From the Dales of Yorkshire to the City Skyline of Chicago, my journey so far on my aerial adventure has taken me to some amazing places. From right on my doorstep in Yorkshire, filming amazing mountains and countryside, to the hustle and bustle of a major US city such as Chicago. Each and every location brings with it fresh challenges, both legally and logistically. It’s not just a case of sending the drone, as we say. There are safety and risk assessments that need to be done, and planning too.
The rewards for all this though are more than worth it. From just one aerial photo or a few seconds of an aerial video clip, you can speak a thousand words. You can put the customer or client in a position to understand a lot more or take in more knowledge than a simple email or book. It could be a wedding venue wanting to showcase their beautiful building or a leisure facility wanting to show the scale of their facilities. A simple 5-second clip or photograph using our drones will educate your clients faster than any other way.
The fact is, 10 years ago to get cinematic aerial footage like drones can now, you would have needed to hire a helicopter and cameraman. The possibilities are now simply endless with what a drone can do. All of a sudden, there are no limits to the vision and scenes you can film. What’s more, you don’t have to go high to capture an amazing scene. A few meters from the ground can make all the difference, from a simple van follow for a haulage firm to a Wildlife park covering 50 acres, we have done it all.
Filming in the USA in locations such as Chicago and Philadelphia was easy to do, yet places like New York and Washington have a virtual lockdown for drones with no flying allowed at all. Washington, in particular, is locked down due to the Pentagon and other buildings. Chicago, whilst easy to fly in, brought its own problems in that the tall high-rise buildings act as magnets and jam the GPS signals that a drone uses to position itself. This is when nerves of steel are required and a steady hand, helped with little or no wind. The end footage, as our showreel shows, is well worth it.
Tower Bridge was always on my list to film and despite London being hard to fly in, there is a window one side of Tower Bridge where drones are allowed, meaning you can actually fly right up to the bridge, however once you get to it the drone will stop as the Geofence kicks in. Our showreel includes this footage which looks amazing with the dramatic and angry skyline. On the flip side, filming for Yorkshire Tea for an advert was fairly simple in terms of logistics and hazards as it was set deep in the Yorkshire Dales with no power lines, buildings, or no-fly zones to contend with, the wind however played a part and we had to use our new big drone, as we call it, which was able to combat the high winds and provide steady and smooth 4k cinematic content for the client.
LogicBarn is proud of what we have achieved in a short space of time when providing our aerial videography and photography services, and our new showreel highlights the varied nature of our shoots for many happy clients. So sit back and enjoy a few minutes of watching what we can do, all we need is your ideas and we can bring the vision.
By Mark Cahill
