Monday, 18 June 2018

Drones used in movies and television and the small divide of professional and consumer flying platforms...

https://youtu.be/GXhlgNHK14s

https://youtu.be/GnaND1gvQXMTo be honest I dont know much about the entertainment industry beyond the Audio aspect for recording bands in a studio situation... This is part of the drone business seems prestigious and enviable... As millions of dollars go into the equipment and the daily shooting of the performances, not to mention the composition and the effects and stunt coordination as well as the organization of the whole production and the logistics of location shots...  
https://youtu.be/3t1PQJmM8P4Since September 2014 drones have been gathering up steam, when in the US, the FAA allowed the film industry to use drones in film production for commercial purposes... From them on 6 aerial production companies the right to use drones... Compared to the old way of filming via helicopters which can rack up the costs on fuel and equipment alone...
The drones that are required for this type work need to handle a large 8K camera...

A RED Raven or  RED weapon something similar... Having these cameras include a follow focus and a variable iris for complete control of focus and exposure... While the cheaper systems have manual or a fixed iris... The professional cameras have a Auto or P-iris (P stands for Precise), which is expensive but is important for variable light conditions such as entering a Forrest canopy... or complete 360 panning shot in bright sunlight...
https://youtu.be/3t1PQJmM8P4As well as the complete control over the focus and exposure, the resolution needs to be larger then standard 4K so that t can be cropped to size and fit with other film clips... This might include the quality filmed in, as some people prefer to film in analog film prints and digitize at a higher quality...(usually analogue film sampled at 8K to digital format)
Lenses and their styles may vary too as zoom and prime telephoto lenses may come into play to satisfy the different shots needed for one particular scene... In the end a typical drone and camera set-up for the film industry may set you back £100,000 or lenses at £200,000 alone... (hourly rent of Helicopter and RED weapon camera @ £11,000)

https://youtu.be/XlfLDLjKSDkAs action in films need to include aerial shots to provide a idea of the local area, but more increasingly the director of Photographer or cinematographer... would ask for a drone to replace a JIB or crane or a set of equipment that covers a vehicle chase... ( likely to be a helicopter at a price of roughly £2.5 million to get the shot)... Dji Advertise their equipment to fit in the margins of small and light drones compared to the larger professional Matrice 600...
As size and cost cutting will soon allow DJI's inspire 2's, 35mm cameras to fill up the gaps of independent films and student film projects at a fraction of the price at around £10 - 15,000 recording at 6K resolution...
https://youtu.be/sRpQDtQiYIA?t=1m53sIn my opinion the consumer market has opened up the floodgates of blogging cameras, and has allowed the you-tube plebs to carry on filming their life stories to such a degree... That constant traffic of peoples internet watch times now interferes with peoples TV watched times...

Granted successful Video bloggers improve their equipment with each success... buying at least a 4K drone camera and blogging camera, with a decent auto focus to allow a intimate relationship of presenter and their audience which reaches numbers on a global scale... 
https://youtu.be/1IEPPcNSq20?t=2m36sThese online stars compete with the television networks and the film industry to grab your attention...
The film industry's strength is the quality of its presentation, the script and overall production, editing and its popular stars... While the internet can provide very niche subjects of everyday folks wanting to share or get recognition for their efforts...
https://youtu.be/IYNoyjccaEETelevision with their brand production have modest budgets compared to the film industry can still make quality programming with shows like Game of thrones or the mentalist, or myth-busters etc etc... But as a viewer its usually a delicate balance of story script and camera work that makes a show great... Drones have a place in the industry but only as a tool in the tool kit of a filmmakers repertoire... Its hard to have a show with drones that is filming all the time... even though the public have a fascination with a different perspective...
https://vimeo.com/ldbcThe technology of drones will no doubt get smaller and lighter and with better quality of film... As well as safety when collision avoidance and possible 360 sensors come online with tracking...
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The closest thing to that is the Skydio R1 which has 11 cameras surrounding its propellers guard rail... Its artificial intelligence together with the complex array of cameras can dodge through a leafy forest path with relative ease...Although the cost of one is over 2 grand for a follow drone... its technology with no doubt be embedded into more commercial or even professional drones for a cameraman replacement.... Who knows what the next 5 years drone technology might bring... its certainly gonna effects us all one way or another...

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