So, you've got a drone, you've got a license, you've booked a gig so what do you need to do now? In this blog, we look at the five most important drone safety considerations you need to have before you think about flying a drone for work. Everyone thinks production location planning is an easy task. You find somewhere perfect and you just send the drone up and go for it, right? Maybe in an ideal world - but this isn’t the case when it comes to flying drones commercially for production. It’s especially true when it comes to selecting a location where a drone can legally fly.

If you are planning to use a drone in your production to get some outstanding shots of the location, or just to add a unique perspective to your footage, here are some crucial things you need to consider before you take to the skies.

Safety first is a good phrase to live by when out on a production. Yes, getting an epic shot or piece of footage is crucial but not if it means sacrificing your drone safety! Let's be clear, drones in the wrong hands are dangerous - but, big BUT right there, drones can be safe and awesome when you have a smart drone operator.

It may seem like a bore or a touch pedantic but an expert drone operator will consider all these things before they set their drone soaring. If you have a drone safety savvy operator you will not only get amazing shots but you won't have to risk your neck for them either.

 

drone photography

Image by LA Media 

You Must Respect the Drone Danielson!

Take the wise words of Mr. Miyagi to heart! A typical misconception about drones is that they can go anywhere, right? True, to an extent, yes they can physically go most places, drones are very versatile and nimble but unless you want to find yourself in hot water with the law, here are key considerations for drone safety every production manager should consider before the day of the shoot. Just because you can fly it doesn't mean you should!

Cowboy drone operators will risk it, but if the CAA is notified you could find yourself under investigation for reckless flying or worse charged by the police for endangering the public. Drones are a serious piece of machinery, just because some can be bought cheaply as toys you shouldn't lower your guard when operating one as they can do damage.

Do you have production control over the required drone flying area?

The law is quite specific about this and covers people, property, and roads. If you have full control of these elements then you should be good to go flying. Make sure that you get a completed risk assessment form from the drone pilot in advance of your flying date. If you do not have full control then you will need a control method statement from the drone company. All drone flights should be operated within areas that are under the control of the production or which have been made safe using the practices suggested in the control methods statement.

 

drone photography of rail bridge: Drone safety tip, ensure you have correct permissions

Image by LA Media 

Buyer Beware: Is it legal and am I liable?

The drone company should advise you regarding the legal requirements of any flying you intend to undertake and investigate the nature of the airspace you are intending to fly. The drone company should make all relevant contact with CAA, NATS, and any air traffic control (military and civilian) that may be operating in the area you intend to fly and keep you informed regarding any issues.

IMPORTANT: One-man operations will often ask for production assistance when implementing control measures in a flying zone. Be aware that compliance with this request can create an insurance liability to the production.

Cleared for landing?

Does your location have safe landing and take-off areas for the drone operators to use? More importantly, is there an area that can be considered an emergency fly away zone should it be required? The drone company will advise you as to the suitability of any areas you might suggest for these purposes.

 

drone photography of Orkney

Image by LA Media 

Best laid plans

Where possible, and affordable, it is advised to take the drone operators out on a location recce with the production Director, DOP, production manager, and health and safety adviser.

Houston, we don’t have a problem!

It is critical when flying the drone that any pilot has ‘Line Of Sight’. They must see the drone clearly at all times when flying, no excuses! So, when considering locations it is important to anticipate any possible obstructions to the pilot's “Line Of Sight’. Obstructions can be as simple as trees, other buildings, a change in the ground levels when flying low and, most commonly, distance from the pilot.

This may seem obvious but it is worth saying, Drones become very small as they fly away from the pilot and even, therefore, become riskier when, and if, the drone disappears into the background they are flying against. Crossing in front of bright sunlight for example will be very challenging for most pilots.

 

drone photography of Edinburgh castle

Image by LA Media

 

Although this may seem a little scary, if you are working with a good and reputable drone operator they will help you through this experience and make it as straightforward as possible. If you keep these 5 key drone safety considerations in mind when picking your location you will avoid some of these easily made mistakes.

Check out the rest of our website to see some of the drone projects we've worked on and if you have any questions e-mail us at louise@lamedia.co.uk or just give us a call on 0131 622 0220.

If you enjoyed this blog don’t forget to follow us on: TwitterFacebook, and Instagram for your daily dose of media & drone chat!

