Shooting tracking car shots advice needed

[Paul Ross Jones]

hi guys, I own a inspire 1 with an x5r. last year I shot some small TVC's for Volvo and one of the most promising techniques was to track a car, as if the drone was a camera car.

I shot shots like these-



But I have really struggled to keep the drone the same speed as the car, its very hit and miss. I can accelerate cleanly but cant keep a constant speed unless very slow or full speed.

I want to shoot a car portfolio job for my book now, but keen to use the same type of drone shots. So very keen to work out how to fix this.
I asked my mate with an inspire 2 if that is a better drone to use (although I really done was to buy another drone!), but he said it has a problem with constant controllable speed too.

Is there any way I work around this? I read somewhere there is a tracking mode to the controller- is there a possibility I could be in the car as I shoot? Any other ideas?

Thanks for any help, Paul

 

[Steve@AerialImagesPro]

There is follow me mode, but you’d have to sit in the car with the controller.

 

[Paul Ross Jones]

There is follow me mode, but you’d have to sit in the car with the controller.

Thanks Steve. I have seen this in some youtube vids, but the examples are bad, the camera is miles away and seems out of control- except pointing at where the controller is. Can you still control aspects of the drone when in this mode, or is it completely autonomous?
and can you have the camera close to - say, the car, if im in it getting followed?

cheers paul

 

[PhilZ]

Thanks Steve. I have seen this in some youtube vids, but the examples are bad, the camera is miles away and seems out of control- except pointing at where the controller is. Can you still control aspects of the drone when in this mode, or is it completely autonomous?
and can you have the camera close to - say, the car, if im in it getting followed?

cheers paul

If using an Inspire 2, could you try spotlight mode?
On the Mavic Forum I have seen very impressive video of an M2 following a skier all the way down a mountain in active track mode, while maintaining a constant speed. I have not done this myself, but it may bear some research on your part.
Phil

 

[S White]

I shoot a lot of car commercials. Depending on the location (rural, etc), it works OK to ride in the car while flying my I2 around it as we drive it (I am a passenger). I use Spotlight to lock the car into the frame. Often I am out of the car and use Course Lock, and Spotlight. Do not use Follow Me. It cannot keep up. We never drive the car more than 20 mph. Too much going on. Often we are going up and down hills. That adds another dimension to deal with. Corners are also interesting. Always remember that only 4-10 sec of the video will be used at a time anyway. If you keep other cars out of the frame, then you can speed up the slow moving car and it looks pretty normal. The scariest stuff is flying in front of the car and not getting run into. We always use radios to communicate to the driver(s). Do some test drives to practice before the filming day. All my stuff is single operator.

 

[Donnie Frank]

hi guys, I own a inspire 1 with an x5r. last year I shot some small TVC's for Volvo and one of the most promising techniques was to track a car, as if the drone was a camera car.

I shot shots like these-

View attachment 26476

But I have really struggled to keep the drone the same speed as the car, its very hit and miss. I can accelerate cleanly but cant keep a constant speed unless very slow or full speed.

I want to shoot a car portfolio job for my book now, but keen to use the same type of drone shots. So very keen to work out how to fix this.
I asked my mate with an inspire 2 if that is a better drone to use (although I really done was to buy another drone!), but he said it has a problem with constant controllable speed too.

Is there any way I work around this? I read somewhere there is a tracking mode to the controller- is there a possibility I could be in the car as I shoot? Any other ideas?

Thanks for any help, Paul

Floor it and have the driver pace the drone. Not the other way around.

D

 

[Donnie Frank]

I shoot a lot of car commercials. Depending on the location (rural, etc), it works OK to ride in the car while flying my I2 around it as we drive it (I am a passenger). I use Spotlight to lock the car into the frame. Often I am out of the car and use Course Lock, and Spotlight. Do not use Follow Me. It cannot keep up. We never drive the car more than 20 mph. Too much going on. Often we are going up and down hills. That adds another dimension to deal with. Corners are also interesting. Always remember that only 4-10 sec of the video will be used at a time anyway. If you keep other cars out of the frame, then you can speed up the slow moving car and it looks pretty normal. The scariest stuff is flying in front of the car and not getting run into. We always use radios to communicate to the driver(s). Do some test drives to practice before the filming day. All my stuff is single operator.

