Cinematographer Flight patterns

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As I start getting more flight under my belt, I definitely am amazed by the footage that can be captured. But maybe this forum further aid an aspiring drone pilot/cinametographer

1) Is there a general nomenclature for certain shot types? If so, please share.
2) Along the lines of the first question, is there a tutorial on how to perform certain shots. For example, how to circle a point of interest manually outside of the controls.
3) Maybe we can use this thread to show that, like post your video along with some instruction how to perform the shot

Thoughts?
 
My suggestion is to watch films you enjoy, and see how aerial shots are treated. Make notes while watching, and then try to duplicate them once in the air. Always have a plan/list of shots before you fly so you can make the most of the time.
 
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One of my biggest hurdles when working with an established production crew was their "Terminology". I was fortunate that one of the guys on set was familiar with "drone controls" and when the director asked for a Miami Vice he was able to tell me in non-director terms what the director wanted.

Unfortunately I also learned that each director has his own "language" and I wasn't able to use much of what I learned from one crew to another. But on the GOOD side when you get to know what the director wants it's pretty straight forward. That first day of shooting for a new crew is tough but it gets easier with time and practice.

I can tell you this much.... you'd better be on your "A" game when you go to a production set. You've got to be 100% self sufficient for at least 6 hours and you've got to be able to perform to THEIR expectations. They pay big bucks and expect BIG results and have zero patience for anything less. Delay them or hose a shot and they will tell you to leave the set immediately. I've seen it happen first hand and it wasn't pretty for the guy. Saying it's stressful in a huge understatement.
 
One of my biggest hurdles when working with an established production crew was their "Terminology". I was fortunate that one of the guys on set was familiar with "drone controls" and when the director asked for a Miami Vice he was able to tell me in non-director terms what the director wanted.

Unfortunately I also learned that each director has his own "language" and I wasn't able to use much of what I learned from one crew to another. But on the GOOD side when you get to know what the director wants it's pretty straight forward. That first day of shooting for a new crew is tough but it gets easier with time and practice.

I can tell you this much.... you'd better be on your "A" game when you go to a production set. You've got to be 100% self sufficient for at least 6 hours and you've got to be able to perform to THEIR expectations. They pay big bucks and expect BIG results and have zero patience for anything less. Delay them or hose a shot and they will tell you to leave the set immediately. I've seen it happen first hand and it wasn't pretty for the guy. Saying it's stressful in a huge understatement.

Thanks for the feedback. Im no where near the level to be shooting stuff for a full production. This is all just for my own hobby to capture footage of activites between my friends and I.
 
Thanks i think this is what i was looking for to start

When you sign up, there's a Facebook group you get invited to. Sharing similar successes with each shot. I'm happy I paid for the classes. A lot of it is very easy, sometimes too simple to think ahead of time how nice a shot could look. Good overall tutorial on Litchi and using their hub. A good way to plan flights out ahead of time and maximize your time in the air.
 
One of my biggest hurdles when working with an established production crew was their "Terminology". I was fortunate that one of the guys on set was familiar with "drone controls" and when the director asked for a Miami Vice he was able to tell me in non-director terms what the director wanted.

Unfortunately I also learned that each director has his own "language" and I wasn't able to use much of what I learned from one crew to another. But on the GOOD side when you get to know what the director wants it's pretty straight forward. That first day of shooting for a new crew is tough but it gets easier with time and practice.

I can tell you this much.... you'd better be on your "A" game when you go to a production set. You've got to be 100% self sufficient for at least 6 hours and you've got to be able to perform to THEIR expectations. They pay big bucks and expect BIG results and have zero patience for anything less. Delay them or hose a shot and they will tell you to leave the set immediately. I've seen it happen first hand and it wasn't pretty for the guy. Saying it's stressful in a huge understatement.
Different terminology is a director to director or gaffer to grip difference but the actual difference in terminology is territory.

