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Writer's pictureJoey Lever

All about drones

Updated: Oct 14, 2022

Today’s blog topic is Drones!

Now if you know me you know that I love using drone shots in my work. In corporate and especially in my films. Here at Another World Media, we are licensed and CAA graded pilots and are available to create drone footage for your film and company. But why should you? What are the facts, history and benefits of using drone footage? Let’s get into it!


Starting from the beginning, Did you know that they used to use film crew hanging out of helicopters with their camera to film overhead footage from the sky? This trend of aerial filmmaking has been used in film since 1858 and was first practiced by the French photographer and balloonist Gaspard Félix Tournachon. As the years went on, technology improved along with cameras, equipment and techniques for film making.


Before you could buy drones, aerial photography and videography was significantly more difficult. Artists and scientists alike used tall buildings, ladders, balloons, kites, planes, and even pigeons to defy gravity to get the shot. The most common was a helicopter. They were agile and able to cover vast landscape at a suitable speed.




[Image from- https://ymcinema.com/2021/07/20/the-aerial-cinematography-of-black-widow-orchestra-of-venice-premista-red-zeiss-on-drones-and-helicopters/]


How did they do it? More than often, they’d use a gimbal mounted and gyro-stablized servo camera and a monitor or use someone hanging out the side of the helicopter door with a steady cam bolted on to the airframe and a very strong harness. They even made a Helicam (remote-controlled mini helicopter used to obtain aerial pictures or motion images using video, still or motion film cameras). This is still a technique that is used today! Helicopters are still used due to some locations being so big with the areas to be covered are vast and have more range, and less altitudes. The biggest issue was cost as not everyone has the access or spare or even funded cash. This is when the use of the drone came in and changed the filming game.



What are the benefits of using a drone?

For one, it’s affordable, they give access to film in small or confined spaces that helicopters cannot access, they can capture new perspectives outside the usual vision from the ground and they can fit into your hand.


Why should you consider using drone footage for your business?

Video is now the best performing type of content on social media. And with your social media, the whole point is to engage with your audience further and impress them. Drone filming provides spectacular aerial shots that do justice to your work, immerse your audience and show off your greatest achievements.


It can tell your story.

Having the wow factor of aerial drone footage really does add a personal touch to videos. Not only is it unique and not many local competitors will have the same type of marketing footage, it’s also a great way to tell the story of your business and show how it has grown from the ground up. Storytelling is vital in marketing to humanise your brand so that your customers and audience remember what they’ve seen and share the experience.


It’s perfect for the big picture.

Drones have the ability to shoot at angles that a photographer with a regular camera cannot, and therefore open up many more possibilities for behind the scenes, unsafe locations,and getting that wow factor. For example, not only can drone photography be taken from high in the sky and show off large-scale projects, but they are also small enough that they can get in close to areas that someone would be unable to access, such as inside a pipe or air vent. Aerial drone filming is made for capturing footage of large structures. However, drones have also shown to be fantastic for shooting videos of setting up large projects and events. An example of this could be filming at a construction event such as demolitions, quarry blasting, bridge segment laying and other large scale projects that you only get one shot to get right.


It’s cost effective.

Producing aerial content and videos no longer requires the complicated and expensive process of hiring a helicopter, a pilot and a film crew. Since drones have come into the mainstream where anybody can buy one and get the correct licenses, creating stunning aerial videos for marketing is much simpler to arrange, less time-consuming and more cost-effective than the previous methods. This is because drone filming only requires one drone pilot/camera operator, and as you’re not flying a large aircraft around, you won’t be causing any disruption, inconvenience or annoyance.


Film Making

Here is a fantastic article by Raindance that summarizes my reasons as to why I use drones in the creation of my films. https://raindance.org/5-amazing-uses-of-drones-in-filmmaking/


Advice and things to always consider when using a drone:

  • Practise flying your drone

  • Locations and optimum airspace

  • The weather

  • Obstructions and hazards

  • What you want to capture and how

  • Permits and Drone Flying Laws

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