Boise, Idaho New Construction Video
- Thread starter helipilot304
- Start date
I see you want feedback... excellent! It's always so much easier to critique someone else than produce something worthwhile of your own. 
Nice work. Those rotations were really smooth. In general however, I feel you could do with more variety and less repetition. Combine your fly-overs with a downward pan, try shooting straight down (from varying heights, from a hover, slow pass or combined hover-rotation), get closer to add interest and vary the duration of your cuts. If this is a commission, obtain permission and get as close as rules allow. Otherwise, flying in after-hours would provide more opportunity to get down 'n dirty.
The light's pretty good, but you're often too high to make the most of it, or you're facing into it. Unless you're going for silhouettes or 'special effects', spend more time with the sun behind the camera - especially as you get lower. The snowy mountain backdrop is spectacular. Take advantage of it and incorporate it more in your framing.
Nice work. Those rotations were really smooth. In general however, I feel you could do with more variety and less repetition. Combine your fly-overs with a downward pan, try shooting straight down (from varying heights, from a hover, slow pass or combined hover-rotation), get closer to add interest and vary the duration of your cuts. If this is a commission, obtain permission and get as close as rules allow. Otherwise, flying in after-hours would provide more opportunity to get down 'n dirty.
The light's pretty good, but you're often too high to make the most of it, or you're facing into it. Unless you're going for silhouettes or 'special effects', spend more time with the sun behind the camera - especially as you get lower. The snowy mountain backdrop is spectacular. Take advantage of it and incorporate it more in your framing.
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Incredibly sound advice from Pygar70. Adding to his wisdom I would cut the duration by 1/3 and maybe a little more. Also a few "stills" mixed in might be interesting. On high res stills I sometimes do a post processing slow zoom, usually in, to give movement and to highlight interesting subjects in the frame.
You may have done this project for a client and they may have provided you with a list of instructions of what they expect(ed). If that is the case, you most likely fulfilled it.
Thanks for the critique! You have some really valid points! I'll be using some of your ideas in my next shoot!I see you want feedback... excellent! It's always so much easier to critique someone else than produce something worthwhile of your own.
Nice work. Those rotations were really smooth. In general however, I feel you could do with more variety and less repetition. Combine your fly-overs with a downward pan, try shooting straight down (from varying heights, from a hover, slow pass or combined hover-rotation), get closer to add interest and vary the duration of your cuts. If this is a commission, obtain permission and get as close as rules allow. Otherwise, flying in after-hours would provide more opportunity to get down 'n dirty.
The light's pretty good, but you're often too high to make the most of it, or you're facing into it. Unless you're going for silhouettes or 'special effects', spend more time with the sun behind the camera - especially as you get lower. The snowy mountain backdrop is spectacular. Take advantage of it and incorporate it more in your framing.
Nice and smooth flying! As a novice pilot I am unqualified to critique your flight, but it is an ideal Litchi Waypoint mission with carefully placed POI (point of interests) and supporting WP (waypoints). Just a thought!
Early on I learned the hard way to shoot my raw construction footage in the Log color curve (D-Log for DJI). As you can see from this un-color-corrected sample, my earlier footage suffers from the same color artifacts as yours does:
I had convinced my inner photography child that this video was just "quick and dirty" and was being utilized for "forensics," so "color didn't matter." So I left the camera in a mostly auto setting. Big mistake. It didn't take long before I started shooting in D-Log and custom WB, which allowed me to get a better handle on the color:
The challenge is keeping color consistent across seasons and different weather conditions. I try to shoot the same time of day for color and shadow consistency, but I can't always do that. Sometimes I have to shoot later in the day, which changes the WB. Subtle color temp changes throughout the season are inevitable.
I don't allow AWB because AWB will change the WB in the middle of a shoot. So instead I hard-code the White Balance based on the season and/or cloud cover. Ideally, I would shoot on only sunny days. But clients are more concerned with construction video delivered in a timely manner than color temperature. If I had my druthers, I would set custom WB using a gray card. But I just don't have time for that and the conditions are less than ideal for that method. So I take "best guesses" to get WB into the "ballpark." I'd bet dollars to doughnuts I'm not more than a 200K or 300K off...but I digress....
Regarding composition, construction is kind of easy. Video is about telling a story. And the story you are telling is "construction progress." My clients were only concerned with forensics, so I suggested basically 3 shots;
* a POI of the entire site
* a nadir, strafe of the entire site (flying forward)
* and then an oblique shot of the entire site (flying backward)
So far, every construction client has been very satisfied with my work. This is reflected in the "call backs" for new projects.
Note: Screen captures are not color corrected.
I hope this helps.
D
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I like how you blend your footage to create a sort of construction time-lapse on the fly. Do you use Litchi to fly the same route and get the same angles each time? And what do you mean when you write that your clients are only concerned with forensics?
Thanx.
No. I use a legacy version of AutoPilot - v4.7.
I was initially hired for the purpose of spotting construction mistakes before they became a problem. Apparently this particular construction company had been plagued by some construction debacles in the past that had cost them thousands to correct. Their hope was that aerial videography would flush out these mistakes early.
Before shooting I met with a team of engineers, foremen and an architect to find out exactly what their objective was and what they needed from me. Based on all their needs, I designed the flights. About 4 months into my first project they spotted a plumbing error courtesy my nadir shot that would've cost well into 5-figures to correct had they not spotted it early. This pretty much secured my position with that company.
I shoot in 4K, do some color correction and sharpening, down-res to 1080p, upload it to my Google Drive, send the pertinent people a URL, send an invoice to accounting and receive checks. I haven't seen an actual person for about 2 years. In fact, only last week did I actually speak on the phone with the guy who originally hired me to gain access to one of their sites that had been cut off by some construction equipment. It's a good relationship.
Because of our weather restrictions, I ask for a 3-day shoot window. They know I can hit this target window 99% of the time. In a little more than 3 years with them, I have missed the target deadline 3 times. I always send email to let them know that weather conditions will delay their footage. They never reply to email, which is okay with me. No news is good news....<;^)
I am now on my 5th project with them with another one in the works.
D
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Thanks for the feedback! The shoot was super contrast. The shadows were super dark and the sky was super bright. Chased what the correct settings were and then chased some more in post. I always shoot in d-log but just could find the right combo. Awesome advice! Thanks for taking the time to respond!
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