Wishing you happy and safe flying!

 

 

 

 

LA Media has been flying drones for the last seven years. We’ve flown for Netflix shows, like The Crown and The Witcher, feature film productions, high-end commercials and have done lots of work for television broadcasters from all around the world. Check out our drone reels at lamedia.co.uk or visit our YouTube channel to see what we do.

 

large drone and various screens for viewing in remote location

Now we are putting together a new drone set-up for 2021. It's a great and exciting project and our new package is the result of our extensive experience. We believe it will help keep us at the top of the drone tree and that it could also help you to get started.

Details of our new drone setup will appear in the following blog but meanwhile here are some of the things you should consider if you are about to go out on your own.

Buying a drone

Buy the drone you need (not the one you like). Spend a good deal of time considering what you want your drone set-up to do before you spend any money on it.

high end filming drone set-up

Creative filming, survey work, health and safety inspections, area mapping, emergency services… it's your decision. Remember - it will be an expensive disappointment if you buy a drone not fit for your purpose. 

Tell any retailer what you need it for and they should have the expertise to steer you in the right direction. Spend a lot of time looking at reviews of the drones you are considering and listen to what is being said. It costs you nothing but time and it all helps you make the best decision.

Octocopter drone sitting on grass

 

10 Things to consider

1. Camera - what camera does your drone carry? This will determine the quality of the picture you can offer a client and establishes the size and power of the drone you need to be flying. 

2. Interchangeable lens system - does your drone camera offer a choice of lenses? This is about being able to give a variety of choices to your client when it comes to shot options.

3. Flight time - how long can your drone stay in the air? Clients like to fly all the time so you must give consideration to flight durations and establish how many batteries you will need to buy should you want to fly a typical eight-hour day and include them in your drone set-up accordingly.

4. Recharge to recycle - will you need to recharge/recycle flight batteries during a shoot day? If the answer is yes, how will you do it? Adding a portable generator to your drone set-up is a great way of doing this but often requires a second person to monitor and operate it and can also be expensive.

5. Viewing the shot -  how will your client view the shots you are flying? While it can be a simple as looking over your shoulder at your controller device e.g. your phone, you may want to consider other means such as an HDMI cable feed from your controller (if it has one) to a separate client monitor. More spending for you but makes for happier clients.

6. File types and formats - what file types and formats can your drone camera deliver to the client? Often overlooked as a detail until the end of a day's flying it is an issue that can cause you real problems. The data transfer time of your shots should also be built into your flying schedule. You should know what file type is best suited to the client's post-production workflow and will the client bring you a drive to dump things onto or are they expecting you to supply one? You should ask all these questions before the flight day. The more file types and formats your drone can deliver the better for both you and your client.

7. Data Cards - always have plenty of spares as you may need to change them out if they get filled up. It's also good practice that before you perform any risky flight, such as over water, put a new card in. This makes sure that you do not lose any data in the event of a catastrophic incident occurring.

8. Take-off/landing pad - this is a great part of your health and safety protocol as it is easy to see and therefore those around you can avoid it without difficulty. It also gives you a dust-free platform and a safe flat surface when you are on ground that is uneven or overgrown - a most frequent occurrence on shoot days.

9. A Table - this may sound like a flippant tool but from our experience, it is a vital and practical part of a professional presentation. When it comes to how the client views your overall operation a good table provides you with a safe and clean working surface for your gear and it stops you from getting onto your knees and scrambling about in the mud.

10. Spares and parts - these will save your sanity on any shoot. I can guarantee you that things will break, go wrong, or just get lost when you are out flying. If you can afford it, as part of your drone set-up, you should always have a full set of spares and the tools you need to fit them with. Most pilots are now operating with a second, and even a third, back up drone, just in case.

 

Vulcan UAV Drone with remote controllers and camera attached

 

If you have any questions, or just want to learn more about what we do, e-mail us at [email protected] or check out the rest of our website.

LA Media was delighted to be asked back for series two of The Crown, a widely popular show on Netflix. In season one of The Crown,  we were invited out to use our drones to capture upwards of 1000 stills for the visual effects team so that they could recreate a CGI version of the Royal Yacht Britannia for the series.

Well, we must have done something right because they were quick to get us back when they were back filming in Scotland.

