What Makes Good Drone Video & Photography?

Drones have come a long way since first making their way into video and photography projects roughly a decade ago. Today, drone tech is smaller, lighter, smarter, safer and the cameras deliver the level of quality we expect from professional cinema and stills cameras. All of this means that gaining an aerial view of things like buildings, for example has become extremely accesible. However, buying and flying a drone is one thing; anyone can do that with literally a few thousand dollars or less. But achieving smooth, considered, cinematic quality video footage with the drone is a whole another skill all togeher. The same goes for creative drone photography. It's not about just putting it in the air and hitting the shutter button. Framing, composition and elevation all need to come into play. When it comes to piloting the drone, professionals will tell you it takes about 100 hours of flying to become an expert. Combine expert piloting with cinematic control over the camera gimbal, and suddenly the difference between just a few drone shots and "awe inspiring" drone video or photograhy is like chalk and cheese. In this article, we'll take a look at some of the work Global has produced using drones to expertly elevate our clients projects.

Drone Video & Photography for HVG Facades

In the film above, we highlight the exterior of the Sydney West Law Courts building for HVG Facades using a combination of cinematic camera moves. This entire film is shot using only a drone. Notice how not all the shots are up high in the sky. Some are actually quite low! Working with a professional drone that enables the camera to point upwards, meant we could create dynamic shots that move from down low to up high and left to right all in a single movement, whilst also keeping the building centered within the frame. Advanced tracking features combined with cinematic movement also made dynamic shots more achievable.

High resolution still images were also captured at each new drone position using a combination of ultra wide, medium wide and telephoto lenses that the drone we used also offers to deliver a range of creative option.

The location and time of day was also a major consideration when our team were planning for the shoot. This building is located in Parramatta, which for most drone owners is restricted as a 'no-fly zone' unless the proper certifications are met. In our case, our remote operators certificate meets the statutory requirements and we were able to complete the job. As a populous area which is also frequented by potentially low flying helicopter traffic, we mitigated the risks by conducting a job safety analysis and determining the safest way to fly in the area. Choosing to fly during the early hours of the morning also meant the likilhood of pedestrians entering our fly zone was reduced. It also means our footage would look cleaner without interruptions by people walking into our shots.

Drone Photography for Buildcorp and GroundInk Landscape Architects

The Santa Sophia Catholic School in Western Sydney is a masterpiece in exterior design, so it's no wonder builder Buildcorp and landscape architect GroundInk wanted to make use of aerial photography. Using expert drone operation and creative and considered framing, we captured a considerable amount of high-resolution stills of the project. This particualar location falls into the Richmond airforce operation zone, which required airspace authorisation.

Drone Video for Cox Architecture

The SBRC Building is a magnificent self sustaining design. The mass of solar pannels on it's rooftop and it's capacitity for water collection are just two obvious features of the design that required aerial views. Using professionally operated drone video meant we could compliment the ground cinematography with carefully crafted aerial cinematography.

Drone Video Showreel

Global Pictures is fully certified by CASA to hold a Remote Operators Certificate (ReOC) and each of our operators holds a Remote Pilot License (RePL).

That's a wrap!

We hope you enjoyed this article on what makes good drone video and stills photography. It's our aim with every production to ensure the visuals we capture take your project to the next level of engagement for your audience, which is why we believe expertly piloted and framed drone shots make a significant difference to the finished product. If you have a project you'd like to discuss, give us a call on (02) 9188 0835 or send us email here.