The number of drone related incidents has prompted the U.S. Department of Transportation to introduce new laws requiring owners to register their UAVs. The initiative is an effort to address the rising number of unauthorized drone sightings near airports and crowded public venues.
The Federal Aviation Association is backing a ban that would prohibit extra lithium batteries as cargo on commercial passenger airliners. However, globetrotting video crews who depend on lithium ion technology should not panic that the cargo ban will affect their travel for video production.
With close to a 1000 CAA licensed drone operators in the UK the challenge of finding a company capable of doing the right job is presenting an issue for film and TV producers. The industry is growing so fast that researching an outfit by viewing their website or requesting a showreel is not sufficient. “This is the most we are tackling at the moment,” says Ben Fisher, Co-Founder & CEO of UAV bookings agency Bookadrone. “How do producers distinguish the options and make the right choice in an increasingly busy market?”
Here is some guidance for prospective producers in search of a drone operator:
Evaluating the images from 4K cameras like the BlackMagic URSA, AJA Cion, and morass of DSLR variants, the need is glaring for a more finished less brash look, whether shooting a feature film, regional commercial, or the network news.
In today’s environment, a reliable wireless link between the camera and the satellite uplink is essential. Beyond effectiveness, there are health and safety concerns about laying cables across pathways and other egress areas.
In everyday speech, perspective is another word for having a point of view. In the image forming sense, the same is literally true, because perspective depends on the position of the point from which the image is captured and nothing else.
Artists have exploited light as an essential part of art since the days of the old masters. Techniques like chiaroscuro use light to model the subject, to give depth to the two-dimensional rendition. These artists had two forms of light at their disposal, hard light from the sun, and soft light from a cloudy sky. The light could then be modified with diffusers and reflectors. When photography into use in the mid 19th century they adopted the lighting techniques of the painters. Many artists constructed studios with north facing windows to flood the room with diffuse light. Alongside photography another technology was developing, artificial lighting. More recently governments have been encouraging research and development into the transition to LEDs for business, domestic and street lighting in order to save the power consumed by lighting. The media and entertainment sector can also leverage the results of this research. Apart from power-saving, more efficient light means less demands for air conditioning and cooler talent. Sweating under the studio lights could be consigned to the history books.
When computers began replicating and replacing expensive electro-mechanical broadcast TV production and playback systems, the gravy train ended for some and started for others. Affordable digital TV production gear has slashed the ante for producers and is making mountains of television content with high technical integrity available for everyone.