Filming the Crown Season 2

Image by LA Media "All eyes on the drone's viewing monitor" 

vintage car on location of the Crown Season 2

Image by LA Media "Vintage car used filming Season 2 of The Crown" 

 

The LA Media team was part of the splinter unit, which sounds pretty ninja eh? We were tasked with using our drones to capture drone tracking shots of moving vehicles and scenic shots of the locations.

We filmed at Ardverikie  Lodge (AKA “Balmoral") where Her Majesty's character was staying, played by the talented Claire Foy.

Using the drones we also filmed the stunning vintage cars, the rugged Scottish mountains, the lochs, the rivers, and anything else that looked stunning and majestic. In Scotland that can be anywhere, you turn - we weren't short of options.

on location on season 2 of the crown

Image by LA Media "Ardverikie Lodge pretending to be Balmoral" 

drone filming on Season 2 The Crown

Image by LA Media "Setting up the drone shot at the Lodge" 

 

No Joke, Snow in April...

It started as a two-day shoot but ended up turning into a seven-day shoot. The reason for this was the weather! Typical Scotland, snow in April...because that's normal. The result was that on the first day of filming we were bathed in glorious Scottish sunshine with mild gusting winds. The trick for the sake of continuity was to match that weather and atmosphere at the next location.

Image by LA Media "Reshooting to accommodate the Scottish snow" 

 

Mother nature had other plans. We rocked up to the next location (Glen Feshie) to find it shrouded in thick white snow! It wasn't a gentle powder of snow either - no, it was nine inches of heavy snow. This meant that production had a big decision to make.

Do we go back and reshoot the first two days in the snow to make it match? Or do we wait for the snow to melt at Glen Feshie?

Image by LA Media "Our drone filming one of the vintage cars on the move" 

Image by LA Media "Setting up a drone shoot down by the river" 

The final decision by production was to go back to Ardverikie and refilm the scenes in the snow. However, on arrival, the snow was minimal and had thawed within an hour by the rain.

This meant the chase was on, going back and forth between the two locations until the snow had melted so much so that we could film at Glen Feshie mostly snow-free.

 

Stand and Deliver!

On the last day of production, our final drone shot was to be of a grouse hunt over the moors. How posh! This meant there were gun dogs, animal handlers, cast members, and blank gunfire on location. This was an expensive scene to shoot and we had to get it right.

Image by LA Media "One of the best boys on location, meet one of the many working gun dogs"

 

Makeup, wardrobe, unit techs, film crew, and various members of production that included us and our drones had to make it up to the location on a single track road.

To say it was busy would be an understatement. The director was pushed for time as he was heading off to catch a plane and we had less than an hour to get the drone shots needed. Like always we rose to the challenge and managed to accomplish these under great pressure.

Image by LA Media "Setting up for the grouse hunting scene" 

Image by LA Media "Prepping the gimbal with the Arri Alexa Mini"

Image by LA Media "Out in the wilderness preparing for another drone shot." 

 

Crossing the River

Due to the snow coming off the mountain, the river we'd planned to cross was in full flood. Already, one landrover had been lost to the river! Well, not quite it but it did have to be towed to safety. Going around wasn't an option and the production needed to reach the other side for a crucial shot. 

Image by LA Media "The all-terrain vehicle needed to cross the river" 

 

Understandably, we were anxious to transport our electronics and drones across the river. As we talked about before drones and water don't play well together.

Bumps and knocks can prove equally hazardous to a highly sophisticated drone-like our Vulcan Raven Heavy Lift. Drones aren't toys and need to be handled with care unless you want them to have a malfunction.

Packed snuggly inside of its custom-made padded box and strapped down we made it across safely and without incident. Crossing a river in full flood was never going to be easy and the moment of truth was on the other side when we successfully flew the drone.

Image by LA Media "Our Vulcan Raven Heavy Lift Drone" 

Image by LA Media "The big production camera from The Crown crew"

Image by LA Media "The many production vehicles" 

 

Final thoughts

This was an amazing production to be part of and we think you will enjoy the footage. As fans of The Crown we are doubly excited, firstly to see our work but second to see what happens this season. How will Phil and Liz cope with parenthood? What is this scandal people have been whispering about? We can't wait to see more of Claire Foy, John Lithgow, and Matt Smith, who are all doing a stellar job so far!

