First Wedding Video - ALL Drone footage plus Things I Learned

[Raincast]

You've got an A7RII and you're still getting a GH5? You got some really fancy toys, man!

Zhiyun Crane 2 is fantastic! I'm using it with my a7rii.

 

[thalco]

Zhiyun Crane 2 is fantastic! I'm using it with my a7rii.

Thats good to know, I have been watching all the promo videos and it looks amazing, hoping to buy within a month, can't wait !

 

[thalco]

You've got an A7RII and you're still getting a GH5? You got some really fancy toys, man!

I wish ! that last comment was from someone else . I havent got the Crane yet, just been watching the promo videos of it but it looks the business and will work perfectly with the GH5.

 

[Raincast]

Oh lol, I just assumed it was you! I've seen a couple of rave reviews on Youtube for the GH5 as my brother's looking to replace or complement his current DSLR.

I wish ! that last comment was from someone else . I havent got the Crane yet, just been watching the promo videos of it but it looks the business and will work perfectly with the GH5.

 

[Donnie Frank]

Hey drone flyers! I tried out my very first wedding video plus it's fully shot by drone. I did it for free as my friend asked me to, but because of that I couldn't really give directions to people as to what I wanted them to do or where to go. I listed the things that I learned and hopefully you'd find them useful! Thanks for watching and congratulations to the couple!

Things I Learned:
1. Drones can work handheld but may be jittery at times and even over-compensate with it's stabilizer when swinging the drone left to right.
2. I prefer controlling with the RC rather than wi-fi because you really can't pitch up and down smoothly without the RC.
3. Setting up a drone can take time. Swapping ND filters because clouds suddenly cover the sun takes time. Switching to 1080p for 60 or 96fps for slow-mo also takes time.
4. Prop sounds are very audible so choose when you should fly, preferably before the ceremony or after.
5. Drones make sounds too when handheld and running. I didn't want to bother any of the guests so I kept away if I could.
6. Finding free wedding songs is somewhat impossible. Any sites would be welcome!
7. I don't have close-ups during the actual wedding because I wasn't getting paid and felt bad for getting in there.
8. Working solo can get you to miss stuff that happen only once in a wedding. I had to drive to where the bride was prepping, then the groom, then back to the bride, straight to the venue, etc. so it was a lot of work.
9. I was starving and really had to pee the whole time. I kept holding it in because I would have missed some shots.
10. My positioning could have been better, but I didn't want to go where the professional photographers were hanging around in.
11. I enjoyed doing this wedding and am sure I can do a better job next time!

For what it's worth, using dual controller mode, my partner hand-held the drone while I operated the camera for the series Longmire. It's a great way to have an almost instant steady cam with a hand-held feel. What sounds did your drone make? You mean booting up?

 

[Raincast]

That would work too, having a second person! Longmire? Series? That's too pro for my blood!

I used a Mavic for this video, and at times some fan sounds can be heard, probably depending in the temperatures.

Thanks for checking it out!

For what it's worth, using dual controller mode, my partner hand-held the drone while I operated the camera for the series Longmire. It's a great way to have an almost instant steady cam with a hand-held feel. What sounds did your drone make? You mean booting up?

 

[Jingle]

Nice Job Raincast
Really nice for your 1st one, look forward to seeing more from you. Keep up the good work!

 

[Donnie Frank]

That would work too, having a second person! Longmire? Series? That's too pro for my blood!

I used a Mavic for this video, and at times some fan sounds can be heard, probably depending in the temperatures.

Thanks for checking it out!

Ahhhhh....Mavic. Okay. I just ordered one finally. Due to arrive tomorrow. The only jobs it will be doing is mapping. And I plan on doing a LOT of mapping with this beotch...<;^)

 

[Raincast]

Glad you enjoyed it! The couple love it too, so the hard work paid off! Safe flying!

Nice Job Raincast
Really nice for your 1st one, look forward to seeing more from you. Keep up the good work!

