Transforming the Aerial Shot: Drones and the Omcopter

Written by Anthony Watkins

In their films, directors and cinematographers have numerous types of shots to use to fuel their creative vision, from stationary close-ups to long shots to dolly shots to even more complex shots like the dolly zoom. One of the more popular types of shot that is typically only used in higher budget films is the aerial shot. As the name suggests, this type of shot is taken from the sky, usually focused on an object or person on the ground. The aerial shot can function in a number of ways. It can follow action such as a duel or a car chase or function as a method of showcasing the environment of characters, such as the surface of Mars in The Martian (Scott, 2015). It can even be used simply as a way of communicating the futility of certain action such as two isolated characters fighting, as in Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar (2014).

In this shot from Interstellar (2014), two characters are fighting, but the futility of their quarrel and corresponding isolation is revealed through the aerial shot. 

Long aerial shots, such as this shot from The Martian (Scott, 2015) serves to provide viewers with a breathtaking, but desolate view of Matt Damon's environment on Mars.

Whatever the motivation for its use, the aerial shot is a powerful tool that, unfortunately, is usually limited to use in Hollywood productions due to the expense of using a helicopter or plane and the subsequent complex rigging of the camera. However, in recent years the development of drones have allowed filmmakers to reach new, less expensive heights in their quest for aerial shots. Drones are unmanned, remote-controlled aircraft that are significantly cheaper and more agile than full-size flying machines like helicopters. A drone and camera crew can be as cheap as $5,000 a day, compared to at least $25,000 per day for the use of helicopters (Verrier, par. 4). 

Film experts say that the continued use and future use of drones has the potential to open up new possibilities in filmmaking in much the same fashion as lightweight cameras did in the 1960s and the Steadicam in the 1970s. “Drones are like a Steadicam that can operate 200 feet up in the air…it’s an entirely new vernacular in the language of filmmaking,” according to Michael Chambliss of the International Cinematographers Guild (Verrier, par. 10). Indeed, a key feature of drones is not only their ability to fly and maneuver in tight spaces, but also that they provide stability in the air. 

An example of a recent drone is the Omcopter, which is the first drone able to anchor the highly-regarded Red Epic camera (The same camera used in Peter Jackson’s Hobbit trilogy as well as in recent Messiah productions including Thornbird  and Oak Bones). The Red Epic, a digital cinema camera possessing a dynamic range of 18 f-stops and able to record resolutions up to 5K and a frame rate of 300 frames per second, is unsurprisingly a highly-sought after hot-piece in the filmmaking world. The development of the Omcopter drone has allowed filmmakers to expand the Red’s cinematic capabilities by shooting elegantly from hundreds of feet in the air, providing highly stable shots for filmmakers and audiences. Peter Jackson himself even used the drone in the filming of The Hobbit (2012). 

OMCOPTER - Flying Epic from omstudios on Vimeo.

Check out the video above to see the Omcopter in action.

OMCOPTER - Ninja shoot with Epic from omstudios on Vimeo.

The video above demonstrates the true potential of the Omcopter's capabilities, as a scene involving ninjas is filmed from the Omcopter.

Despite the many benefits that drones provide, there are inevitable limitations. Some of these include winds and speed of the drone. High winds will make the omcopter less stable and more difficult to control. Also, helicopters are able to achieve much higher speeds than the omcopter or other drones, so some action sequences such as car chases are impossible with a remote-controlled drone. Also, as you may have noticed in the Ninja video, the drone gives itself away when shooting close to the ground---either by blowing dust from the ground or moving blades of grass (see 1:22 or 1:32), so the operator needs to be careful to avoid these possible giveaways. Nevertheless, the omcopter and drones in general help bypass the limitations of cranes or steadicams by providing stable aerial shots. It will be very interesting to see the increasing development of drones in the coming years, and how filmmakers will implement the use of drones and what types of shots they create for their films.
 
 
WORKS CITED
 
Verrier, Richard. “Drones are providing film and TV viewers a new perspective on the
action.” LA Times. 8 Oct. 2015. 25 Apr. 2016. Web. <http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/cotown/la-et-ct-drones-hollywood-20151008-story.html>.