We'd like to thank everyone who made this possible and for all the care shown to us by the production team from London.

Project

Client: Left Bank Pictures

Director: Stephen Daldry

Programme: The Crown for Netflix

Line Producer: Eve Swannell

Drone Footage: LA Media

 

Visit our website lamedia.co.uk and if you have any questions - e-mail us at [email protected] or give us a call on 0131 622 0220

LA Media's drone team was out and about again getting drone footage for BBC One's new show 'The Country Council'.

The show focuses on the major issues the council is currently facing such as high demand for its services while coping with stringent budget cuts.

From education to housing, repairing the roads, and emptying our bins, this series focuses on the council services while also illustrating the universal social issues that councils face every day across Scotland.

Screen-Grab From BBC One's The Country Council 

Screen-Grab From BBC One's The Country Council 

 

LA Media was asked by Firecracker Films to produce and deliver high-quality broadcast drone footage to be used to complement the footage filmed by the team on the ground.

While the land-based production team would do interviews and close-ups, LA Media used its DJI Inspire drone to capture large scenic establishing shots.

Screen-Grab From BBC One's The Country Council 

Screen-Grab From BBC One's The Country Council 

 

This project saw the drone team traveling and filming all over  Argyllshire, the Isle of Bute, Colintraive, Loch Lomond, and Oban to name but a few key locations.

For a production like this, we opted to use an Inspire 2 drone to get the job done. We were blessed in terms of weather, and the Scottish climate made operating the drone a dead cinch.

Screen-Grab From BBC One's The Country Council 

Screen-Grab From BBC One's The Country Council 

 

The show is currently running on BBC One on Thursday at 21.00 and if you missed an episode you can catch up on the latest episodes on BBC iPlayer.

 

Don’t forget to follow us on: TwitterFacebook and Instagram for your daily dose of media & drone chat!

Visit our website lamedia.co.uk and if you have any questions, e-mail us at [email protected] or give us a call on 0131 622 0220

Over the past fifteen plus years, LA Media has been lucky enough to have had the privilege of filming Scotland and its most beautiful and iconic locations. From Unesco World Heritage Sites to hidden coves on the Isle of Skye, we've been pretty much been everywhere thanks to our busy production work schedule. Often we feel like the joy of 'filming Scotland' is a well-kept secret. Even agencies in London don't realise the filming potential they have sitting on their doorstep!

LA Media was one of the first production companies in Edinburgh to embrace the potential of drones and aerial filming for production. We were early adopters of this technology, so we've got a pretty extensive showreel of aerial footage of Scotland. With this series, Scotland in Motion, we'd like to share some of our best experiences of drone filming experiences.

Scotland in Motion - Our Ode to Drone Joy

Scotland in Motion is LA Media's own personal ode to joy, which celebrates Scotland's epic landscapes and locations. It's a series of short clips that highlight some of Scotland's most iconic locations. Below we'd like to share with you our first five instalments of filming Scotland! All footage, post-production and original music were created in house by the LA Media team.

St Andrews Rippling Waves

In this video, LA Media sent its drone soaring over the rippling waves of St Andrew's historic coastline. In this video, you'll see Scotland's glorious sunshine gleaming like gold on the sea-green waves of the North sea.

Dunnottar Castle

Enjoy some dramatic drone footage LA Media filmed of Scotland's Dunnottar Castle. Located on the edge of the North Sea, the ruins of this historic and once impregnable Scottish cliff-top fortress are uplifting and provide food for the imagination. We've paired the footage with some appropriately dramatic music!

The Highlands

In this video, you'll soar over the rugged mountains of the Highlands. The lush verdant colours of Scotland's landscape and clear skies make this one of our favourite locations. It's hard to feel anything but wowed when you watch this.

Duns Castle & Glen Etive

We hope you enjoy our drone footage of the hauntingly beautiful Glen Etive, which you'll recognise from movies such as Skyfall and Braveheart. Then join us in the Scottish Borders to admire the stunning Duns Castle, which is steeped in over 300 years of Scottish history.

Crawick Multiverse

Have you seen the Crawick Multiverse? It's a stunning globally-renowned landscape in Dumfries and Galloway. Come fly over this inspiring landmark with the LA Media drone team.

