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Any tips for shooting from a Cessna plane?
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At least in the US, you need a special permission and an FAA certified safety inspector to oversee the external attachment of any device to an aircraft. I agree a go-pro suitably attached to the wing/strut interface,wired to an in-cabin monitor might have some chance of working, since the pilot is trained to fly circles around a point by aiming his wingtip. Still, you’re askign for some very precise marksmanship for anything but a super wide shot.
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[Diego Barraza] “I´m sensing a lot of negativity here.”
It’s not negativity, Diego… it’s practicality. I’m one of the biggest McGuyvers on the block and known for trying every conceivable way to pull something out of nothing. But this one is a losing battle.
You’re asking for the best way to do things, or the way to do things with what you have… and you’ve been given a lot of advice… and it’s advice that you can take or leave.
What you have to realize is that sometimes the best advice is simply “don’t do it.” Other times there are ways around it, but sometimes there’s just not.
Your absolute set-in-stone requirements: You HAVE to use a DSLR with no stabilizing mount. You HAVE to use a Cessnea 172. You HAVE to get a closeup shot of this woman spinning in the grass as the airplane makes tight circles around her. Those are the things that you are requiring, and you’re asking for advice on how to make that happen. It won’t. Not with that equipment, and create the exact shot that you are envisioning. It won’t happen.
I don’t care how “spontaneous” the director is, spontaneity doesn’t mean that it gets done with the tools that he or she is requiring you to use. At least not and get the smooth professional results that you want.
The director may want this airplane to fly a nice tight smooth rapidly-circling counterclockwise pattern around this actress close enough to get the perfect smooth nice close shot that he wants. He can want that all day, but he’s not going to get it… not by a long shot, with that hardware. No matter how much he wants it, the principals of aerodynamics are going to win.
I’m not being negative, not remotely. I’m just going on experience and the knowledge of what can and can’t be done. I’m a veteran cinematographer and have shot miles of film and countless reels of tape. I’m also a pilot and know what an airplane can do and what it won’t. I’m not negative… I’m a realist. And I don’t want anyone to get hurt in the process.
No matter how spontaneous anyone is.
Over and out.
T2
__________________________________
Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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Diego wrote: “Positive input and personal exerience stories welcome. Evagelism of apocalispis please refrain.”
I don’t think anyone is trying to be flippant or apocalyptic, rather with an abundance of experience they want to warn you of adverse possibilities in making your outlined aerial shot.
FYI: Since this is such an important shot for everyone, I would caution that the director will most likely want to ride along on the flite . . . and also take his PA since you will have an extra seat, and pile in a couple of still cameras. This should load down the 172 pretty well.
Your camera will most likely be shooting forward at aproximately 10-11 o’clock, to frame-out the strut and prop. That should look nice for the coastal view. However, the camera most likely will need to be tilted and panned some as the pilot climbs and banks over the cliffs. . . then frame back as he levels over the countryside.
You will most likely have to pan to 9 o’clock, along the left wing axis, for the pilot to make a continuously banked left turn around the talent. At this point you will have the wing strut dead in the middle of the frame.
If you decide not to pan to 9 o’clock, rather to hold the earlier 10-11 o’clock fixed position, then the pilot will need to point the nose of the airplane down and crab the nose left and into a steep left spiral in order to keep the talent in the frame. You will then crash the airplane into the ground.The director should make advanced plans for where he wants the bodies sent.
Ahh, show biz.
Ken
P.S. The camera must have flexibility to pan and tilt and an un-encumbered view in order to maintain good compositional integrity That’s why everyone has been so insistent with their recommendations. Otherwise, regardless of what the director envisions, without the right equipment and without heeding an experienced pro’s advise you’re guaranteed a flop.
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Don’t leave us hanging, Diego: how did it turn out?
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Mark – If you don’t get a reply, you’ll know.
Ken
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I was just about to say that.
T2
__________________________________
Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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I guess we know.
Hope that the re-shoot/re-write goes better for Diego.
NEXT!
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Hello again creative bovines, sorry it has taken me a couple of weeks to get back on the subject but have been extremely busy.
Many thanks for all those of you that have been with me with their great advice and knowledge in this unorthodox approach to aerial cinematography. I have to say that all of your experiences and comments helped me greatly.