 

[Raincast]

Here, the minimum distance to shoot from vehicles and the public depends on the weight of your craft. The Mavic being under 1kg helps to fly 'legally'. I do have permission to shoot those in the video though.

The Mavic is pretty good for its price and I plan to travel with it. But I find 4k60 very desirable too, which it does not have!

Ahhhhh....Mavic. Okay. I just ordered one finally. Due to arrive tomorrow. The only jobs it will be doing is mapping. And I plan on doing a LOT of mapping with this beotch...<;^)

 

[Donnie Frank]

Here, the minimum distance to shoot from vehicles and the public depends on the weight of your craft. The Mavic being under 1kg helps to fly 'legally'. I do have permission to shoot those in the video though.

The Mavic is pretty good for its price and I plan to travel with it. But I find 4k60 very desirable too, which it does not have!

Flying around people as you do, do you use the prop guards?

 

[Raincast]

Yeah, there's a video of this guy putting prop guards to the test and they're very effective. I used to think they were for beginners only.

Do you have a Phantom too?

Flying around people as you do, do you use the prop guards?

 

[Donnie Frank]

Yeah, there's a video of this guy putting prop guards to the test and they're very effective. I used to think they were for beginners only.

Do you have a Phantom too?

I have Phantom 1's. But I haven't flown any of them since I got my Inspire over a year ago. All 3 of my P1's had prop guards. As you know, P1's are kind of "tippy" when they land. So having the prop guards saved me from having to buy new props several times. And though I never did gigs around people, they DID allow me to bump into things without reprisal.

When I first started in this business, I was shooting a car commercial. I was doing a dolly shot and had my goggles on. I was dollying left at maybe 2 mph @ roughly 20' AGL. All of the sudden the bird stopped going left. I took off my goggles and the bird had bumped into a utility pole. No crash.

I purchased a set of prop guards for my Inspire, but they're literally useless. They're so flimsy and cheaply made, they do zero good. I keep a set with me in case I'm going to fly around people, but I don't have any faith in them. They're decoration. Hopefully, the Mavic prop guards will be a little more rigid.

 

[Donnie Frank]

Hey drone flyers! I tried out my very first wedding video plus it's fully shot by drone. I did it for free as my friend asked me to, but because of that I couldn't really give directions to people as to what I wanted them to do or where to go. I listed the things that I learned and hopefully you'd find them useful! Thanks for watching and congratulations to the couple!

Things I Learned:
1. Drones can work handheld but may be jittery at times and even over-compensate with it's stabilizer when swinging the drone left to right.
2. I prefer controlling with the RC rather than wi-fi because you really can't pitch up and down smoothly without the RC.
3. Setting up a drone can take time. Swapping ND filters because clouds suddenly cover the sun takes time. Switching to 1080p for 60 or 96fps for slow-mo also takes time.
4. Prop sounds are very audible so choose when you should fly, preferably before the ceremony or after.
5. Drones make sounds too when handheld and running. I didn't want to bother any of the guests so I kept away if I could.
6. Finding free wedding songs is somewhat impossible. Any sites would be welcome!
7. I don't have close-ups during the actual wedding because I wasn't getting paid and felt bad for getting in there.
8. Working solo can get you to miss stuff that happen only once in a wedding. I had to drive to where the bride was prepping, then the groom, then back to the bride, straight to the venue, etc. so it was a lot of work.
9. I was starving and really had to pee the whole time. I kept holding it in because I would have missed some shots.
10. My positioning could have been better, but I didn't want to go where the professional photographers were hanging around in.
11. I enjoyed doing this wedding and am sure I can do a better job next time!

Nice job. I'm not a wedding cinematographer, but I see you have some good sensibilities - like keeping the camera moving at all times. It keeps the shots interesting. I also noticed you traded your zoom wheel for physically walking the camera fore and aft and side to side. Even without a steady cam, it looked good. The camera movement seemed natural. Good use of the drone to create interesting shots, too.

I can't believe you got all that footage by yourself. You were alone, yes? "The ubiquitous photographer..."....hehe.....

