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!

 

 

 

 

As we mentioned previously on the LA Media blog, we were asked by Cisco TV to travel down to Cornwall to film the historic moment when the BLOODHOUND SSC was run for the first time at Newquay airport.  We thought we'd share with you some of the behind-the-scenes stuff that went on.

We're happy to say that the whole plan went without a hitch and Wing Commander Andy Green OBE made two successful runs, reaching 210 MPH in its first runway test.

Image by LA Media  "Tech checks and final prepping"

 

When the BLOODHOUND team go for the 1000mph record in South Africa they have only 1 hour in which to do it - 2 runs and a turnaround involving refueling the jet engine, so this was an opportunity for the team to test out their processes and protocols and refine the time it takes to perform all of the tasks required.

BLOODHOUND SSC being rolled out of the plane hanger Image by LA Media "BLOODHOUND SSC outside the HAS ready for an engine start-up test"

 

It’s such a complex operation - to give it some perspective more people have walked on the moon than have driven a car faster than 700mph.

 

So why were we there?

Well, our creative producer, Jude Lightbody was there as a director covering the event;   from the BLOODHOUND engine startup test in the morning (super noisy!) through to the track run and then post-run interviews with the key players from the BLOODHOUND team and sponsors.

Image by LA Media  "Quick team selfie before the Bloodhound SSC makes the run!"

 

All of the material and interviews were being run straight back into an on-site edit to make short films that were published out at the end of each day.

Exciting stuff, not just because we got to interview Andy Green and Richard Noble but also the incredible BLOODHOUND team - engineers, operations, the guy who’s responsible for the safety protocols, and who’ll be in charge of the test site on the day they go for the record....could be one of the most nail-biting jobs ever!

BLOODHOUND SSC on the tarmac

Image by LA Media  "Public and press getting a good look before the test run"

Image by LA Media " Track-side with presenter Jennie Gow getting the first post-test-run interview"

 

At the same time, the whole event was being live broadcast by the team at Cisco TV. Hectic, great fun, and thrilling to be a part of such a historic event.

The test was a success, perhaps best summed up by BLOODHOUND's Operations Director, Martyn Davidson, in 3 simple words, "BLOODHOUND SSC is operational".

We'll be keeping a keen eye on the BLOODHOUND SSC as the team heads towards the culmination of this great adventure in Hakskeen Pan, South Africa.

 

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

Tommy's Honour is out now in the UK cinemas and LA Media was extremely proud to produce some outstanding drone footage for this BAFTA award-winning film. We are thrilled that our drone footage is being shown on the big screens across the UK.

We knew when we participated in the project that director Jason Connery was creating something special that showcases Scotland's rich golf heritage.

Watch the trailer below and see if you can spot the drone shots!

Drone Footage by LA Media 'Tommy's Honour Trailer' 

For those not in the know, Tommy’s Honour is a historical Scottish drama that depicts the tumultuous lives, relationships and careers of the Scottish golfing champions Old Tom Morris and his son Young Tom Morris, portrayed by Peter Mullan and Jack Lowden respectively.

Not only is it a compelling tale of a complicated father and son but you will be treated to stunning views all around Scotland.

The whole LA Media team were lucky enough to attend the Scottish premiere of Tommy's Honour and believe us the drone footage belongs up on the big screen.

LA Media Team Attending Tommy's Honour Scottish Premiere

Image by LA Media ' Attending the Scottish Premiere of Tommy's Honour' 

 

The drones really captured the majesty and beauty of the Scottish scenery. Our drone shots were chosen for the opening and closing scenes, which of course made us feel rather special (blush!).

Previously, we took you behind the scenes on this shoot and shared with you what it was like to work with director Jason Connery. Connery is the son of legendary Scottish Actor Sean Connery.

If you're a golf fan or just love a good Scottish drama we would recommend highly that you go see it for yourself in the cinema.

 

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 recently reunited with Cisco Systems Inc, a multinational technology conglomerate that develops, manufactures, and sells networking hardware. We were asked to film a piece about the integration and installation of a Cisco system into one of France's national broadcaster, Canal Plus.

Canal Plus Group SA is a French film and television studio and distributor. Canal Plus or Canal+ translates as  "Channel Plus/More," which is a very apt name for them. It is owned and controlled by Vivendi and has a film library in excess of 5,000 films.

