Dartmoor, a drone, a dawn and a... TVR
Discussion
Yesterday an unusual day. The alarm fired up at 04:45, and the TVR wasn’t far behind it. Destination Dartmoor, and a rendez-vous with an aerial photography company, to film my Chimaera being enjoyed in its natural habitat. Several hours of roof-down driving on deserted tarmac while being stalked by 7 kilos of whirring airborne technology later, and the footage was in the bag.
I hope you enjoy the results:
https://vimeo.com/136714225
(Oh, and apologies for the slightly inaccurate engine noise which has been dubbed in in a few places - the drone makes so much noise that recording the TVR's exhaust note clearly, simply wasn't going to happen!)
Cheers for the general positivity guys; glad people are enjoying the film. The drone is a modified DJI S900, carrying a Panasonic LUMIX GH3 camera - a pretty serious piece of kit:
The shoot was surprisingly challenging from the drone operator's point of view. Once airborne, it's impossible to adjust the camera's settings, which in clear daylight isn't really an issue, but when filming at sunrise, the light varies considerably depending on where you point the camera, meaning you've got to be pretty thorough in planning what shots you want before the take off. Also, the operator had to both fly the drone and aim the camera at the same time, using two separate screens on the controller - a piece of multitasking which gives me a headache just thinking about it! Still, as a first attempt at filming a moving car, I'm pretty impressed with the result, and am looking forward to some more shoots in the future...
The shoot was surprisingly challenging from the drone operator's point of view. Once airborne, it's impossible to adjust the camera's settings, which in clear daylight isn't really an issue, but when filming at sunrise, the light varies considerably depending on where you point the camera, meaning you've got to be pretty thorough in planning what shots you want before the take off. Also, the operator had to both fly the drone and aim the camera at the same time, using two separate screens on the controller - a piece of multitasking which gives me a headache just thinking about it! Still, as a first attempt at filming a moving car, I'm pretty impressed with the result, and am looking forward to some more shoots in the future...
V41LEY said:
Out of interest - what chase speeds were you filming at ? Interested to know how fast one of these drones can follow.
The drone has a top speed of about 35-40mph, depending on things like how heavy the camera is.Most of the tracking shots were done at about 30-35mph, so the drone could keep up. It was a completely still morning, which made things a bit easier...
Cheers guys, yeah there is something a bit wrong with recording a TVR without engine noise, isn't there?! Still, I think the unusual nature of the rest of the footage makes up for it - swings and roundabouts, and all that...
I understand that there are ways around having to dub the engine noise, by having a microphone on the car which can be sync'd to the drone's filming... as with everything drone-related, getting set up to do this properly costs a fair few quid though!
I'm looking forward to the future filming; in-particular the prospect of editing the drone footage together with on-car gopro and drive-by video. Whether the subject will be a TVR is the big question though, as the film was made as a 'trailer' for a sports car-based expedition we're currently organising, and what marque of sports car we'll be using on the trip is still to be confirmed...
I understand that there are ways around having to dub the engine noise, by having a microphone on the car which can be sync'd to the drone's filming... as with everything drone-related, getting set up to do this properly costs a fair few quid though!
I'm looking forward to the future filming; in-particular the prospect of editing the drone footage together with on-car gopro and drive-by video. Whether the subject will be a TVR is the big question though, as the film was made as a 'trailer' for a sports car-based expedition we're currently organising, and what marque of sports car we'll be using on the trip is still to be confirmed...
I'm no expert on the Lily, but I seem to remember hearing that it can only do something like 10 or 15mph, so wouldn't last long filming a TVR. Still, it's such a new idea that hopefully they'll develop a faster automotive version one day...
Of course, you could achieve a similar effect by strapping a go pro to a kite and tying it to your rear spoiler...
Of course, you could achieve a similar effect by strapping a go pro to a kite and tying it to your rear spoiler...
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