Hi everyone , I've been lurking and reading on this forum for a while before last month finally purchasing my Phantom 3 Adv. I have graduated up from a hubsan x4 which I learnt a bit from.
Still getting to grips with the editing and trying to learn as much as I can about camera settings.
This is a link to my latest video I was hoping you could watch and give some feedback!! Thanks guys
Dear
kie1an,
Here is some constructive criticism for anyone looking to make good videos.
Billions of digital cameras have been purchased in the last 10 years with so many more photographers out in the world.
I've been going over the same questions as you and have come up with the some thoughts.
Just because we can now fly and take aerial pictures and video, does that make someone want to watch our footage? And for how long?
Just because my friend took 2 hours of video on his vacation, it probably does not make me want to watch all 2 hours of his raw video.
I worked for 20 years in TV doing camera/video and editing in post production for TV shows and commercials.
The challenge then and now was to have interesting footage that kept the viewer watching your station rather than changing the channel.
First, you have to take a lot of pretty and interesting footage, then edit it in such a way that before the shot gets boring, you have already changed the shot to the next picture/video.
Our strategy was that before someone could totally comprehend your picture, you have already moved on to another interesting shot sequence. (editing)
Example? You're watching a movie at home and you want to get up and grab something from the kitchen? You get up but won't walk out of the room because you are waiting for a "slow' part where you can dash out and back. If the action is really interesting, you're standing there for a bit because you "can't leave" and miss something.
For professional TV people, we know you are at home with your finger on the TV remote and as soon as it gets boring, you CHANGE to the next channel. We try to keep the pace of the story fast enough so you don't have time to get bored and change the channel.
As I look at the aerial footage I shoot, I look back to see:
1) is it the same continuous wide shot as you fly along?
2) Can you get lower to shoot more shots that are closer different composition? (we can't zoom in with these wide angle cameras)
3) Is your footage smooth, continuous speeds for those shots?
4) If you're following road or something, are your turns smooth with no jerk corrections?
5) Do you have a number of simple still wide shots of your locations with no movement.
6) How about short sequences like a smooth aerial shot going down your street that is continuous from one end of the block to another.
7) Same shot, higher altitude, tracking shot continuous, from one end of the shot to another
8) If you did North to South, repeat shots above in opposite direction.
9) Did you shoot your shots at a time of the day where the angle of the sun made your shot better?
10) Did you have enough pictures to choose from so you only used the best shots? Example? National magazines like National Geographic and Playboy would shoot thousands of photos on an assignment yet use only 10 to 20 of their best shots in that magazine pictorial. Jenny McCarthy once joked that Playboy would be doing specials on her forever because of hundreds of thousands of stock photos already taken of her.
Etc, etc.
The idea? Are you just making a continuous 20 minute movie of flying around in your area? That's cool. Plenty of people have never seen that and would be interested to see it. Other wise, if you are going to be editing your footage, it really helps to have good shots and sequences you can edit.
We had a joke in LA at one TV station where I worked, that if the photographer in Unit 6 was a bad person and ended up in Hell, that his punishment would end up that he had to edit the footage that he shot.
I hope, that at some point down the road, once the new regulations are passed, I can do aerial stills and video professionally, and that shooting and editing will make someone choose me over the 15 year old kid down the street (who has a drone) because I can shoot and edit creatively, effectively telling their story.
If you look at a piece and you think "wow, that's great editing" then I failed.
My preference would be "wow, what a great story".
Did you put a special video effect in just because it was cool or because it "helped" the piece?
Get good shots, learn to edit, and keep doing it getting better.
When I worked in TV, good field cameras were $30-50K, editing equipment was $50 to $500 an hour, and the only place your work could be seen was on TV or a sold video cassette.
Nowadays, you buy a high end drone with camera for aerials for less money than what you rented helicopter time. (HD video cameras, GoPro's, etc. Unlimited for little money)
You pay (max) $50 a month to Adobe Cloud and you have more editing software, special effects, etc than I could have had for $2 million dollars back in the 1980's. Then, you can post that video to your website or youtube and people can see it for free over the internet rather than buying TV spots of 30 seconds.
You are now limited only by your imagination.
I commend you for choosing the P3 Advanced instead of the P3 Professional. (Where would you use the 4K? At this time, few, few have means to play back or edit 4K.) I got the P3 Advanced too for now. If it pays off in the future, on to bigger and better drones then.
Good luck and keep advancing. That's what I'm trying to do.
Smitty
