BROOKLYN AERIALS NOW FAA EXEMPT

We have three amazing things to announce today:

1:  Brooklyn Aerials is partnering up with Seattle-based aerial company, The Aerial Edge, commercial pilot, Brad Meier from Freefly and Freefly Cinema pilot Nick Kolias.   Brad has collaborated with Brooklyn Aerials in the past, where he was the camera operator on STREETS and we are very fortunate to team up with such experienced pilots who have strong backgrounds in big motion picture and commercial productions. 

2: Brooklyn Aerials can now offer FAA 333 exempt aerial services.  This is a huge step forward for us and will allow us to operate on big union sets, bring ease to the whole permitting process and will open up a lot of doors for future work.

3:  Brooklyn Aerials and The Aerial Edge are the first production companies in the US to own and fly the ALEXA MINI. Our expertise and high quality work in this field makes us one of the leading FAA exempt drone companies in the states.

Now with the ALEXA MINI and RED Epic Dragon we have two of the best cinema cameras available and drone rigs that can reliably fly those cameras along with our Arri WCU-4 FIZ system and an Angenieux zoom, cinema primes and even anamorphic lenses.

Feel free to reach out if you have any questions.  We are looking forward to hearing from you and bringing these exciting new features to your production.

All the best from the Brooklyn Aerials and The Aerial Edge Team -

Tim Sessler, Brad Meier and Nick Kolias. 

Revolutionizing camera operating: The Freefly Mimic

I was able to get my hands on one of the first MōVI prototypes about two years ago for a feature that I was shooting for the History Channel. It changed everything for me in regards to how I shoot now and the manner in which I can move the camera, adding motion in unique and new ways.

The MōVI is amazing at what it does - stabilizing shots with such reliability - though two years later, with plenty of other gimbals now on the market, it sometimes feels like we've hit a ceiling in regards to gimbal stabilized shots.

Often, videos that are meant to be dynamic, end up over stabilized with an almost sterile, clean look that lacks the human touch.  Even I have found myself using the MōVI for practically every shot and just recently started to move back into more dynamic handheld work, using the MōVI for only specific and stylized shots when the story really called for it.

About a week ago we received one of the first Freefly MIMIC prototypes and got a chance to experiment and test it's limits. With a very small crew, consisting of a two-person MōVI/Mimic team (Cameron Michael and Tim Sessler), two assistant cameramen alternating days pulling focus (Drew English and Joe Victorine) and a second MoVI for behind the scenes footage (Ryan Emanuel), we hit the streets of NYC. Having a team of only two to three people per day for this shoot made a huge difference and really allowed us to capture moments as they were naturally unfolding, in a street photography style, often without even being noticed.

During the three days of production we were able to reach locations all over New York City easily with our mobile MōVI rig (often by getting around with the Subway) - from Bedstuy in Brooklyn to Ridgewood and Willets Point in Queens and of course countless locations in Manhattan (from Wall Street to the Flat Iron to Central Park). That kind of mobility and flexibility is hard to achieve with productions and we give a lot of credit to this new technology for making it possible and so easy.

Check out the finished piece below:

• Shot on the RED Epic Dragon w/ Low-light Optimized OLPF

• Lenses: KOWA Prominar 50mm Anamorphic     

• Stabilized with Freefly MōVI M15 and controlled with the Freefly MIMIC              

• Graded in Davinci Resolve with Filmconvert

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The invention of the MōVI was an incredible change for the film industry and now the MIMIC has taken gimbals to the next level. It brings me back to what I was missing before: the human feel, the option for imperfection and a beautiful sense of floating that "mimics" great handheld work.

While the MōVI Controller with all its features is great for some operations, the Mimic opens up doors to a completely new world: unique framing and incredible precision with literally no learning curve.  It is "point-and-shoot" in the most cinematic way possible.

Here is a little behind the scenes look with your average New Yorkers operating during our MOMENTS shoot in NYC:

We're looking forward to using the Mimic on future productions and we'd like to thank Freefly for the awesome opportunity to test out this new technology with full creative freedom.

