” Corera continues, “but how about on this shot we could do this? We’ll offer up options for the director.” As a result, Corera’s in-tray contains 11 scripts to read. “And we’re going to engage very, very early in these pieces.” Productions are, he says, often surprised
and a new location just opened in Seoul, the company’s equipment is often as well-travelled as its people. “Here in Antarctica,” Corera says, “we have equipment from several offices: it’s all flown to one location, we prep it, then it goes to set.” That inventory includes everything from FPV drones with remote heads – which fly fast with Komodos and Blackmagic cameras – all the way through to heavy- lift options. And for an imposing definition of heavy. “The rest of the world sees heavy lift as up to 25kg,” Corera continues. “For us, it is well in excess of that – 40kg and above. We’re carrying Mini LFs, but with big, bulky glass: lots of Sony Venice, Panavision Primo 70 series lenses – long zooms.”
FLY HIGH The Shotover K1 Hammerhead allows for a panoramic array, and captures some blistering views
COMPLEX SET-UPS A close-up on the Hammerhead (left) and an Alexa Mini array (right)
53. MARCH 2022
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