Are you considering using drone footage – indoors or outdoors – for your next corporate video?
Our favorite thing about well-executed drone work: it provides perspectives that can’t be captured in any other way. The cost of aerial shooting is relatively low, compared to the dramatic impact and creative options gained by adding it.
Here’s our take on the benefits and challenges of working with drones.
The ups:
- Gets perspectives and angles that aren’t achievable (affordably) any other way
- It’s like a steady cam without any assistance – a drone can hover for 30 minutes
- Gets indoor shots in large spaces – like in a manufacturing plant, a domed stadium – much more quickly than handheld
- It’s flexible: most drones are very compact, easy to transport, quick to start shooting
- Achieves highly engaging shots that take the audience inside the action – think tracking and POV shots
- Get flexibility for small spaces, too: drones are small and with an experienced pilot, can go just about anywhere
- The lenses are very good now (technology continues to improve and components continue to get lighter)
- And of course, for anyone who has been shooting aerials for years, drones are WAY cheaper than helicopters!
The downs (just challenges, really):
- Gravity. Flying the drone too far away from the controller can cause it to lose signal, which will cause it to land unexpectedly. That can be a hazard to people and equipment.
- Shooting inside certain kinds of facilities can be a challenge if they’re using radio frequencies that could jam or disrupt the flight of your drone.
- The FAA has very specific rules about where and when you can shoot.
The realities:
- A qualified drone pilot must have an FAA drone license. Be sure to ask for it.
- The equipment is advancing constantly. An experienced pilot with current equipment is going to get the best results.
- Permitting is required for outdoor aerial photography in many areas, and the regulations continue to expand. Be sure you know the rules for your area.
Our takeaways:
- Depending on the video’s message, drone footage can give the audience a sense of scale, get them close to the action and elevate production values.
- It won’t replace traditional cameras and crews, but it can add a lot of creative options.
If you’ve never watched a drone in action indoors, you’ll enjoy watching this marketing video produced by JayByrd Films, a Minneapolis aerial cinematographer. It went viral a few years ago.
Here’s a brief compilation of some unique aerial photography Blue Marble has produced in the last few years.
Blue Marble is a Video Agency headquartered in Atlanta, with a 30-year track record of creating strategic, brand-moving videos that hit it out of the park for clients like SAP, the State of Georgia, Fiserv, Manhattan Associates, Sage, Pitney-Bowes, LEVELOR, Verizon, Georgia-Pacific and many more. From brand manifestos to new product rollouts to customer support videos and more, we use the unique power of the medium to create an emotional connection with your viewer. Clients come to us for our award-winning creative — and then come back for our easy-to-work-with attitude and bullet-proof video production proce