And praise the lord that you didn't record the wedding vows and make that part of the wedding video. I've never shot a wedding but I've edited a few. Making the vows interesting is tough. The secret there is to have at least 3 camera angles and make sure the audio is good. But I digress...

You gave me an idea... Record the wedding vows with good microphones (either before or during the wedding), and play that as part of the sound track (over the music), and add some reverb. Just a thought.

Which ground camera did you use? If you were able to shoot 4K @ 60 FPS, I'm going to guess you have some serious gear. Mark III? Mark IV? Lumix?

Again, nice job. I watched the whole thing, which is a real testament, as I'm ADD as f***....<;^)

 

[Raincast]

Some people fly their Mavics with prop guards and even better, prop cages, and find that they get the job done

I have Phantom 1's. But I haven't flown any of them since I got my Inspire over a year ago. All 3 of my P1's had prop guards. As you know, P1's are kind of "tippy" when they land. So having the prop guards saved me from having to buy new props several times. And though I never did gigs around people, they DID allow me to bump into things without reprisal.

When I first started in this business, I was shooting a car commercial. I was doing a dolly shot and had my goggles on. I was dollying left at maybe 2 mph @ roughly 20' AGL. All of the sudden the bird stopped going left. I took off my goggles and the bird had bumped into a utility pole. No crash.

I purchased a set of prop guards for my Inspire, but they're literally useless. They're so flimsy and cheaply made, they do zero good. I keep a set with me in case I'm going to fly around people, but I don't have any faith in them. They're decoration. Hopefully, the Mavic prop guards will be a little more rigid.

 

[Raincast]

Hey, a Mavic was used for all the clips you saw because I don't really have a ground video solution as of yet. I simply scaled the 1080p96 slow-mo clips but added a bit of grain in some other clips so the transition between 4k and 1080p wouldn't be so obvious. I tried to be conservative with the movements as the stabilized drone likes to overreact to moving the drone handheld.

It's tough being alone and jumping from one house to the 2nd one and back to first then straight to venue without having time to pee until after the ceremony!

Some pros and paid videographers use lav mics and other gear, which I have none of. I guess recording it ahead works but syncing them if you have a live shot of the couple doing their vows might be a pain.

I'm glad you enjoyed the video!

Nice job. I'm not a wedding cinematographer, but I see you have some good sensibilities - like keeping the camera moving at all times. It keeps the shots interesting. I also noticed you traded your zoom wheel for physically walking the camera fore and aft and side to side. Even without a steady cam, it looked good. The camera movement seemed natural. Good use of the drone to create interesting shots, too.

I can't believe you got all that footage by yourself. You were alone, yes? "The ubiquitous photographer..."....hehe.....

And praise the lord that you didn't record the wedding vows and make that part of the wedding video. I've never shot a wedding but I've edited a few. Making the vows interesting is tough. The secret there is to have at least 3 camera angles and make sure the audio is good. But I digress...

You gave me an idea... Record the wedding vows with good microphones (either before or during the wedding), and play that as part of the sound track (over the music), and add some reverb. Just a thought.

Which ground camera did you use? If you were able to shoot 4K @ 60 FPS, I'm going to guess you have some serious gear. Mark III? Mark IV? Lumix?

Again, nice job. I watched the whole thing, which is a real testament, as I'm ADD as f***....<;^)

 

[Terry T]

Hey drone flyers! I tried out my very first wedding video plus it's fully shot by drone. I did it for free as my friend asked me to, but because of that I couldn't really give directions to people as to what I wanted them to do or where to go. I listed the things that I learned and hopefully you'd find them useful! Thanks for watching and congratulations to the couple!