This is a real thing one could ask for "I need a Mighty Mouse 5k and please give me a butt plug with a pigeon on a platter". Lol. I'm not a gaffer but this means something. Get a book on terminology for stands and the like.

To the OP from a director/DP standpoint start with the basics. What's a cu/mid/wide and how they are framed differently. A cu on a knife that the main principle is holding is different that a cu on the handle of the knife because the principle becomes the knife, not the player

a mid can be a cowboy mid. It's not rocket science but everything has to have a name.
 
Here is a pretty good explanations of the most basic shots. This is the same terminology everywhere.

There are some, for example, as I said before there are multiple types of the same shot. Close up (always called CU), Mid shots (medium like from the waste up or down), wide (whole body in frame assuming the person is the principle, HOWEVER if the HOUSE is the principle than a wide shot of the house would be a lot wider). Same thing for a CU.

Let's do a real life example. This is the only thing that tricks people up when using this simple terminology. ALL OF the terms are based on the SUBJECT, sometimes called the principle.

So we have a person standing in front of a house. What are we shooting for? Who is the focus of this shot. Aside from establishing shots which are usually wides of whatever venue you are supposed to be in. But if it was a regular shot and say it was a talking house and we wanted to have a WIDE cut to a MID of the house talking, the person standing there is only a factor as you want him to be in or out of the frame but the focus is the house.

Same situation but the focus is the PERSON and NOT THE house then even a pretty wide shot of the person would be a SUPER CU of the house (not literally) but you understand that we would be zoomed in all the way so that the focal distance of the house to the camera would be that it would be an ECU (or EXTREME close up). E always denoted extreme when talking about shots. An ECU is closer than a CU. If your ECU wasn't close enough, your producer/director/boss/wife whoever would say, "go closer on that ECU". Then there could be an EWS (Extreme wide shot). Not used as often but for example a lot of films end with a pull back which is basically a CU, MID, or WIDE and pulling back to a EWS.

Then there is something like the "cowboy mid" which is a mid but it usually starts at like the calf and goes up so you can see the holster and gun but that shot has had it's day outside of just westerns but they are still called cowboy mids. Just giving you some examples so you can get an idea about what we are talking about when we say CU. As some of you know, I work on a show with a celebrity. An A-List celebrity and while he is super nice and a friend of mine, he can be a mofo when he thinks he is right and what he thinks is right to him. He wanted a ECU on a knife that he was holding and from a couple classes he took before directing a very bad movie a few years earlier, he thinks he knows a lot and he knows just a little but enough to get in trouble. I had to argue with him that a CU of the knife would be ridiculous and would be kicked back by the network because it would be pixelated and way too close and the reason of the breakdown in communication is because he didn't want a ECU of the knife and by the time the shot was done, what he wanted was a MID of himself on the knife which you now know is wholly different than a ECU on the knife.

Learning the different shots themselves are simple, it's that kind of stuff that can get you in trouble if yo don't understand. If it wasn't him, he would be ignored, and if he continued to argue, probably eventually thrown off the set for being wrong and arguing. A tv or film set is necessarily militant in rank or else it doesn't work but thats another story. Just know that in TV and film there are 100s of people that all have to work together and one bad link can screw it up which is why you see crews staying together for years and from show to show.

So still 2 shots, cut ins, POVs, and many more to discuss but you can learn that with this link. Hope you learned a little about the terminology here. Baby steps. Once we start talking about grip gear like c-stands, flags and other effectors, it can really get crazy but you only need to know that stuff if you want to be a grip which is a path to be a gaffer but gaffers are usually like sons of electricians. The grips and gaffers are almost separate from the crew. They are a certain type of person Ive found. Anyhow, the KEY GRIP is the one who really needs to know the terminology. The DP says how he wants it lit and controlled (those are control devices; the silks, flags, etc) and the key grip needs to know the terminology to order the right stuff.