The video we were tasked with making had to show the results of the integration process through the eyes of those at Canal Plus. Watch out for the final version on our website, which will be up at later date. We thought we'd share some of the snaps captured on Justin's phone during the day!

Studio Gallery at Canal Plus

Image by LA Media 'Studio Gallery at Canal Plus'

The Road to Paris

Although LA Media has much of its own equipment in-house, sometimes we link up with our Partner Procam for our technical needs. This time was no exception! Darryl Hewat, at Procam Glasgow, went above and beyond for us at short notice in delivering what we needed for this shoot.

LA Media Team at Airport with Equipment

Image by LA Media 'The Production Team Arriving at Edinburgh Airport' 

 

The phrase travel light moves fast doesn't really apply when you go abroad with equipment. We want to be clear, we aren't sponsored by EasyJet, but we wish we were!

Flying with EasyJet made traveling with copious amounts of camera equipment easy peasy! No headaches and no surprise airport baggage fees.

The outsized baggage handlers were really helpful and polite. Everything was fast and efficient. The self-check-in kiosk was simple enough that even our Director Justin was able to use it all by himself.

Green Screen at Canal Plus Studio

Image by LA Media ' Green Screen at Canal Plus'

Our impressions of  Canal Plus

We were absolutely astounded at how Canal Plus is run. They have three studios and all were busy the entire day. Their turn around was like lighting and they efficiently moved from project to project with ease. Truly a well-oiled machine making good use of studio space.

New CISCO system at Canal Plus

Image by LA Media  'Cisco Systems Installed in the Technical Area'

 

One studio produced a live game-show and a live music show on the same day without a hitch. Another produced a political comedy using spitting-image style puppets and the last studio generated a live children's show. For anyone that doesn't understand the effort that involves it was herculean!

 

Canal Plus studio gallery

Image by LA Media 'Studio Gallery at Canal Plus'

 

We came back feeling really inspired by Canal Plus's work ethic and will definitely be using some of their methods and tricks in the future.

Filming in the Canal Plus studio

Image by LA Media 'Cameraman Andrew Murray hard at work in Canal Plus studio'

 

This is one studio group that really knows how to get some real bang for their buck. Four different formats were produced by three different studios each one an hour in length.

French bagpipers at canal plus studio

Image by LA Media 'French-Scottish Bagpipers not what we were expecting!'

 

This was a really awesome project to work on and we were thrilled to have a chance to have an inside look at Canal Plus's studio space. It was great to team up again with the wonderful people at Cisco. We'd like to send a big thank you out to Procam for being such pros and to EasyJet for making the journey so simple!

 

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 excited to be invited to be part of THINK ON’s latest collaboration project using drones to film a stunning Golden eagle named Diesel. The final project looks amazing and we are proud to have been a part of this collaboration.

The purpose of this short-film was to capture 'why' the eagle handler (Steven Mallice) loves flying Diesel, a handsome and majestic-looking eight-month-old male Golden Eagle. Words just can't describe how amazing Diesel looks up close and in person.

A large element of the film was to show Steven’s relationship with Diesel and have him demonstrate how he built their unique bond from Diesel's birth.

Using our DJI Inspire 1 drone, mounted with an X5R camera, we got some amazing footage of this magnificent eagle in motion! The Inspire 1 was the perfect drone option for this shoot as it is a nimble and swift machine that produces high-quality footage. Capturing high-quality 4 k aerial footage has never been easier.

falconer with golden eagle

Image by LA Media 'Steven holding Diesel' 

What could possibly go wrong?

But I guess you are wondering, just like we did,  how would Diesel react to the drone? We took it in baby-steps to make sure nobody, especially the eagle, was injured.

We were worried that maybe Diesel would be unsettled by the noise of the drone propellers when in flight. We were also concerned that Diesel might very well think the drone was prey…and attack the drone.

Diesel may have also attacked had he perceived it as a threat. We also wanted to be sure that the eagle didn’t collide with the drone as the eagle’s flight path could be unpredictable.

DJI Inspire 1 Drone

Image by THINK ON Collaborations ' LA Media's Drone' 

What did we do?

We decided to first introduce two at a safe distance (the drone and eagle we mean), while Diesel was tethered on his handler’s arm.