Single operator??? You, sir, are a MAD man...<;^)

D

 

[S White]

Good suggestion Donnie. But the way I do it is we typically agree on a speed and if it needs to be slowed, etc then we have radio contact with the driver to change things. I have always tried to avoid the driver looking at the camera. If the windows are tinted it is not too noticeable. Shooting car commercials are indeed tricky. Crazy stressful being in the car. Also it is critical if you are in the car to change the 'disconnect' mode to HOVER. Otherwise you will have a real mess if you are driving one way and the I2 heads back home. Also, it is important to map out the area and make sure there are no power lines across the road. And if you are flying beside the car, map out for bushes, trees and power lines. Scouting sites is probably one of the most time consuming parts of the project.

 

[Eric Braun]

The automated systems have compromises if you are going for really pro, cinematic shots. The answer is practice. If you are serious about working on high end gigs you need to do it manually and you need to practice. We’ve spent hours and hours out on the road. It takes 3 people. We need a driver in addition to us (pilot and camera op). There is no substitute!

We’ve tried all the “Spotlight” stuff and it is very smooth when it works, but 1/2 the time my camera op goes, “No... no, no, noooo....” and the shot is ruined. Having a 50% success rate won’t basis muster with any director.

 

[Donnie Frank]

The automated systems have compromises if you are going for really pro, cinematic shots. The answer is practice. If you are serious about working on high end gigs you need to do it manually and you need to practice. We’ve spent hours and hours out on the road. It takes 3 people. We need a driver in addition to us (pilot and camera op). There is no substitute!

We’ve tried all the “Spotlight” stuff and it is very smooth when it works, but 1/2 the time my camera op goes, “No... no, no, noooo....” and the shot is ruined. Having a 50% success rate won’t basis muster with any director.

Anything less than 100% raises eyebrows. Anything less than 80% success and you probably won't get called back...at least that's been my experience. Fortunately, we're in the 95 percentile, with the 5% due to lighting issues in shadow areas as we're losing daylight and the DP not allowing enough time for me to change my ND filter. My only wish would be to have a manual aperture on the X3. That said...nobody even does compressed footage any more, so I haven't shot for film in over a year. And honestly, I just don't miss it that much. Neither does my business partner.

D

 

[S White]

Mad man here

Indeed each shot needs to be on target. However there are a lot of shots that are extras that we try out. The hardest ones are when the clouds and the sun are not working together. Typical hurry up and wait stuff. But at the same time we are doing the 'ground shots'. For me aerials are the B roll stuff and it has never been a deal breaker to do multiple takes. I have never had issues with Spotlight UNLESS the distance gets a bit long. The one thing that I do with Spotlight is to shut it off as the car needs to go out of frame. Doing moving stuff is tricky, but if you get rid of all the collision possibilities there is a lot less to worry about.

 

[niki]

We are 2 operators and always fly in manual. Long time ago we practiced the use of automation modes on vehicle tracking shots but as the workload and stress are minimal we didn't liked the resulting framing as the car was always in the center of the frame. Also if using longer than the 15mm lens it simply doesn't work. Soon we concluded we should learn to make it manual and since then we are practicing every week to track, follow, pull out, pass over and etc. This practice really help later.

In my opinion the 25mm and 42.5mm are the best lenses for tracking a vehicle but it's not easy for the gimbal operator.

Scouting of the place and pre planning as well radio communications are esential!
As a pilot I'm flying the drone in p-gps keeping LOS all the time. Then in most cases I use the fpv camera trough out the shot and sneaking to see where the drone is from time to time. The gimbal operator is talking to me all the time what he want me to do - faster faster or slower slower or keep that speed, you are too low, too close and etc. Usually we need 2 or 3 takes to make the shot as expected. But some productions don't have the budget for multiple takes.