Ok, I've blabbed enough. Anyway, all we are shooting with our P4s are usually EEEEEEEEEEEWSs. Vistas so, unless you are shooting real close focal distance or have a different camera like an Osmo or a Epic Red Dragon, you probably aren't using these shots.

:)

Have a read. I glanced at this one and it seemed right at a glance. I looked at others that were not so right so be careful.

Shot types
 
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Here is a pretty good explanations of the most basic shots. This is the same terminology everywhere.

There are some, for example, as I said before there are multiple types of the same shot. Close up (always called CU), Mid shots (medium like from the waste up or down), wide (whole body in frame assuming the person is the principle, HOWEVER if the HOUSE is the principle than a wide shot of the house would be a lot wider). Same thing for a CU.

Let's do a real life example. This is the only thing that tricks people up when using this simple terminology. ALL OF the terms are based on the SUBJECT, sometimes called the principle.

So we have a person standing in front of a house. What are we shooting for? Who is the focus of this shot. Aside from establishing shots which are usually wides of whatever venue you are supposed to be in. But if it was a regular shot and say it was a talking house and we wanted to have a WIDE cut to a MID of the house talking, the person standing there is only a factor as you want him to be in or out of the frame but the focus is the house.

Same situation but the focus is the PERSON and NOT THE house then even a pretty wide shot of the person would be a SUPER CU of the house (not literally) but you understand that we would be zoomed in all the way so that the focal distance of the house to the camera would be that it would be an ECU (or EXTREME close up). E always denoted extreme when talking about shots. An ECU is closer than a CU. If your ECU wasn't close enough, your producer/director/boss/wife whoever would say, "go closer on that ECU". Then there could be an EWS (Extreme wide shot). Not used as often but for example a lot of films end with a pull back which is basically a CU, MID, or WIDE and pulling back to a EWS.

Then there is something like the "cowboy mid" which is a mid but it usually starts at like the calf and goes up so you can see the holster and gun but that shot has had it's day outside of just westerns but they are still called cowboy mids. Just giving you some examples so you can get an idea about what we are talking about when we say CU. As some of you know, I work on a show with a celebrity. An A-List celebrity and while he is super nice and a friend of mine, he can be a mofo when he thinks he is right and what he thinks is right to him. He wanted a ECU on a knife that he was holding and from a couple classes he took before directing a very bad movie a few years earlier, he thinks he knows a lot and he knows just a little but enough to get in trouble. I had to argue with him that a CU of the knife would be ridiculous and would be kicked back by the network because it would be pixelated and way too close and the reason of the breakdown in communication is because he didn't want a ECU of the knife and by the time the shot was done, what he wanted was a MID of himself on the knife which you now know is wholly different than a ECU on the knife. ON means that's the focus of the shot.

Learning the different shots themselves are simple, it's that kind of stuff that can get you in trouble if yo don't understand. If it wasn't him, he would be ignored, and if he continued to argue, probably eventually thrown off the set for being wrong and arguing. A tv or film set is necessarily militant in rank or else it doesn't work but thats another story. Just know that in TV and film there are 100s of people that all have to work together and one bad link can screw it up which is why you see crews staying together for years and from show to show.

So still 2 shots, cut ins, POVs, and many more to discuss but you can learn that with this link. Hope you learned a little about the terminology here. Baby steps. Once we start talking about grip gear like c-stands, flags and other effectors, it can really get crazy but you only need to know that stuff if you want to be a grip which is a path to be a gaffer but gaffers are usually like sons of electricians. The grips and gaffers are almost separate from the crew. They are a certain type of person Ive found. Anyhow, the KEY GRIP is the one who really needs to know the terminology. The DP says how he wants it lit and controlled (those are control devices; the silks, flags, etc) and the key grip needs to know the terminology to order the right stuff.

Ok, I've blabbed enough. Anyway, all we are shooting with our P4s are usually EEEEEEEEEEEWSs. Vistas so, unless you are shooting real close focal distance or have a different camera like an Osmo or a Epic Red Dragon, you probably aren't using these shots.