Filming Scotland

Scotland is arguably one of the most beautiful places on Earth to film. With its natural beauty, unspoilt rugged landscapes, its abundance of historic castles and stunning cities Scotland is just a fantastic place to film. Due to its unbeatable locations, Scotland has provided the setting for a number of high profile films over the last few years including Fast and Furious, Cloud Atlas and The Dark Knight Rises. 

It is no wonder that in recent years there has been an upsurge in the number of productions opting to come to Scotland to film and taking advantage of our jaw-dropping locations. Scotland’s film industry has evolved dramatically over the last decade and now boasts a cinematic repertoire that attracts some of the biggest names in the business including productions featuring Brad Pitt, Scarlett Johansson and Daniel Craig.

 

We hope you enjoyed this and maybe got a little inspired! We hope you enjoyed this blog post. Don’t forget to follow us on: TwitterFacebook and Instagram for your daily dose of media & drone chat!

Visit our website lamedia.co.uk and if you have any questions, e-mail us at [email protected] or give us a call on 0131 622 0220

LA Media was chuffed to be asked by ITV Studios to film drone footage for their landmark drama The Loch. The Loch is a six-part murder mystery thriller starring Laura Fraser (Houdini and Doyle, The Missing, Peter & Wendy), Siobhan Finneran (Happy Valley, Benidorm, Downton Abbey), and John Sessions (Upstart Crow, Florence Foster Jenkins, The Rack Pack). You watch the trailer here and already spot some of our shots.

Image by LA Media  'Drone photography of Carn Mohr' 

 

This is an exciting project which was supported by Creative Scotland’s Production Growth Fund. The drone filming took place over a number of days last Autumn in Scotland's majestic Highlands.

If you watch the series you will be able to spot many iconic Scottish backdrops such as the rugged valley of Glencoe, the forking paths of Carn Mohr Mountain, and the deep mystical waters of Loch Ness.

Image by LA Media  'Drone photography of Loch Ness' 

 

Of course, this means our poor drone team had to ascend all these heights lugging their equipment. Luckily there was help at hand from the ITV crew.

LA Media used its Inspire 1, mounted with a 5XR Camera to capture the shots needed. We had to get lots of action shots while ensuring that we also featured the stunning Scottish scenery.

It was a really awesome experience working with the ITV team and everyone else who was involved with filming.

 

We hope you enjoyed this blog post! Don’t forget to follow us on: TwitterFacebook, and Instagram for your daily dose of media & drone chat!

Visit our website lamedia.co.uk and if you have any questions, e-mail us at [email protected] or give us a call on 0131 622 0220

All hail the Shogun Flame! No, we haven't, in fact, joined a samurai cult but it is official, LA Media LOVES the Shogun Flame field monitor from the Flame series by ATOMOS. We recently had the joy of using one of these babies out on location for a big Netflix drama.

In this blog, we will share our experience of using a Shogun Flame on large production and tell you why you should love the Shogun Flame too.

The Project: Drone Filming for Netflix Drama

Recently, our team was on location for a rather successful Netflix drama (we can't say yet who but we will!)  where we were tasked with flying an Arri Alexa Mini with a 24mm Ultra Prime lens on our Vulcan Raven with the Gremsy H16 gimbal.

We were grateful that mother nature was on our side that day. We had excellent drone flying weather and beautiful bright sunshine, which meant we would be able to get lovely footage.

Exterior shot of the Shogun Flame by Atomos

Image by ATOMOS 'Shogun Flame monitor bring used for production' 

 

Before the rig was launched into the air, a multitude of field monitors appeared beside us. Field monitors are needed to aid the production team and they allow the camera crew to view the shots we would fly.

The big production from down south wheeled out their fancy high-end monitors while we used our pilot's Shogun Flame to monitor our shots.

While sunny weather is indeed a blessing when filming it did make viewing the monitors very difficult. The sun was right behind us and the other monitors needed covers and cumbersome hoods so that the crew could view the pictures we were transmitting back.

Our team, however, did not have that problem. Without exaggerating at all, the Shogun Flame was really the only monitor worth looking at!

Why was the Shogun Flame so much better?

Principally it was down to the intensity of the 1500 nit panel featuring a high dynamic range of 10 stops+ on a 7” HD calibrated display screen with 10bit processing power, (a nit is a measure of luminance...obviously).