When everybody is set in position usually there is an action call from the first assistant director or stunt coordinator and then the car start moving, we are then waiting for a second call where we have to start moving the drone but depend on the type of the shot this whole scenario may be totally different like both the car and the drone start moving at the same time.

A few cases where the director wanted to direct us in realtime while the shot goes on without much of preplanning, we found this is the worst resulting situation.

Soo practice and communication is the base but without a plan that everybody agrees nothing will really happen.
Woud love to hear more tips and tricks on this topic.

Thanks!

 

[Donnie Frank]

We are 2 operators and always fly in manual. Long time ago we practiced the use of automation modes on vehicle tracking shots but as the workload and stress are minimal we didn't liked the resulting framing as the car was always in the center of the frame. Also if using longer than the 15mm lens it simply doesn't work. Soon we concluded we should learn to make it manual and since then we are practicing every week to track, follow, pull out, pass over and etc. This practice really help later.

In my opinion the 25mm and 42.5mm are the best lenses for tracking a vehicle but it's not easy for the gimbal operator.

Scouting of the place and pre planning as well radio communications are esential!
As a pilot I'm flying the drone in p-gps keeping LOS all the time. Then in most cases I use the fpv camera trough out the shot and sneaking to see where the drone is from time to time. The gimbal operator is talking to me all the time what he want me to do - faster faster or slower slower or keep that speed, you are too low, too close and etc. Usually we need 2 or 3 takes to make the shot as expected. But some productions don't have the budget for multiple takes.

When everybody is set in position usually there is an action call from the first assistant director or stunt coordinator and then the car start moving, we are then waiting for a second call where we have to start moving the drone but depend on the type of the shot this whole scenario may be totally different like both the car and the drone start moving at the same time.

A few cases where the director wanted to direct us in realtime while the shot goes on without much of preplanning, we found this is the worst resulting situation.

Soo practice and communication is the base but without a plan that everybody agrees nothing will really happen.
Woud love to hear more tips and tricks on this topic.

Thanks!

Essentially, you nailed it. Nothing will trump practice and communication.

Despite being partners for well over three years, if my partner and I do a shoot, we practice the day before to dust off our sea legs. As camera OP, I generally tell the DP and/or director to speak to me and NOT the pilot. This really eliminates communication issues. We tried radios, but that is too cumbersome. So we simply make sure we're within ear shot of one another.

My pilot flies LOS 99% of the time. He rarely relies on the monitor. I'm exactly the opposite, as I use FPV Goggles, which solves a WORLD of problems (like too much sunlight to see the monitor well). The goggles REALLY help with composition. I hand my iPad to the DP so he can shade it and view it in a way that is comfortable for him.

Practice makes perfect. Make sure you have clear language you use like 'yaw' instead of 'pan,' for example. Quick words like "pull" or "push" or "dolly right" or "dolly left" or "crane up" are helpful. But at the end of the day, nothing beats just getting to know one another.

I give my PIC full autonomy on all drone related decisions, and he gives me full autonomy on all camera related decisions. We never argue or bicker or disagree. I have been on set when other pilot/camera OP's argue with one another. It does NOT look good. My partner and I are a lean, mean droning machine. It's a good working relationship.

Good luck.

D

 

[S White]

Practice and communication....totally agree. I have done a number of projects that involve multiple cars/trucks (3-5). Each vehicle having a radio is critical. Amazing to use a 42.5mm. I typically use either 12mm or 25mm. I wish that the I2 had terrain tracking. Had a few close calls when the shoot is coming back uphill.

 

[Paul Ross Jones]

Thanks for all the replies everyone. Are you guys using googles with the inspire 1, or 2? I only have the inspire 1/ x5r.

Paul

 

[S White]

I have used goggles when I am just running the camera, but would never use them as a single pilot (which I now do all the time).