Hi all
My name is Clay Lonie.. I’m a film editor by trade. I’m looking to take on drone filming for film and television. Very nervous though.
I’m based in Plymouth, Devon. I looking for someone to help me with my flying technique.
And then I hope to do the same for someone else.
All the best
Clay Lonie Jr
My friend... I have done a bit of shooting for the film industry. If you've seen Longmire, Graves or the new series Tremors, chances are you've seen my work. I have also done a bevy of documentaries. That said...
The problem with drones is that they are WAAAAAAAAY over-sold as "plug-n-play." 2 of my best gigs resulted from "Best Buy" camera operators who lost an entire day's footage in a drone crash (fortunately the nature of the remote locations insured nobody was hurt). My post-mortems always lead back to user error.
Regardless of what you've heard, drones are far from plug-n-play. You would do better to hire someone who is dedicated to the craft of aerial photography. The skill set required to be a good aerial photographer is right down the middle between understanding cinematography, and having the skills acquired from experienced pilots who live and breathe the world of Radio Control operations. Think of a typical drone day as a 30-link chain, any one of which, broken, will render the footage useless. I could list a half-dozen "gotchas" that would bite you on location, even after you have practiced and read through all documentation and trolled every forum. I don't have to tell you that in the film game "time is money." And NOBODY (especially the DP), wants to wait around while you address firmware issues or scramble for an Internet connection so you can take some kind of DJI safety test.
A good analogy might be buying an insert truck, and then sitting it in a storage shed until you need it, just to discover on-set that you forgot to grease the boom arm or check all the bolts for the camera. There's a reason you RENT insert trucks. For the same reasons, it's far more cost-effective to hire experienced cinematography drone pilots.
Best of luck to you.
