Sunday 24th April 2016
10.45 am Stanklyn Lane, Kidderminster
First day of filming for Bazz Hanchers latest feature film... "White Goods"
It was a pleasure to be involved ... my job, today, was to supply the Classic 1975 Cadillac Deville for some of the opening shots of the production..... And get some Aerial Video from my High Tech DRONE!
My friend Glyn came along to drive the Caddy while I was piloting the Drone.
As ever the British weather played its part.... sunshine and showers along with some gusty wind which made the Drone flying ... interesting to say the least!!
The normally easy to fly aircraft was quite a handful and I struggled to keep it in a straight line and avoid the numerous trees dotted along the roadside.
I use the drone commercially for photographing buildings (www.VistaMax.co.uk).... and I have to say static items are so much more easy to photograph than a speeding 8.2 litre 19ft Gas Guzzler !!
The UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle).... or Drone... is a DJi Inspire 1
It's a Quadcopter with retractable landing gear. The camera can shoot 4K video and High Resolution Still images. It has a very High Tech camera stabilising system (Gimbal) which gives incredibly smooth video even under very windy conditions.
The Pilot uses a remote control unit with a HD Monitor which shows the image from the camera up to at least 2.5Km.... however legally Drones in the UK can only be flown up to 500m from the operator and no higher than 400ft..... and must never leave the Pilots line of sight. The UAV uses GPS to hold its position and, should the control signal be lost or the battery discharge to a low level, it will automatically return to its launch position.
Here is a video of it in action....
After a couple of hours Bazz, I think, was happy with what we had in the can.... Bazz, Mike and the rest of the team were fun to work with and it was interesting to see how much care they took to get the desired shot.... very professional.
After Stanklyn lane we moved to Bewdley to get some further shots.... which involved me Chauffeuring the main character to a very spooky location.... Can’t say anymore.... no spoilers here.... Just to say it’s all got off to a great start!!