Front view of the Shogun Flame field monitor by AtomosImage by ATOMOS 'Shogun Flame monitor display' 

 

What that means in the ‘non-geek world’ is that you could see the picture clearly without the help of hoods and covers. Not only is it a great monitor but The Shogun Flame also records high-resolution 10-bit colour information, more precise yet efficient 4:2:2 colour encoding, and visually lossless, edit-ready codecs like Apple ProRes or AVID DNxHR. capturing full individual frames just like film and opening up more creativity in post and grading

The Shogun Flame field monitor by Atoms in front of lake

Image by ATOMOS 'Shogun Flame monitor rigged onto a camera' 

 

Three more geeky reasons to love the Shogun Flame

1.  It has a hot-swappable dual battery system that automatically swaps to the second battery when power is low. This means continuous power in the field is all but assured. No more battery panics mid-shot.

2. It has a flexible OS and is packed with an extensive suite of scopes, all 1-touch away and simple to use. Focus, framing & exposure (Focus peaking, 2:1/1:1 zoom, Zebra, False Color, Frame guides, SMPTE Safe Area, Waveform, RGB parade, vectorscope) along with a flexible 3D LUT implementation (use built-in LOG to Rec.709 Video or upload cube files) and options for anamorphic de-squeeze monitoring.

3. We obviously did not need this when flying but for traditional filming, the Shogun Flame has a professional audio capacity. You can monitor up to 8ch of embedded HDMI audio, up to 12ch of SDI audio, or use an included XLR breakout cable to connect to external microphones for balanced analogue audio with 48V phantom power. The audio control is simple with dedicated meters and menus to select channels for recording/monitoring and adjustments for frame delay and gain.

 

Boxing and what comes with the Shogun Flame field monitor

Image by ATOMOS 'What you get when you purchase a Shogun Flame' 

 

In short

Get yourself a Shogun Flame, it's a no-brainer when it comes to production and filming on location!

 

We hope you enjoyed this blog post! Don’t forget to follow us on: TwitterFacebook, and Instagram for your daily dose of media & drone chat!

Visit our website lamedia.co.uk and if you have any questions, e-mail us at [email protected] or give us a call on 0131 622 0220

LA Media's drone team was recently booked by David Taylor Production Services to use our drones to film Eilean Donan Castle. The client in question was soft-drink giant Schweppes. Working alongside a Spanish crew and Norwegian director we brought our Scottish drones to the mix to help bring together this project.

The Location

It simply doesn't get more iconic or more Scottish than Eilean Donan Castle.  Eilean Donan is world-renowned as one of the most scenic and historic Highland castles.

Nestled in the very heart of Scottish history the castle is located on an island at the point where three great sea lochs meet. Surrounded by traditional Scottish scenery, it's little wonder that the castle is now one of the most visited attractions in the Highlands.

Drone Filming at Eileen Donan Castle by LA Media

Image by LA Media 'Drone Filming at Eilean Donan Castle in Scotland'

 

Originally built in the 6th century, it became the first fortified castle to be built in the mid-13th century and stood guard over the lands of Kintail. Since then, at least four different versions of the castle have been built and re-built as the feudal history of Scotland unfolded through the centuries.

When you stand there on the location you can't help but get a real sense of history. It's hard not to be impressed by the castle. With majestic backdrops and moody ever-changing skies, it's basically a photographer's dream!

The mission!

The director wanted to capture the beauty of the castle at sunrise and sunset, which meant a 5 am call time! It was a very long shoot day but we did get a mini siesta between flights.

This was a heavy lift job and required ultras prime lenses on an Arri Alexa Mini recording at 4K. The flying rig was a SKYJIB octocopter with a Movi 15 gimbal.

LA Media Drone Filming at Eilean Donan in Scotland

Image by LA Media ' Drone Filming at Eilean Donan Castle in Scotland' 

The shoot

It was surprisingly cold at 5.00am and the day's weather featured sporadic rain all day long. This resulted in the usual conflict between client and pilot, deciding whether it was in fact raining or not....this happens more often than you'd believe.

It is an understandable conflict, the client wants value for their money and the drone in the air while the pilot has the responsibility of deciding if it is safe to fly or not. After all, if the drone comes down the responsibility will lie solely on the operator.

Even if the rain is a light mist you still risk a major catastrophic failure in flight. It can be torture for the ground crew: we're in the perfect location with the right backdrop but not the right weather.