:)

Habe a read. I glanced at this one and it seemed right at a glance. I looked at others that were not so right so be careful.

Shot types
Oh man, i didnt expect you to write an essay. HAHA. Ill have to read it when i get home so i can picture it more clearly instead of fitting it in during my work breaks. HA
 
Oh man, i didnt expect you to write an essay. HAHA. Ill have to read it when i get home so i can picture it more clearly instead of fitting it in during my work breaks. HA
If you weren't expecting this then you didn't know jussaguy :rolleyes:
Pretty cool and nice guy, usually full of very cool tips and useful info. ;)
 
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If you weren't expecting this then you didn't know jussaguy :rolleyes:
Pretty cool and nice guy, usually full of very cool tips and useful info. ;)
Dont get me wrong. I hope my comment on jussaguy didnt come off as rude/sarcastic. This was the actual type of comments i was hoping for. And i definitely thank him for putting the time to his response. I will gladly take that advice to learn about this hobby.
 
First post and pretty new to the flying if drones. I have a 2 day old phantom 4 plus Litchi. It seems to me that a lot of really spectacular cinematic moves are compound moves and very tricky to perform manually. Wouldnt it be cool if the app makers started developing plug ins that added to the basic moves of follow me or poi rotation etc.
I can see that this will be the next step with the hardware also. Gota leave something for the next upgrade!
 
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Dont get me wrong. I hope my comment on jussaguy didnt come off as rude/sarcastic. This was the actual type of comments i was hoping for. And i definitely thank him for putting the time to his response. I will gladly take that advice to learn about this hobby.
Oh yeah, my plez. I don't mind at all. That's why we're here right? To make a repository for people on the Internet to learn! :) community! Synergy!
 
First post and pretty new to the flying if drones. I have a 2 day old phantom 4 plus Litchi. It seems to me that a lot of really spectacular cinematic moves are compound moves and very tricky to perform manually. Wouldnt it be cool if the app makers started developing plug ins that added to the basic moves of follow me or poi rotation etc.
I can see that this will be the next step with the hardware also. Gota leave something for the next upgrade!
Welcome to the forum.

Believe it or not the majority of "Cinematic" flying (at least what I've had the pleasure of doing or watching on scene) is in full manual mode. I did a shoot around a light house using an ap and it turned out much better in manual mode. Sometimes the automation just isn't as smooth and natural as good ole hands-on.

As with anything practice makes perfect. Go out with a game plan in mind and practice certain shots until you nail them then practice some more. Next time go for a different type of shots and get them down. Then start combining them into complex maneuvers and before you know it you'll be flying like a champ.
 
Welcome to the forum.

Believe it or not the majority of "Cinematic" flying (at least what I've had the pleasure of doing or watching on scene) is in full manual mode. I did a shoot around a light house using an ap and it turned out much better in manual mode. Sometimes the automation just isn't as smooth and natural as good ole hands-on.

As with anything practice makes perfect. Go out with a game plan in mind and practice certain shots until you nail them then practice some more. Next time go for a different type of shots and get them down. Then start combining them into complex maneuvers and before you know it you'll be flying like a champ.

I guess that is part of what i was getting at. I was looking at this
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and other similar videos and thought that , there was a degree of difficulty in some of those moveh that would be beyond most peoples skill. Certainly mine at this early stage. But i see an opportunity for the development of plugins that people would certainly pay for , down the track, if it gave them cinematic results. It would need though, to have the abilty to do a preliminary fly through that for example allowed you to lock the gimbal, not just on a gps coordinate , but also at the specific elevation and at specified gimbal orientation, sort of like a 3D waypoint. Then you could do a number of selectable transitions between a specified 2 waypoints . A bit geeky, but i think that eventually people will start to appreciate the artistry involved in what we see every day in hollywood productions, and will want to be able to duplicate this themselves.
 

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