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DRONES VS HELICOPTERS AERIAL
cost of that tracking vehicle.
and main unit DOP are after is best achieved by hanging the camera under a drone or a helicopter. And there will be many times when a drone is the right choice. There may also be times when a stabilised head on a Russian armmight be a better bet. But if we feel the camera does need to leave terra firma to tell the story, and we reckon a helicopter is the most likely way to guarantee the shot, then we can also suggest ways to get more bang for your buck. A fair chunk of the cost of a helicopter shoot is the stabilised system on the nose and the money you’ve spent flying it to your location. Once it’s on location, the only extra cost is the flying time. And the more you fly and the more we shoot, the more value you’re getting for those fixed costs. So what else can we do with a helicopter if we are in at the planning stage? Well here’s one example. Some years ago I shot some aerials on a drama. The scene involved a chase between two quad bikes on open ground. We did the planned aerials in a couple of takes and landed. Nearby the grips were still struggling to rig a Libra mount to the camera quad for a lower level tracking shot. We had a quiet word with the director and reminded him that helicopters can fly at any height, including the couple of feet above ground planned for the lens on the tracking quad. Within five minutes we were airborne and knocking off tracking shots so low that we got mud from the action quad’s wheels on the camera. If we’d been involved at the planning stage on a similar shoot we might have saved the production the
ABOVE Helicopters have the edge on drones for fast longer focal length work but the new DJI X7 drone can replicate that.
Another clever trick of helicopters is zipping around very fast. And carrying people. So if you need a dramatic establisher of a character or two in a different location, pop them in the helicopter, we’ll fly to that location, drop them off, shoot them, and bring them back. What’s more we’ll shoot some GVs on the way there and back. useful extra shots we can get if we’re in at the planning stage. If an aerial shoot is budgeted for block one of a series, but block two could do with some dramatic sunsets, and we know that in advance, we might be able to pick those up on our flight back to base. And just to show what a fair- SHOTOVER There’s no end to the number of minded aerial DOP I am, here’s a money-saving tip for a drone booking. The new Shotover U1 drone has a Shotover G1 gimbal hanging underneath it. And guess what? It comes off and can be fixed to a tracking vehicle or a boat. Yet more bang for your buck and less time for your aerial DOP to be left hanging around the catering truck. Since that fairy godmother hasn’t turned up, here’s an open request to directors and line producers: if you think you want aerial shots of any kind, talk to us in pre-production. Use our experience to help you choose between a drone and a helicopter, and listen to how we can give you the best value for money for either. I guarantee there will be times when a helicopter is cheaper than a drone.
AT THE PLANNING STAGE WE CAN OFFER TWO IMPORTANT SERVICES. THE FIRST IS OUR CREATIVE JUDGEMENT
series. If I was ever granted three wishes by a passing fairy godmother, my first would be the chance to sit down with the line producer at the planning stage of a shoot and show how they can wring the maximum value from an aerial shoot, be it drone or helicopter. (My second would be for an ALEXA LF, and the third is beyond the scope of this article.) PLANNING If producers, directors and main unit DOPs engage with us at the planning stage we can offer two important services, which I wouldn’t even charge for. The first is our creative judgement, based on experience, as to whether the aesthetic and mood the director
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MAY 2018 DEFINITION
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