5 Killer Ideas For Drone Cinematography

Tired of jerky drone footage that looks like it was shot through a fish bowl? Try these killer ideas for awesome drone footage.

Drone Cinematography

Lima Pix / Via Flickr: minhocos

Raise your drone game, think like a drone cinematographer.

1. Set and forget.

You know that you can pan and tilt your camera, right? Well don't. Nothing screams amateur footage like twitchy camera movements. You need to run your shots first, get the flight right - the camera should only be moving if you're committed to tracking something in the frame.

2. Infinite Jib.

Hollywood uses cranes and jibs to lift the camera from the ground, and guess what.. That's exactly what your drone can do. Try a nice slow take off, straight up to reveal a wider scene behind your initial foreground object.

3. Dolly in / Dolly out.

Have you ever seen cameras mounted on little train tracks? That's a dolly, and filmmakers love them. Your drone can pull away from a subject to create a dolly out effect, reverse the shot in your favourite video editor and you have a dolly in.

4. Keep your drone in the car.

Your drone stabilizes footage right? How about you take the propellers off and hold it out of your car window or trunk - instant ground based stabilisation.

5. Keep your drone in the car (Part II).

No one likes too much of a good thing, drone filming is just like any other film tool - less is more. Nothing is going to take the value out of your amazing infinite jib shot (see point 2) like another 10 aerial shots. Used sparingly to drive the narrative, drone footage is fantastic. Over use it and you create a bore-a-thon.

..and remember

Even a small drone weighs the same as a bag or two of sugar, and comes complete with high speed spinning blades. When you're working on set make sure safety is the number one priority. If you're part of a production team make sure you hire a drone filming company approved by the FAA (in America), CAA (in the UK) or other relevant agency.