Things I Learned:
1. Drones can work handheld but may be jittery at times and even over-compensate with it's stabilizer when swinging the drone left to right.
2. I prefer controlling with the RC rather than wi-fi because you really can't pitch up and down smoothly without the RC.
3. Setting up a drone can take time. Swapping ND filters because clouds suddenly cover the sun takes time. Switching to 1080p for 60 or 96fps for slow-mo also takes time.
4. Prop sounds are very audible so choose when you should fly, preferably before the ceremony or after.
5. Drones make sounds too when handheld and running. I didn't want to bother any of the guests so I kept away if I could.
6. Finding free wedding songs is somewhat impossible. Any sites would be welcome!
7. I don't have close-ups during the actual wedding because I wasn't getting paid and felt bad for getting in there.
8. Working solo can get you to miss stuff that happen only once in a wedding. I had to drive to where the bride was prepping, then the groom, then back to the bride, straight to the venue, etc. so it was a lot of work.
9. I was starving and really had to pee the whole time. I kept holding it in because I would have missed some shots.
10. My positioning could have been better, but I didn't want to go where the professional photographers were hanging around in.
11. I enjoyed doing this wedding and am sure I can do a better job next time!

 

[Terry T]

Hey drone flyers! I tried out my very first wedding video plus it's fully shot by drone. I did it for free as my friend asked me to, but because of that I couldn't really give directions to people as to what I wanted them to do or where to go. I listed the things that I learned and hopefully you'd find them useful! Thanks for watching and congratulations to the couple!

Things I Learned:
1. Drones can work handheld but may be jittery at times and even over-compensate with it's stabilizer when swinging the drone left to right.
2. I prefer controlling with the RC rather than wi-fi because you really can't pitch up and down smoothly without the RC.
3. Setting up a drone can take time. Swapping ND filters because clouds suddenly cover the sun takes time. Switching to 1080p for 60 or 96fps for slow-mo also takes time.
4. Prop sounds are very audible so choose when you should fly, preferably before the ceremony or after.
5. Drones make sounds too when handheld and running. I didn't want to bother any of the guests so I kept away if I could.
6. Finding free wedding songs is somewhat impossible. Any sites would be welcome!
7. I don't have close-ups during the actual wedding because I wasn't getting paid and felt bad for getting in there.
8. Working solo can get you to miss stuff that happen only once in a wedding. I had to drive to where the bride was prepping, then the groom, then back to the bride, straight to the venue, etc. so it was a lot of work.
9. I was starving and really had to pee the whole time. I kept holding it in because I would have missed some shots.
10. My positioning could have been better, but I didn't want to go where the professional photographers were hanging around in.
11. I enjoyed doing this wedding and am sure I can do a better job next time!

Good job Its hard to believe that this is your first wedding you have either got a gift or you have watched some other wedding videos to get a vision of what to look for I haven't done any wedding videos before but going to do one next month for a friend you have given me some directions and hints on what to lool for
Can you tell me were the sound track came from
Thanks and look forward to see more of your good work

 

[Raincast]

I'm pretty sure I replied to your post already, but now it's disappeared! I think I mentioned that I grabbed ideas from the videographers who would be doing my wedding in January.
Back in my home country, you usually get a same day edit - a 5 min. video that gets played early on in the reception (2 to 3 hours after church ceremony). Usually it includes...
- cinematic couple prep shots
- whole church wedding and photoshoot after
- aerial shots, time lapses, even manikin challenges if you want
- beginning of reception (entrance of bridal entourage)
- usually 2-3 songs
- audio of vows or preaching or other interesting small talk
These guys are crazy doing a 5 minute video of at least 150-250 clips in just a couple of hours. They do it professionally and all year-round so they've mastered it, but still.

As for the tracks, I used Epidemic Sound. You can use their songs while under Youtube subscription for $15 monthly, and if you do cancel you get to keep those that you've already posted. You can't use their songs for new uploaded videos after cancellation though.

Thanks for watching!

Good job Its hard to believe that this is your first wedding you have either got a gift or you have watched some other wedding videos to get a vision of what to look for I haven't done any wedding videos before but going to do one next month for a friend you have given me some directions and hints on what to lool for
Can you tell me were the sound track came from
Thanks and look forward to see more of your good work

 

[Terry T]

Thank for the info I bet they charge like wounded bulls and to get a 5 min. edited video in 2 to 3 hours may I ask what sort of money do they charge