Hill forts

Where to fly your drone in the UK
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I’ll start off with some footage, I have Twmbarlwm and Ruperra I’ve taken in the past but can get some better stuff now I know.

Twmbarlwm.

Ruperra.

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Twmbarlwm.
Imgur

Imgur

Ruperra.
Imgur

Imgur

Imgur

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63

Please see Members Area, GADC Drone Information Pack , to be able to download a leaflet from @Airchaeology, which can be printed out for your use.

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64

Must learn how to do that !! Thanks Dave

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Well @Airchaeology !,
Did not take long for that to kick off !
Well done @MementoMori for the first of many, we hope !.
Please make sure all your pictures and videos are named, area taken, when taken, etc.
I am not sure if Dave wants them posted here, or, directly to the Airchaeology Website.
Perhaps @Airchaeology (Dave) can clarify this for everyone !

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66

Thanks for the leaflet @Airchaeology
Will make life easier in our pursuit

Can i suggest that any footage taken is labelled with the reference code of the site on the airchaeology website.

David, you suggested not to film in 4K due to bandwidth issues, what. Format do you want the video in and where do you want delivering?

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I didn’t read all the posts last night when I posted so not sure if I’d missed anything, I’d been up over 20 ours from being up for work.
If we can have some clarification on where we should post any media that would be great.

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Over to you @Airchaeology (Dave) !

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That was very efficiently done! Thank you for getting posting this on your forum. I hope it will help. Whenever I meet people while out flying they quickly become friendly and helpful when they know I’m there for a reason. Thanks also for your guidance notes regarding use of the leaflets. You obviously appreciate the slight risk that someone waves the leaflet around after doing something naughty. One low pass over Buckingham Palace and we’ll be toast! But without the support of the drone community the whole idea is a non-starter anyway, so fingers crossed.

Could I ask that we avoid NT and English Heritage sites for now? We won’t be able to publish any footage from their sites without permission and we’d rather not get their back up at this early stage. If and when we establish some credibility as responsible group, then we may be able to apply for special access to their sites.

Thanks again, David

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Dave,
Can you give our Members guidance on where you would like the pictures/videos posted, Here , or direct to the “Airchaeology” Website.
Some basic instruction/guidance of what you require would be helpful.

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Hi David
Do you have a list of none Heritage or trust sites we could use
Would be easier for us to help if we could target them first so you could use our data as a foot in there door so to speak.
Jeff

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72

Yes, referencing the footage using the site code from the map is a great idea. I hadn’t thought of that but it makes perfect sense. We could also add a suffix for the flight path e.g. EN3254-HighCircuit, EN3254-FlyOver1, EN3254-PlanView. What do you think?

4K is fantastic for quality but I am concerned that we will quickly run out of storage space and we need to down sample for web streaming anyway. Other than that any resolution is fine.

Haven’t established a formal procedure for receiving footage yet. So far I have asked for a contact via the webform and then we respond by email with an upload link to a Dropbox or Onedrive folder. We then download the footage, edit and upload to Youtube (probably switching to Vimeo shortly). Any advice on improving this workflow is very welcome.

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If you are looking to edit these before they are uploaded your Website,
you are going to be extremely busy !.
Most of us like to edit our own footage, which I am sure will be more than acceptable for your needs.
A dedicated Youtube or Vimeo Channel is probably better for you, as they do the storing for you.
Members can upload in 720p or higher, you could then download from Youtube what you require, edit it as you see fit (if required) then upload to your own site as required.
That way you can keep control of the situation.
Just my thoughts !
Chime in anyone with your thoughts !!

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Wow! That’s set the bar high! Might have to shoot some of mine again. Beautiful scenery - the panoramic shots look stunning. Looks like you graded the footage. Do you use Premiere for that?

Can you send me the footage? If you email me david@airchaeology.org I will send you a link to the Onedrive folder. Did you have approval? If not, we could make contact with them from airchaeology. Perhaps we should draft a pro-forma email for general approval requests?

Cheers

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I agree with all your points.

This is what I do with the footage:

  1. Trim start and finish to remove anything ‘non-site’

  2. Adjust playback speed by 150-300% to shorten the clip. This is the editors judgement - it needs to be quick enough to be interesting but not look silly. I usually try to make it look like it was shot by a helicopter for a nature documentary.

  3. Export to 1080p HD (1920 x 1080 H.264)

  4. Colour adjustment/grading optional

  5. Captions/music not required.

I have been warned off Youtube so will start using Vimeo from now on.

Finally, please supply your Name (if you want to be credited on the site), UAV details, Date recorded and any permissions (if required), plus anything else you’d like to mention. Some contributions have come in with information about the site, local knowledge/rumours/folklore/funny stories. All this will add interest and ‘colour’ to for the reader. We will research and include the ‘technical’ details of each site on the website.

Thanks

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Wouldn’t it be easier to review the footage from someone and link to their video?
It doesn’t sound as interesting now if you are going to cut away at a video someone has spent time trying to be happy with.
Just my opinion and I’ll probably go out and get footage of other hill forts at some point, I just won’t bother doing the edit to share it though.

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I agree @MementoMori , defeats the object of someone, probably travelling many miles to do it, probably walking miles as well (in some cases) to reach a fort.
Then get home, submit it, only to find all his hard work has been hacked to a 30 second video !!.
Not exactly what people would expect from this project.
It’s like a Lego Project, you build it up, and then someone comes and knocks it down !

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Hang on, guys! @Airchaeology was clear about the kind of video he was wanting right from the outset.

This is fundamentally data for his project - not a competition as to who can take, edit and submit the most aesthetically pleasing video of a hill fort.

If you create a video as per the above, it will be what it is … and what @Airchaeology needs and wants for his project.

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point taken !

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I get what you mean, it does seem a lot of effort to record a video which looks similar to everyone else’s. Standardising the format is just our attempt to ensure that all the features of the site are recorded and nothing is accidentally missed. It would be a shame to exclude a key archaeological feature in an attempt to create a pleasing video.

Having said that, if you discover a dramatic location and have an idea for a creative, cinematic treatment we’d love to see it. Part of our objective is to raise public awareness and some of these sites are truly atmospheric, especially when the sun is low. So if you’re feeling creative please don’t hold back. We could use a well edited, ‘feature’ video on the Home page. :+1:

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