Step by slow step we gradually brought the two closer together. Eventually, we were able to operate the drone while the eagle was still on its tether.  We tested his reaction to the drone taking off and slowly flew around his position.

We are happy to say he was a total pro and wasn't bothered by the buzzing of the drone. When Steven, Diesel’s handler, was convinced that the eagle was comfortable with the drone and its noise while in flight we were both finally ready to take to the air!

Golden and handler

Image by LA Media 'Steven and the Eagle' 

What we'd like to share

Here are a few pictures we captured while filming. Stay tuned to see the full video and you can let us know what you think.

This production was truly a team effort and we’d like to thank everyone who was involved and especially a big thanks to Diesel the eagle who was a consummate professional.

Golden Eagle staring into the camera: video production

Image by THINK ON Collaborations 

 

Diesel is probably the only star who can get away with looking directly into the camera, apart from maybe Kevin Spacey (think Frank Underwood).

The Team

Eagle Handler/ Subject: Steven Mallice

Producer/Director/Photographer: Carrick McLelland

DP: Danny Bonnar

Drone: LA Media

Gimbal Operator: Alistair Girvan

Location: Cambusbarron Quarry near Stirling

 

We hope you liked our blog! If you enjoyed it 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

Before joining the team, our Senior Editor Michael Jameson started his career as a musician and composer.

Now here at LA Media, he gets to combine his love of music with his passion for all things techy. For more than 10 years now Mike has been creating amazing and original bespoke soundtracks for many of our clients.

We understand the importance of good music. So, with Mike's help, we've put together an essential tool kit list to help get you started on your musical journey.

Let's get digital, digital!

With new technology, you don't need to be a child prodigy to be a good composer. You don’t even have to psychically have an instrument to make music. You don’t need a band, a singer or even someone who can read music. Sure, the above helps, but it’s not essential.

Thanks to technology, music is more accessible than ever. You can, in fact, make beautiful music on your computer! In this series of blogs, we look at what equipment you will need to start making your own professional music.

Ask yourself the right questions

In this first installment, we will cover some essential questions for musicians who want to go digital.

Should I go Mac or PC?

What kind of processor do I need?

How big should my hard drive be?

What is a DAW and which one should I get?

Getting the right Computer

The first bit of kit will be the backbone of your studio - the computer. Now, the type of computer required will vary depending on your usage. For the DJ who's constantly on the move, there’s the obvious choice of a laptop. For something more static there’s a desktop solution.

Unfortunately, that’s not it… The next big question is whether to go Mac or PC. Some have very ‘particular’ views on this topic! In the end, it depends on what you are used to. Personally, we prefer Macs. In our youth, we were PC geeks but were converted when OS X was released.

This opinion might be controversial but in our opinion Macs are more stable, less susceptible to viruses, etc., and easier to work with and set up. But that is just our preference and you can still make great music with a PC.

Mac options

Computers to pick from MacBook Pro, iMac, and Mac Pro.

Personally, we would stay away from the ‘new’ Mac Pro. It hasn't been touched since 2013 and costs a fortune. For the DJs out there, the obvious choice is the MacBook Pro.

 

MacBook Pro

 

The new MacBook is not powerful enough as a competitive tool for production. That leaves the iMac for the Studio setup. Not ideal I know, but the new iMacs are pretty powerful if you spec them up on the CPU side, as they have the 6th Gen Intel Core i7 6700K CPU in them.

MacPro

 

Per core, they are nearly twice as powerful as the 2013 12-core Mac Pro’s Xeon CPU cores. With 4 of those cores that are hyper-threaded, you are essentially getting an 8-core machine.  More than enough for most needs AND of course, you get that glorious 27 inches 5K screen.

 

iMac

 

PC options

Well… where to start… we aren’t going to describe the ‘perfect system’ here as there are so many different custom systems out there it would take forever. Here are, however, a couple of very good builders of systems depending on your needs!

Scan Computers

Media Workstations

The machine you’ll need will obviously depend on what you’re going to use it for. A general steer would be to get as high a spec’d processor as you can afford.

For workstations, Xeon CPUs are the mainstay. They tend to be a generation or so behind the latest consumer chips, but they are in general more reliable and have a much higher core count. Unfortunately, there is a caveat… they’re not cheap!