Here is the low down: The answer to all our concerns was one or many, depends on how you view it… COVERAGE.
The action was simple, a woman and companion walking a circle in the great grass expand near the cliffs of the coastline. We scheduled the shooting in two parts. In the morning we shot on location from the ground on a very cold day. Handheld, tripod, steadycam and long jib arm were used to follow the action and talent in different takes. We had all morning to get creative and the light was a flat English grey that gave us even exposure all day. I tried my best to shoot mostly tilting down on the talent to keep the horizon low and thus avoid the blown out white background.
The aerial shots were schedule for the afternoon; the airfield was very close to the location so that was ideal. From days before there were concerns on what we could get with the resources that I wrote in the back posts, ie: Cessna plane and 7D; stability and to be able to see the talent from more than 500 feet distance. There is a Spanish saying that “ he who has a friend has a treasure”, and in this occasion it certainly was. We got in contact with our friend Ben, great cameraman who had just bought and received a RED EPIC package the week before. He was more than eager to test his new baby and he said he would come along for the shoot. With the ability to shoot at 120 fps 4k footage, the RED EPIC is just a beauty of camera and he was more than happy to test it out with a flight above a dramatic location. Back in the airfield, again we set out to get as much coverage from the plane as we could. Ben rode in front window with the RED EPIC hadheld and sporting a 50mm Zeiss Ultra Prime pointing out a open window, shooting at 120Fps. I stuck a GOPro 2 to the corner of the backwindow for the wide sweeping look and handheld a Manfrotto Fig Rig with a stabilized canon 55 to 250mm Zoom glass pointing out through the plexiglass. It was gusty as hell and the little Cesnna was up and down most of the time. We were struggling with the handholding of the cameras as the plane buffeted. The pilot was a great professional and did some figure of eight turns on the marked flight path. We could see the talent in the ground no problem, the circle was marked with bird feed on the ground so you could see it from above clearly and without any environmental damage to the grassland. The ride was quite bumpy but there were lulls when the plane would glide smoothly. As we headed back to the airfield we could see the afternoon streaks of light piercing the clouds and reflecting on the sea as in the old bible films when God speaks. On landing the grassy airfield the pilots remarks were “…we have cheated death once more”. Certainly.
Upon review, I have to say that the shot does not work as long traveling aerial shot that sweeps the dramatic landscape and ends in the talent, but there are more than enough great shots within the footage to piece out a sequence with good editing. The EPIC at 120fps gets the action looking smooth as babies bum, and you can even zoom in the 4k frame and get some really good details. The 7D shooting at different zoom steps gave decent amount of detail as we got circling on top of the action in the ground, we can actually see the woman walking quite well with segments were the shot steadied out. The Gopro was brilliant at getting the wide angle of the cliffs and sea; the vibration is not that visible for 200 dollar camera stuck in the plexiglass, it delivered some very usable cutaway material. The sun rays piercing the clouds look beautiful on it.
The director was happy with all the coverage from the morning and afternoon, she is compiling the sequence and it is all working for her needs. We learned and keep on learning. Thank you again everybody for your support. For disclosure issues I will not be able to post any video.
filmmaking-editing-dop-dad
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Well, we’re glad you got usable footage… but much more glad that everyone is now on the ground safely.
I hope in hindsight now that you’ve tried it that it doesn’t seem like we were quite the “prognosticators of doom” that we might have appeared before the shoot.
I think the lesson to be taken from this is “compromise.” If your director had continued to unwaveringly insist on the original gear (DSLR with a 70mm lens) and original shot plan (long continuous panoramic sweeping shot leading to a spiraling closeup of the talent), the cursing would probably still be going on. Fortunately you were able to radically upgrade your gear, overcrank to smooth the bumps, and change the edit so that short little shorts would work instead of one long one.
One bit of after-the-fact and now-useless advice… pilots tend to be a fairly fearless group (except me, I’m a pretty chicken pilot). If your pilot said you “cheated death” to get the shot… you can believe him. I wouldn’t recommend doing that again, no shot on any project whatsoever is worth that. I’ve known a few who’ve taken that gamble an lost. And they don’t let you play again.
T2
__________________________________
Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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