As the skies clear it’s once again time to dust off the old drone and get ready for a summer of spectacular filming. Now to ensure that your footage is a touch above the rest, professional simulation outfit, Little Arms Studio’s, has partnered with Emmy-nominated Hollywood cinematographer and drone instructor Skip Fredricks.
This new partnership sees new skill modules added to the Zephyr Drone Simulator that now enable participants to learn drone based cinematic video techniques.
The new Skip Fredfricks edition starts with the simulators basic flight training before stepping into the aerial cameraman training.
The cinematic training has been developed by Fredricks and is based on his drone flight instruction classes and pulls from his experience to show operators how to establish key aerial camera manoeuvres such as:
Tracking Shots: One of the most-used cinematic techniques is the tracking shot which sweeps horizontally across a scene, maintaining a consistent distance to the target subject is imperative and requires practice on the stick to master.
Dolly Shots: Moving the camera towards or away from a subject is another common filmmaker’s technique that requires absolutely precise straight-line flight and consistent speed control from a UAV pilot.
Tracking Reveal: Panning the drone-mounted camera across a scene while gaining altitude at a consistent, appropriate and eye-pleasing rate takes considerable practice but can often add an element of surprise to a shot.
Dolly Reveal: Similarly, an airborne dolly reveal requires a skilled pilot to progress to or from a subject at a constant speed while changing altitude for the ultimate reveal.
Flyover Reveal: Whether tracking down a moving speedboat or traversing the route to a real estate listing, the flyover reveal eventually overtakes the subject after building the appropriate anticipation.
The simulator features true-to-life flight physics, accurate weather interactions, monitoring of FAA violations and array of popular camera-mounted drone models all built into Zephyr.
Existing Zephyr users can upgrade to the Skip Fredricks Edition for $19.99 and new users can bundle the sim with a supported controller for $159.99 for more information check out zephyr-sim.com