Lake District National Park Filming
Last week Skylark Aerial Photography provided aerial filming for a major launch this coming May. Lake District National Park will be taking delivery of their new outdoor clothing care of Columbia Outdoor Clothing and American major supplier. The clothing has been sponsored by the US company.
Working with a very large film crew including sound engineers, the shoot took in the North Lake District , South Lake District and Central Lake District from valley to fells. Drone operation occurred every day to provide the shots that no other camera could provide even a camera helicopter ship. The drone operation required some very technical flight operations to obtain the shots that were required. In some instances a camera operator was required.
Lake District National Park Filming
Two drones were deployed during the three day shoot. The DJI Inspire with X5 camera and a variety of Olympus lenses to obtain wide and narrow angle shots in the high fells and Lakes. The DJI Mavic was used where it was not safe to use the Inspire such as in the wooded area shots, high wind situations during one day, and within a confined ghyll with waterfall. In all honesty the Mavic was just brilliant and the footage was suitable for this high end production.
Drone deployment was much easier using two back packs. Inspire in its special back pack hung from the front of your body, and a second pack on the back, this contained batteries, props, iPads and controllers. The Mavic was just hung round the backpacks in its own carry soft case.
Seven Inspire batteries were always on hand for the inspire and three for the Mavic. Portable charging systems were used when returning to the vehicles to recharge any depleted batteries.
Because of the requirements for the shoot it was found best to have the Mavic in a state of readiness at all times. The director would often call for the drone for a particular shot which was not on the call sheet.
All footage was downloaded at the end of each day.
Normal day would begin at 9:30am and not really end until about 8pm with an hour for lunch. What with climbing into the fells and operating the drone for upwards of 2 hours a day it was both physically and mentally tiring.
There were two situations which called for some highly technical flying. Operating in the gyhll there with no GPS lock, the Mavic was flown on manual control at all times. On the last day a shot was required by the Lake District National Parks boat house on Windermere at Bowness-on-Windermere. It was found that all control was lost during flight for the Mavic due to radio interference from the Parks radio communication antennae. Manual control was initiated and the Mavic safely brought under control and immediately landed.
At the end of the shoot over over 8 hours of flight time had been accrued on drones for the shoot.
Look out for the completed production towards the end on May this year for Lake District National Park Filming when it will be nationally released.
http://www.lakedistrict.gov.uk/
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