Please feel free to reach out with any questions or curiosities about our experience with this new technology.

___________

Behind the Scenes photos by Ryan Emanuel.

LONG LENS DRONE

When we think about drone footage - particularly from the very popular DJI Phantom - we often envision wide-angle or even a fish-eye look that is far from being cinematic or filmic.

DJI Phantom with GoPro

Distorted super wide-angle  [Photo from http://octopup.org ]

Medium shot

135mm lens on Cinestar X8

Detail or close up

135mm lens on Cinestar X8

Tracking shot

85mm Ultra Prime for an Under Armour commercial

The big advantage of drones (UAVs, multicopters or whatever you want to call them) is their size, which allows filmmakers to get shots that would be impossible with full-sized helicopters.  Especially with close proximity flying, wide angle lenses (16-24mm) can achieve a really interesting look that amplifies speed and proximity.

With the latest technology of octocopters that are getting stronger and can lift higher payloads and more importantly the stabilization reaching a new level of perfection with the Freefly MōVI M10 and M15, we are no longer bound to only using those wide angle lenses.

Brooklyn Aerials has been filming with longer focal lengths for a while now. Take for example, an Under Armour commercial that we shot in the summer of 2014, where we got some amazing tracking shots with 85mm and 100mm Ultra Primes on the RED Epic of a marathon runner, running through the desert in New Mexico.

In a recent test we flew our RED Epic Dragon with a vintage Zeiss 135mm lens - a 170mm equivalent on 35mm sensors. 

RED Epic Dragon with 135mm lens

On the MoVI M10 with full cage upgrade. Camera and remote focus are powered off a lipo.

Freefly MOVI Controller

The MoVI controller allows you to link to your Redrock or Axis 1 remote follow focus

Here are the main take-aways:

• While on a wide-angle, even a 35mm lens focus isn't as critical (close to infinity even at f/4 works for nearly every shot) - on any longer focal length you most definitely need a remote follow focus system, which adds more weight to the rig and adds the complication of having the camera operator try to pull focus and work on the framing simultaneously or requires an additional person that keeps things in focus (or out of focus).
• Pulling accurate focus also means that you will need a reliable, latency free, long range HD video downlink - a 5.8gHz SD signal that works great for wide-angle applications just won't cut it.  The TERADEK Bolt 2000 is probably the most reliable solution.
• Long lenses are great for detail shots, scenes with lots of foreground and mediums. Especially slowly rotating around the subject will give an eerie and extreme look, as the background will move at a rapid speed.  You'll also quickly realize that certain shots won't work or won't look as good as you might envision. In particular, wide shots with a very long lens just look like stationary full-sized helicopter shots and have a distinct newsy feel to them.
• If you use it right you will be able to get shots that won't instantly give away that you are using a drone (which is a good thing).  It opens up a tremendous amount of options to use the technology for better storytelling and really takes drone-cinematography to the next level, as the UAV becomes the tool to move the camera in a very controlled and original fashion and less so to achieve the over-done "drone effect".

Here are a few clips from our test:

Car-mounting the MoVI

FIRST TRY:  Earlier this year we tried to hard mount the MoVI M10 with a heavy RED Epic package to the front and back of a pick-up truck.  We quickly found that without a vibration isolator a lot of shake and small vibration will be transfered from the street and car directly to the MoVI. As it literally shakes the whole rig, its nothing that the otherwise flawless stabilization of the MoVI could compensate.

NEW APPROACH:  For a short film that I recently DPed we attempted a new solution: I disassembled the wire damper from the FREEFLY TERO and screwed it directly onto a hostess tray cheese plate. 

MoVI M10 on a hostess tray

MoVI M10 on a hood mount

MoVI M10 on a hood mount

The wire damper gives the camera a bit looser feel, it is a lot smoother and minimizes vibration and small shakes coming from the street.

Especially the MoVI-hood-mount allowed us to capture a unique angle and shoot a conversation inside the car with very small foot-print (driving through some of the tightest and busiest streets in Brooklyn), without the need of a process trailer.

