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Please Help Me Find A Drone For My Short


kaylee
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I would never put a drone over a person like that....if you crashed into the ceiling or if the white comforter caused the drone to lose its perspective because it's not contrasts enough, well, the result could be disastrous...consult with a Key or Dolly Grip on how best to accomplish your shot....you're in SoCal..,find one in the 411 directory, offer to buy them lunch on a day they are not booked and describe your shot....there main objective is to rig anything  safely!...they will know.

PS...I own a drone and would never subject talent to that kind of risk!

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I built and flew drones for years now. Honestly I think that's a bad idea to use a drone for this type of tight indoor shoot. Here are a few remarks:

>>> First, the FAA has no jurisdiction for indoor stuff. "the FAA does not regulate indoor UAS use."

>>> GPS positioning is going to be off indoor but since there is no wind, the drone won't drift. Most of DJI drones now comes with a "Vision Positioning" system. Basically, it's a sensor looking downward that can lock on the ground to stay stable. It only works a low altitude (less then 30 ft) and some ground patterns or shape may confuse the system so be careful.

>>> The one inch sensor low light capability is not great. The Inspire 2 would do better with a X5S (micro43) or X7 (APSC) camera but that's a huge drone and the propellers wind is going to fuck your shot (it will be a problem with the Phantom also). It's like having 4 powerful fans blasting air at full speed. Basically the blanket and your actor's hair are going to be all over the place.... Finally,  the space will be tight for an Inspire, you really need to have a good pilot. Inspire props can hurt you bad.

>>> For the building shot question, the altitude for commercial operator (Part 107) is limited to 400 feet. However "Part 107 limits your altitude to 400 feet unless your unmanned aircraft is flying within 400 feet of a structure (in which case you may not fly higher than 400 feet above the top of that structure)." So you can fly has high as 400 feet right above the building assuming you don't burst in the lower ceiling of the airspace above such as Class C or B (some of them start as low as 1000 above the ground).

>>> Finally for the sensor, I'm going to assume that you are going to use a DJI drone. They have 4 types of sensor, the Mavic and old Phantoms have a tiny 1/2.3” sensor (eg= bad in low light). The Phantom 4 Pro has a one inch sensor and the inspire comes with a Micro43 (X5S camera) or APS-C/super 35mm (X7 camera). The rest of the settings (resolution, DR, log, etc.) is similar to normal cameras. The inspire 2 can shoot 10 bits prores or 12 bits cinema DNG based on the license you buy.

>>> Here is my humble opinion:

For the first shoot, just use jib or a crane or make something out of ropes with a camera on a gimbal. Shouldn't be too complicated with a Background Stand System.

For the second shot, just hire a local professional with a Part 107 license (FAA commercial drone pilot license). There is plenty of drone operators, this is a very simple shoot, it shouldn't cost you more than $200-500 depending of the complexity and requirement. You can search google or take a look on one of those uber like websites to pick an operator: DroneBase or Droners.io, etc.

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ok... im starting to wrap my brain around this

no way im flying a drone inside – just thought id ~ask~ since i have seen lil drones flying around the apple store, but im sure those cameras suck lol

i like @DaveAltizer's idea of drone on a jib with the propellors off for indoors, and then my footage will match up a lot easier, cuz this is gonna be one big movement: up, through the ceiling, through "neighboring apartments", through the roof, into the sky. im gonna cut it all together and vfx it into submission

update: my one friend has the P4 (not Pro), and my other friend has the Inspire 2 with the X4s camera

are either of these good options, or should i hire a pilot with a specific package?

looks like the P4 wont cut it for low light (i need a night shot, at dusk or dawn), and the x4s is the 1" sensor, right? thats not ideal huh

hmmm...

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15 hours ago, IronFilm said:


Just light all of outside well and you'll be golden.

(this is why it is best to shoot outside at golden hour, then pull down the exposure a little to simulate night best you can)

thats the plan! not golden hour, but as SOON as the city lights come on, theres still a ton of light in the sky

then it should work ok, mind you the cameras pointed down so the (not dark) sky wont be in the shot...

i hope that works lol. ive messed around with some screen grabs of other ppls drone footage in post in photoshop and it seems to be working ok. and im willing to go nuts on it with power windows or whatever in post bc its a short effect – a few seconds

this is not amazing looking, but for my purposes i think itll be ok, especially since ill shoot before its actually dark

?

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ok ill ask lol: how much do you guys think i should be paying for this?

my "friend" with the inspire 2 x4s wants $650... but then i looked it up and i was like wait a min i could rent that drone for a WEEK for $650

BUT ive never flown a drone... is doing this myself a crazy idea? i put up a CL ad to get some other rates

note: im not saying $650 is too much, im just poor

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1 hour ago, kaylee said:

BUT ive never flown a drone... is doing this myself a crazy idea? i put up a CL ad to get some other rates

 

110% chance guaranteed to crash

 

Just now, Snowfun said:

Is the $650 to “get you the shot(s) you want” or to “hire me and my drone for (period)”? There is a difference...

 

 

$650 is a very reasonable half day rate for a guy with an Inspire

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7 hours ago, kaylee said:

ok ill ask lol: how much do you guys think i should be paying for this?

my "friend" with the inspire 2 x4s wants $650... but then i looked it up and i was like wait a min i could rent that drone for a WEEK for $650

I don't know the exact shot details, but flying a drone at twilight, without running lights, in a crowded urban environment, wit all sorts of electrical interference, and the possibility of losing signal if the drone gets out of line of sight, by someone who has never flown a drone (and I assume you don't study FAA sectional charts for fun) is literally BEGGING for disaster.

I think if you bought insurance through verifly to try and mitigate damages, they would probably roll on you once they realized what you were doing, too.

The FAA doesn't seem to catch a LOT of people flying drones illegally, but they do throw some hefty fines at the people they do catch. Fortunately for those who are fined, the FAA has been known to settle out of court for about 10%, so if one were to be caught, they would be looking at fines of about $1,000 to about $5,000.*

https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/xyga8a/faa-drone-fines

*That article mentions the SkyPan case, where the FAA originally proposed a fine of $1.8 Million. The FAA and SkyPan apparently settled on a fine of $200,000

https://www.faa.gov/news/press_releases/news_story.cfm?newsId=21374

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14 hours ago, IronFilm said:

110% chance guaranteed to crash

????? thanks i though so ?

14 hours ago, Snowfun said:

Is the $650 to “get you the shot(s) you want” or to “hire me and my drone for (period)”? There is a difference...

excellent point, we're discussing that lol

14 hours ago, IronFilm said:

$650 is a very reasonable half day rate for a guy with an Inspire

thats what i wanted to hear! thanks so much to all you guys

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1 hour ago, kaylee said:

thats what i wanted to hear! thanks so much to all you guys


But still I reckon if you want to go cheaper and save your pennies. You can. 

Does your DoP have a drone? You might even get lucky and he'd throw it in for free.

Or find a keen young P4P owner.

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ha, the DoP is me, im shooting the rest of this short with ml raw on my 5d3

i swear the rest of this v short film is easy shooting – the cameras locked down 90% of the time

im gonna see if i can get my friend to do everything i need drone wise for $650. im fine with that, ill find somewhere else to save a few hundred bucks lol

maybe ill do the indoor jib shots on my 5d3 and make life easier on my drone guy.... trynna figure all that out rn

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18 minutes ago, kaylee said:

maybe ill do the indoor jib shots on my 5d3 and make life easier on my drone guy.... trynna figure all that out rn


No way should do you indoor shots with a drone! Only if the place is MASSIVE like a barn, and there are no people in the shot. Then maaaaybe

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