Standard aerial shots area a great way to be sure your clients get something fantastic!
While every shoot is different these are some shots you should consider when visualizing your job.
For me, the fun is figuring out how to create something wonderful for my clients. Nothing gives me more pleasure than when I get a call telling me how much they loved my work. As a result, I spend a LOT of time on a shoot that I never charge for.
Prior to a shoot I get the addresses of upcoming shoots and look at the location on Google maps from both the air and the street view. I talk to the clients about what they really want to focus on and what they are proud of. I find out where the sun will rise and set on the day of the shoot. If it’s not too far away I will drive by to get an idea of the layout. From all that I try to figure out how to make the most of the features available.
Often this leads to ideas for a new technique or a way of making use of special features the drone has, often leading to finding time to practice somewhere quiet to make sure I get it right on the day.
All of this takes time, and yet I usually only charge for the time I spend on site in front of the client. I do this because it is hard to show up on a location and make it up on the spot.
But, like any profession, sometimes that is exactly what you have to do.
One thing that takes some of the stress out of this situation is having a set of standard aerial shots in my ‘kit bag’ that I know will always provide great footage that I can use. They won’t provide enough for the whole video on their own. By using a few of these plus some free flying I can pretty much guarantee something the client will love, and that means I can spend less time stressing and more time being creative.
Much credit to Laurence Seberini’s excellent “Phantom Film School“. His courses are excellent, easy to follow and worth every penny. If you decide to take them, tell Laurence I said Hi!