DRONE FEATURE AERIAL FILMMAKER
ultimately we’re all passionate creatives who get a kick out of working on beautiful films.” Like anything worth achieving, however, this was a film that wasn’t going to come together without some headaches along the way. The payload restrictions imposed by most out-of-the-box drones were solved through the use of a high- end heavy lift Skyjib 8 with a MOVI gimbal, but interestingly this was paired with a now slightly geriatric DJI Phantom 2 with a GoPro 4 attached. It was an intriguing mash- up of technology, but what this model lacked in mod cons it made up for in flexibility, and it was to prove very much worth its weight as the shoot unfolded. “Our biggest concern with any job such as this is safety,” says Martin. “Richard had found a great road through farmland we could use, and we were able to position traffic control at either end so that we knew the route was completely under our control while we were flying. He’d also kept the local police traffic department in the loop, so we were very much flying within the law. “The night shots, due to us not wanting to film beyond ISO 400 and the need to have some light in the sky, had to be shot in a one-hour window. We loved the storyline, but it did prove to be a challenge. When we first got the brief we tried various lights strapped to the craft to see what would give us the best possible effect and, of course, weight was a major consideration. “The battery that most of the more powerful lights required, for example, was just too heavy to be used, so we started out with a mag- style focusable hand torch, which ultimately proved to have too short a throw. Next we looked at using a Dedolight DLED4, but the bracket for this was restrictive and we struggled to get the light to work on the gimbal.
“Our next option was a two million candlepower work torch from a local DIY shop, and we used this for the opening shot as the drone came into sight. However, the torch was so large we couldn’t fit the camera onto the gimbal as well. Instead we had to work with just the pilot’s camera in order to line up the torch with the subject, and the rest was pure line of sight flying and a few takes to get the drone co-ordinated with the cyclist.” Let there be light By the end of the first day a lot of the shots required were in the can, but the main thrust of the film, a POV shot from the torch’s angle as the cyclist raced along, was still
elusive. The teamwent back to the drawing board and, this being a personal project for everyone and with the following day rained off, it was fully five weeks before everyone could re-convene to finally push everything over the line. The solution that finally enabled everything to work was to attach a powerful LED powered bike lamp to the drone, which was small enough to be fitted on the gimbal alongside a Panasonic GH4 camera with a 12mm lens. This meant that the team still had the ability to capture video at 4K, while being able to see exactly where the on-board light was pointing. Meanwhile the camera operator could position and follow the live action via an HD video downlink. The crucial tracking shot of the drone coming over the hill was achieved by the pilot being driven behind the cyclist so that he could maintain line of sight at all times. “As our cyclist comes over the crest of a hill you can see the drone light in pursuit,” says Richard. “Obviously close behind this there’s a pursuit Range Rover carrying the drone flight team and it was impossible not to have this in
ABOVE As a personal project it was important to involve like-minded partners, and Richard worked with Yodo Creative, Cine Photo Pro and Rapha sportswear.
BELOW A RED Dragon was used for much of the shoot, delivering ultimate quality as the team filmed pro cyclist Anton Blackie
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PRO MOVIEMAKER SPRING 2018
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