Cheers, Tim

Shooting "STREETS" in New York City

At the beginning of July Brooklyn Aerials and Freefly teamed up to create a visual study of New York City with the brand new Freefly TERO: STREETS

We were shooting for three days with the primary idea to get super slow-mo Phantom Miro shots at very high speeds during the day and very symmetric, composed shots with the RED Epic Dragon at night. 

Especially the effect of freezing those iconic and special NYC moments with super slow-motion (1,500 to 2,000fps), yet adding a camera move and parallax to those scenes interested me the most.

With a super small team of just two people (and a BTS camera) we were extremely flexible and able to scout and capture locations within minutes. While we had list of shots that we really wanted to get (an open hydrant, skateboarder with the skyline, handball player and pigeons), we were surprised by others:  Members of the Ghetto Riders in a water gun fight or a dog running in Maria Hernandez Park in Bushwick, shots that would have been impossible without this set-up and would otherwise require an intense production and budget of a commercial shoot.

Getting the timing right was the most difficult thing for those shots. A stationary slow-motion shot is easy - but timing the TERO so that the camera would pass the subject right at the perfect moment, the peak moment when the water balloons are mid air, the hand of the skinny handballs player hits the ball or the passing hasid is perfectly frozen, mid step; thats the tricky part.

To achieve an instant acceleration without endangering the expensive camera, we added a wheelie bar to the TERO. While it generally picks up a bit more vibration from a rough underground, this was the solution to get the timing right and the TERO up to impressive and fairly scary speeds. 

Overall I was amazed by the footage that we were able to capture. I had a vision for the feel and look I was going for - but had no idea if we could actually pull it off with the Tero-Phantom combo and a documentary approach to a very stylized video. I am glad it all paid off and came together that nicely.

- Tim

Testing the Freefly TERO

Brooklyn Aerial is excited to be one of the first out there to get their hands on a prototype of the new Freefly Tero.

What is the TERO?

It is a super-compact RC car - scale 1/5 about 30" long and just 20" wide. Based on the HPI Baja 5B Flux, which is built for intense off-road action and massive jumps, so naturally the shocks do a great job eliminating a lot of vibration.  Additionally, Freefly designed a wire dampened camera mount which further helps to reduce any unwanted shakes, vibrations and small bumps from the MōVI. 

A MōVI M5, M10 or M15 on top will give perfect stabilization and full control over the camera and will allow you to mount pretty much any cinema camera on there.

Why this tool?

What is unique about the TERO is the small form factor and it's speed.  Opening the doors for slow dolly-like shots without worrying about leveling tracks or having them in the shot. But most importantly it has an almost instant acceleration to high speeds of 40 to 50 mph, which makes it the perfect tool for car tracking shots, extreme sports and is a new cinematic way to move the camera.

Test

For a recent shoot in Chicago, I was able to test the TERO for the first time in a real-world production environment.

First shot, first day: We decided to track in front of a group of young men running through a park. With the Red Epic Dragon on the MoVI M10 we were able to get perfectly stable footage driving right in front of the group. A shot that would never be as smooth and more importantly would show a lot more translational movement with the M10 handheld.

To push its limits we decided to ride it on the lawn ride next to the path - a bumpy piece of grass that was desperately waiting for some trimming. The result definitely shows some bumps, but overall I was impressed with how well it worked and how it produced some very usable footage.

Here is a short video - more tests will follow and footage from the tests will be up soon.

BROOKLYN AERIALS is shooting in San Francisco - Vimeo Staff Pick #4 in 2014

Early April we were shooting in San Francisco for the Non-Profit, Tipping Point.

The whole piece was shot within three days, using the Freefly MoVI M10 for nearly every shot. Even though we faced a hand full of challenges - unexpected rain or 30mph wind gusts (have a look at the bushes in the final shot) - the MoVI and Cinestar took it with ease, resulting in some very beautiful imagery. 

Big thanks to Vimeo for featuring the video as a Staff Pick!

The Salton Sea

We are shooting in Southern California right now - at one of the most amazing locations: Box Canyon, just around the corner from Joshua Tree and our final scene during sunset at the Salton Sea.