Quicksand Fans

One of my favorite motovlogs did some testing with a Gen 2 Skydio drone. Pretty amazing, the way you can change camera angles with the push of a button might make for some cool transitions in sinking scenes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9gSC1L_L-I

Mynock wrote:One of my favorite motovlogs did some testing with a Gen 2 Skydio drone. Pretty amazing, the way you can change camera angles with the push of a button might make for some cool transitions in sinking scenes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9gSC1L_L-I

I agree that drones are powerful tools for certain kinds of video. I have seen some very interesting video of things such as trains in a switching yard. However, as a producer I do question their viability for quicksand scenes. By "viability" I mean in the sense of making economic sense. Aside from the acquisition cost, a drone requires an operator -read:crew member. Also, I am not certain if the resulting footage is fully compatible with the 4k material we have been shooting for the past five seasons. Would the "extra interest" from a drone angle generate enough sales to justify the cost? - I doubt it. On the other hand if there is someone who has one and wants to use it as a crewman, like Ross Perot I'm all ears.

I would think the noise from the drone would be an issue. Perhaps.

Sandy Pointe wrote:I would think the noise from the drone would be an issue. Perhaps.

The only time I really contemplated utilizing a drone for production was the idea that dubbed audio would be needed for any in-close footage.

Aside from that, there is a certain detached feeling with drone stuff (perhaps in a major way because there is virtually never any concurrent audio associated with the footage).

In my opinion, cameras need to be close for this subject, and the audio intimate.

Sandy Pointe wrote:I would think the noise from the drone would be an issue. Perhaps.

Much would depend, of course, on how things are filmed. FOR almost all occasions (pretty much unless it is raining hard) all my scenes are shot with two cameras. If there was a drone camera it would be camera 3 at least. While this sort of approach would preclude the usual two from being up close (unless concealed from view) it is a trivial matter to use the audio from a different camera than the video.

I guess you would have to cut some other audio over the drone footage to get rid of the propeller noise. I didn't think of that.
Just thought it would be cool to have a moving orbiting shot of a model sinking, like, you could "cut" to different angles without actually switching to another camera.

Mynock wrote:I guess you would have to cut some other audio over the drone footage to get rid of the propeller noise. I didn't think of that.
Just thought it would be cool to have a moving orbiting shot of a model sinking, like, you could "cut" to different angles without actually switching to another camera.

Yes, I agree it would be cool. But it would also be expensive. As pointed out in my previous, if used with a sinking sequence, other cameras could easily get decent audio but they would have to be concealed from the drone. A drone might also be built into the so-called "set-up" portion of a scene. Perhaps the principal character(s) is/are prison escapees and the drone is tracking them. Remember the case in the first Iraq war when soldiers who I guess had seen what a 16 inch battleship salvo was surrendered to a drone from the battleship? The biggest obstacle to use, however, is the cost in my view. Perhaps someone who owns and knows how to fly a drone with a camera would like to participate in a shoot for that purpose, with me or any producer.

Drones are loud enough that all cams and mics recording a scene will pick it up. For small pits you are better off with a home-made boom cam/mic or something along that path.

BogDog wrote:Drones are loud enough that all cams and mics recording a scene will pick it up. For small pits you are better off with a home-made boom cam/mic or something along that path.

Another reason for not doing it.