Some would argue that multi-socket Xeon machines are overkill for a home studio. Well, again it would depend on your usage. If you’re constantly running large sessions with high-quality virtual instruments, such as Orchestral VI’s, then you’ll benefit from all those cores. If you’re recording audio and not reliant on CPU-sucking virtual instruments, then a Quad-core Core i7 would do the job well.

Recommendations - CPU:High-end workstation - Dual Intel Xeon E5-2687W v4 12 Core (24 cores total with HT @ 3.00 GHz)

Consumer chip - Either the i7 7700K Quad Core or if you can afford it the i7 6950X Ten Core (a lot more pennies required here!!) Per core, the 7700K is faster, it’s just that the 6950X has ten of them…

How much RAM and Hard Drive space does a musician need?

I’d go for at least 32GB of good quality RAM. More if you can afford it! In terms of Hard Drive try to go for a decent-sized SSD here or if you can, get an M.2 module such as the Samsung 950 Pro 512GB M.2 SSD for blisteringly fast reads and writes.

Although not essential for a composer we will cover graphics. Let’s face it you may want to game on this computer too or need the system to be able to cope with post-production, then something quite beefy would be sensible.

Ultimate option - Nvidia Geforce GTX 1080 8GB (Nearly as fast as the GTX Titan and A LOT cheaper!)

Mid-range - Nvidia Geforce GTX 1060 6GB

Low-end - Nvidia Geforce GTX 950 2GB

 

 Nvidia Geforce GTX 1080 8GB

DAW - Digital Audio Workstation Application

DAW is the software you will use to create your music. This is your canvas and orchestra, which can unleash your genius. Not all DAWs are created equal and trying to figure out which one is best can be difficult.

Like the MAC or PC question, everyone has an opinion on which is king. So, with that said, we use Pro Tools and always have! It’s just what we prefer.

That doesn’t mean you must agree with us! So here are some other options.

Logic Pro

There are literally tons of loops, samplers, instruments, and basically it sports everything you need to go from scratching up ideas for a song to finishing the master mix. It’s also affordable when compared with most major DAWs. Only downside? It works exclusively on the Mac.

Logic Pro

 

Steinberg Cubase

German-made DAW software. Cubase has a steeper learning curve with its sophisticated interface that takes some time to get used to. The samplers included do not give you the best sounding instruments on the market, but they are usable. I find myself digging into 3rd party VSTs like Native Instruments Komplete (which is excellent) when on Cubase though. The thing I really like about Cubase was its stability. Close to no unexpected crashes when producing on Cubase. Cubase also works on the PC and MAC, so collaboration would be a breeze.

Steinberg Cubase

 

Ableton Live

Ableton Live is the must-go DAW software for electronic producers. The workflow on Ableton is different from the other DAWs. You can work really fast, creating lots of tweaks on your audio and tracks. If you are into electronic music, Ableton Live is a software you need to at least try. Ableton Live lacks a score editor, though.

Ableton Live

 

PreSonus Studio One

Studio One was said to be the easiest DAW to use because the DAW is based on a drag-and-drop structure. Everything from instruments, audio tracks, and effects can be dragged and dropped into the arranger window. Studio One was made to be the least technical among the major DAWs so you only focus on the music and not the technical parts of using a DAW. I somehow find Studio One limited in terms of effects, functionality, and features. For example, it lacks surround mixing and score editors. If you can live without having an integrated score editor and want something straightforward/easy, take Studio One for a spin.

PreSonus Studio One

 

Pro Tools

Pro Tools recently launched its new subscription-based plan where you can subscribe to use Pro Tools for only £24.99 a month. Known as the industry standard, most professional studios would be using Pro Tools, so if you’re thinking of joining the pro level, starting off with the lighter version of Pro Tools isn’t a bad idea at all. It used to be the case that Pro Tools only worked with its dedicated hardware - MBox, Digi 003, etc… and the various Pro Tools HD setups. Thankfully that has now changed and it will work with any 3rd party hardware. We personally like the uncluttered appearance of the software. The tools are laid out in an easy-to-understand way. Again, just our opinion! Also, it works on both Mac and PC.

Pro Tools

 

Anyway! That’s enough for now. Next, we’ll be dealing with picking the perfect Headphones.

