Hi everyone, I recently bought a Mavic Mini and I’ve been trying to get better at flying and filming with it.
I put a little video together of some shots that I took near where I live and would love to hear what people have to say. I could do with some advice on how to make my shots look better, what tricks you guys use when flying and filming, just how to get better at this in general. If you have any great YouTubers that you follow then let me know.
The channel that this video is on is my own but it’s not exclusively about drone footage. I just want to incorporate more drone footage in my regular videos to add to the story. Feel free to subscribe but don’t expect just drone videos.
Good shooting, smooth movements, fantastic scenery, so off to a great start! And excellent ability at avoiding tree branches too!
I’m no expert but maybe think about:
More dynamic movement in the shots, follow a curved path rather than straight in/out or simple pans
Different camera angles
Find opportunities to reveal the scenery or objects within it e.g. move out past the trees to reveal something else, move over the crest of a hill to reveal a beach etc
If you like filming yourself/others in the landscape, maybe try some shots with people more mobile, follow-me, active-track type shots
If that’s your first I’m looking forward to the next one I really enjoyed that, lovely camera work and smooth control of your drone so well done and thanks for sharing
Thank you very much @Rafter! Yeah, I suppose if you’ve watched it till the end that’s a good sign!
That’s interesting @Mavic2Pro! So do you fly in Cine and then speed it up later in post? I never thought of keeping the turns in. They don’t feel natural to me but I’m sure there’s a way to do them properly. I’ll have a look online for tutorials.
Thanks @stevesb! That part took me soooo long to get right! It was the first time doing it but I saw a YouTuber do a tutorial and I thought I’d give it a go. Here’s the link if you’re interested:
@kvetner fantastic feedback, thank you so much! I really like the things you mentioned but how do I go about working those things out? Do you know any YouTubers that do any tutorials or any cinematic shots that you really like? I think the best thing is to find something that I like and try to “copy” the movements. I love the idea of doing more dynamic movements and reveal the scenery by moving around objects and stuff…I just don’t know where to start.
@Scubadave63 thank you very much for watching! It wasn’t my first time flying but still very early on (about an hour total flight time) but I am interested in video and photography so I have a little bit of background but nothing special. I’m just trying to learn and get better.
Great video. Liking that. I too have my own YouTube channel I’ve just started, 'Essex on Film, and plan on adding drone footage as I go (HS510 only arrived last week) I do wish I didn’t live in such a built up area with so many restrictions on my doorstep (four airports and MOD land.
That was a splendid vbideo, much better than any of mine. However, if I may I would like to make one suggestion that you might like to try. When editing the video why not try inserting a transition between one scene and the next. Maybe it’s just me but when any video (and most of them do !) goes from one scene instantly to the next I find it a bit harsh (best word I can think of at the moment) on my eyes. Maybe it’s my old eyes but I find watching any video much more comforting to watch if it doesn’t go "scene-bang-next scene-bang-next scene-bang-next scene. It is easier, certainly on my eyes and brain, if a video goes scene-smooth transition-scene-scene-smooth transition-scene. Just an idea.
I tend to agree. I think sharp non transition frame changes work best when clipped to the beat of a piece of music (115bmp) to 122 bpm) whereas even a simple half second crossed fade transition can make a whole world of difference. Don’t get me wrong, fantastic video but the right amount of clip transitions can make a real difference.
iEvangelos, Search YouTube for Smartphone Gimble Photography Tuts. They are a great way to learn shot compositions such as the reveal and crane shots. The principles are more or less the same for drone filming.
@OldSoulBoy
Thank you very much! I know what you mean, it’s a pain if you live in a busy built up area. It seems that there’s no room to fly your drone at all. Thankfully I’m lucky enough to have a lot of open space around where I live.
@scraperman
I know exactly what you mean and I’ve played around with transitions but I don’t think I found something that satisfies my eye just yet. Nothing that I can make look natural and when I try a transition it usually reminds me of something made on Powerpoint. I’ll have to see what other people use for their transitions. Some YouTubers have such smooth transitions in their videos it’s amazing!
@kvetner
I checked out your video and I can totally see what you mean. Also I really liked the almost top-down view of the bridge. I really liked that perspective. I think you had a bit of everything in that video, revealing behind a object, non linear movement, etc…it gave me ideas! Thank you!
I have only ever used Cyberlink Power Director for any video editing and transitions are really easy in there. Lots of different options as well but I would think all video editors have the same facility.