But rain is rain, water plus delicate electronics simply isn't safe and our pilot Pete did a great job of sticking his guns. In the end, we waited and but got the shot safely. The client was still happy at the end of the shoot and we flew our rig safely.

Drone filming at Eilean Donan castle in Scotland, Vulvan Raven Heavy Lift Drone

Image by LA Media 'Drone Filming at Dusk at Eilean Donan Castle'

Rainy Loopholes

With misting rain and sporadic showers, you will often find there is a small break in the rain. That break is your window - you will be able to get the drone up and get the shot your client wants without being dangerous.

The most difficult aspect of this shoot was that the castle had been double booked! As we've mentioned the castle is a popular highland destination but is also a highly sought-after wedding venue.

This meant that we had to get in and get our drone shots without disturbing the wedding that was happening at the venue! Luckily everything went smoothly - and without a hitch - and we had a happy client.

Drone Filming in Scotland at Eileen Donan Castle

Image by LA Media 'Drone Filming at Eilean Donan Castle'

There's no I in TEAM!

We'd like to extend big thanks to David Taylor who did a great job on location and looked after us very well. We'd also like to thank Pete Maughan (drone pilot) and Richard Elliot (gimbal operator) who both did outstanding work on this shoot.

 

We hope you enjoyed this blog post! Don’t forget to follow us on: TwitterFacebook, and Instagram for your daily dose of media & drone chat!

Visit our website lamedia.co.uk and if you have any questions, e-mail us at [email protected] or give us a call on 0131 622 0220

LA Media has been at the forefront of commercial drone production since drones have been around. Naturally, we were thrilled to be asked by 422.tv, a Glasgow-based production company, to fly drones over Celtic’s iconic football stadium.

This was a historic first in terms of drones, as previously no other drone operation has been allowed to fly over this hallowed football turf!

Making Celtic Drone History

Built-in 1888, Celtic Park is one of the biggest football stadiums in Europe. This was an exciting and challenging project for us. We were tasked with getting a 180 down shot of Celtic Park using our drones.

Our footage would then be used for the end of a video that 422.tv was directing for the marketing team at Celtic Football Club. Brendan Rodgers, former professional football player, and the current Celtic manager was to be featured in the shot too.

Outside Celtic Park

Image by LA Media  'Outside Celtic Park'

 

Too much steel for GSP Goose, I'm switching to Accro

For this shoot, we used our Inspire 1, mounted with our X5R camera. As mentioned earlier this was the first time a drone had been allowed to film inside the Celtic Stadium. Here are some surprises we encountered on location!

Our first surprise was the interference the metal of the stadium had on our drone’s GPS. This meant that our GPS was unreliable and sporadic. Lucky for us we aren’t dependent on GSP and our drone pilot John Banks is an ace at flying in Accro mode. Therefore, this didn’t present us with a problem but it was something we hadn’t thought of before.

Our second surprise was that the 12mm Olympus prime we had on the camera was not enough to get the full width/length of the stadium - top-down, even from 400ft (our legal height limit). To get the whole picture would have required hiring a helicopter!

We needed to rethink the final shot on our feet!Drone Filming Inside Celtic Park

Image by LA Media 'Drone Filming Inside Celtic Park'

Waste not, want not!

So, while some of the team had a rethink about the final shot, the other half of the team kept working and went to capture GV’s in and around the stadium. These GV’s would be used by the Celtic marketing people in various other marketing projects. However, this threw up another surprise, wind!

We quickly became aware of how the wind would swirl around the seating creating a vortex.Statue outside Celtic Park

Image by LA Media 'Statue Outside Celtic Park' 

Don’t crash into the talent!

The final shot agreed upon was for us to fly towards and then over the head of Brendan Rodgers as he was walking off the park and back towards the player’s tunnel. We were to finish on an end frame showing the Celtic stand. With the untrustworthy GPS and random whirlwinds naturally, all were concerned for Brendan’s safety.

When you add people to the drone mix you need to be on your “A” game as you don’t want anyone getting injured. However, the shot went well, Brendan survived and it was used in the final video to end the film.

We’d like to extend a big thank you to all the staff at Celtic who welcomed us into their sacred ground and to the team at 422.tv for giving us the opportunity to fly for them.

 

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