 

We hope you’ve found this blog helpful! If you enjoyed this blog don’t forget to follow us on: TwitterFacebook, and Instagram for your daily dose of media, music, production & 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

 

 

 

The Netflix series, formerly known as Scrotal Recall, now known as Lovesick is a British sitcom created by BAFTA-nominated writer, Tom Edge. Starring Johnny FlynnAntonia Thomas, and Daniel Ings, the show is a fun romantic comedy that follows the exploits of the main character Dylan.

Lovesick Season 2 Drone Filming in Scotland by LA MEDIA

Image by LA Media 'Drone Filming Over Loch Lomond' 

 

The series, which was set in Glasgow,  follows Dylan on his mission to contact his former romantic partners to inform them he has chlamydia. So as you can imagine it has a fantastic amount of hilariously awkward cringe-worthy material. Originally broadcast on Channel 4, Lovesick was quickly picked up by Netflix and made available to US and Canadian audiences.

Lovesick Season 2 Drone Filming by LA MEDIA in Scotland

Image by LA Media 'Drone Filming Over Loch Lomond' 

 

Due to its success across the pond, the show was commissioned by Netflix for another cracking season comprised of eight episodes. This is where we step in, LA Media was asked to film the drone footage for season 2! We filmed a lot of scenes at Loch Lomond in the summer of 2016 using our DJI Inspire with the Zenmuse X5R. Filming near Loch Lomond was a real pleasure as it is one of the most beautiful woodland areas in Scotland.

Lovesick Season 2 Drone Filming by LA MEDIA in Scotland

Image by LA Media 'Drone Filming Over Loch Lomond' 

 

With majestic lochs, epic lowland landscapes, and plenty of mountains there was no shortage of stunning backgrounds. We got lots of vibrant shots, which you can now view on Netflix or you can see on our Facebook and Instagram. The images on this blog show you just how beautiful a location it was and amazingly, for Scotland, how good the weather was. We enjoyed plenty of bright sunshine and clear skies! Perfect conditions for our drone team to work their magic.

 

If you enjoyed this blog don’t forget to follow us on: Twitter, 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

Recently we were very pleased to be asked by BBC 2 to capture drone footage of Scotland’s stunning North Sea Coast for the fifth episode of their fascinating new series, The Great Guide. With Neil Oliver and Tessa Dunlop presenting the show takes the viewer on an exclusive guided tour of the North Sea Coast, which spans from the Forth in Scotland to the Humber in England.

Show highlights include the military shipbuilding project at Rosyth, the unique bird colony at Inchmickery, and the historic Holy Island of Lindisfarne. The two presenters provide unique insight and stories about each of the locations. If you do watch it, you’ll no doubt pick up one or two juicy historical goodies.

Drones Photography North Sea Coast Eyemouth Filmed for BBC 2

Image by LA Media 

 

Using our Inspire drone, mounted with a DJI X5R camera, we filmed various locations and were very lucky to enjoy truly beautiful Scottish weather, a rare thing indeed. We did lots of long-distance drone flying to get these shots.

Anyone who knows drones will know that flying a drone at a long distance is one of the hardest ways to fly a drone. It requires a skilled pilot with good battery judgement and nerves of steel, which we are lucky to have in John! If you want to see some of Scotland’s most epic landscapes, then definitely go watch the show on iPlayer while it is available. If you have a keen eye you will be able to spot lots of our lovely aerial footage.

Drones Photography North Sea Coast Forth Road Bridges Filmed for BBC 2

Image by LA Media 

Our fully licensed, two-man drone team, successfully and safely were able to capture footage of the Forth Road Bridges, the Eyemouth Rocks, one of the new Aircraft carriers under construction at the docks in Rosyth, and the bird colony of Inchmickery. There were a few tricky drone shots that we were able to execute but overall it was a great drone flying experience. We certainly learned a few new things, especially about flying drones near top-secret military ships! Luckily, neither Justin nor John ended up in the brig har har har...

Drones Photography North Sea Coast Eyemouth 2 Filmed for BBC 2

Image by LA Media 

 

Project: The Great Coast Guide, Episode 5, Our North Sea Coast

Client: BBC 2

 

This was a unique and amazing project to be a part of and we are really proud of the footage we shot. If you enjoyed this blog 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