Thursday, September 18, 2014
Aerial Cinematography Firm ShotOver Bringing Changes to Business Model
Variety: Whether swooping between skyscrapers or soaring over the seacoast, a day with an aerial cinematography team can revive the romance of flight. No wonder some directors can’t wait to get up in the air.
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4 comments:
I'm glad that someone is willing to sell. We just went over this in Studiocraft with Todd. Veralight refused to sell their equipment and then other companies that were willing to sell won out over them. It is such a shame that good products have greedy makers like that. There will be a few that see the benefit of renting over buying, like the guy in the article, but there will also be a lot of people that would LOVE to own their own mounted camera. Some people don't mind not always have the newest technology, as long as it is reliable.
Aerial cinematography is SUPER fun!. Imagine the kind of movies we would still be watching without it. The best shots people could get would be from a roof top or on top of a car. Even the camera-out-the-window method has a huge impact on the effect of the movie. Granted some movies have way too many aerial shots, they are still usually pretty cool. It is cool that the directors will plan for the camera team to make their own shots because that gives so much more artistic freedom to the artist. Plus, you never know what it will look like until you get up there, and then they might find a great shot that the director didn't ask for.
This is really really cool. Whenever I saw the Aerial shots I never really wondered how it was done... it was just done. But after watching the video and seeing the technology used to get these gorgeous shots, it blows my mind!!! Just like what Kristen said, we had talked about selling and renting equipment in stagecraft with Todd and he had mentioned how because Veralight refused to sell their equipment they lost a lot of customers. But the guy in the article made a good point. When you rent equipment you're not making a commitment and so if the product is bad, it's not that big of a deal. Also, he mentioned how something brand new today will be old in 6 months. And you can't just keep buying the new best thing because you'll never be able to keep up. Renting would be cheaper and you don't have to regret buying something two weeks ago that is now outdated.
It's funny how so much work goes into such little things that we never even think about. Of course people acknowledge beautiful shots and well done cinematography, but aerial shots often pass by my eyes without any second thought. Perhaps this is just a situation that is like theatre where if you don't notice it then it's a job well done. A seamless movie where you don't notice transitions or how particular a shot is must mean everyone did a great job making sure that the entire piece of work was for the story and improved the experience rather than just being flashy.
Aerial shots in movies are almost always amazing and now I understand why. It's not just the pilot or a cameraman but both working together and the longer they have been working together as a team the better they will be. The tie in between this and VariLite is interesting but I don't think you can really compare the two. There is very little danger in putting a moving light in the hands of someone who doesn't know how to use or maintain it but having a poorly maintained camera rig on the nose of a helicopter is something else entirely. By putting these rigs in the hands of more people are also increasing the risk of accidents. Poorly trained pilots pulling off risky maneuvers just to get a good shot sounds like a recipe for disaster. In this case I think the rent model is better.
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