Hi Rich,
My first footage was not really any better, and I onky started 18 months ago, so if I can do it, then so can anyone…
You only get better with practice, and its about taking a long look at what you are filming and critiquing it, honestly and impassionately…
Your video is not crap, it defintiely has some good bits in it, there is an approach to the retail park at 9min+ with a subtle gimball down move that is great, as is the approach to the towers at 13 mins and some of the towers orbit later is good - although there is a little ‘crabbing’ present…
Ok, first things first, have you set your flying mode to Cine, and trimmed the settings to maximise smoothness? Ian in London has a great set of video’s on ajusting settings for smooth flight, which gives that cinematic look to the footage - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwVK87WJuik
Next, think about what you are presenting and your audience, while you may enjoy a long night flight video over the subject, will your viewers sick around and watch it all the way through? If they don’t then YT algorithm will reduce your video’s exposure - one of the metrics is watch length and % viewed. Somtimes less is more, for a subject like this I would be looking at an absolute max of 5 minutes, and given the tiktok generation and dwindling attention spans you may find that they dont view more than the first 30 to 60 seconds… Most folks will only watch 2 to 3 minutes unless they are absolutely engaged, so keep the length down - which also helps to keep your footage to only your very best bits…
Next, plan your flight, look at what intro and outtro moves you want, a gimball up reveal and a ‘flyawa’ move at the start and end of the edit will give your video a better storyline. Between thesee use a mix of diferent shts, tracking shots, panning shots, top down shots, rise ups etc. At first limit your movement to only one or two planes, such as flying right or left, or forwards or backwards, or ascending or descending, but as you get better you can combine them - one of my favourites is a tracking pan, where I fly in one direction and pan in the opposite, giveing a mush more interesting and dynamic feel to the footage.
As regards flying the drone, keep your movements in one direction, dont alter speed or move the gimbal, or alter the turning speed, and definitely no sudden movements, this will make it easier to achieve the cinematic smoothness that you need.
Ad then in editing, you can selectively boost the diferent bands of brightness, which will allow you to increase detail in the darker areas without burning out the brighter lights…
As always, make sure you stay ;egal with yur flights, at night use strobes for better visibility and to comply with CAA regs, and ideally try and have a spotter with you to watch the drone while you are concentrating on the screen and the footage you are capturing…
Hoe this helps…
