Drones Everywhere

Wrrrrrrrrr…..

• Olympic Drone #7

The high pitched whine of the tiny drones that have invaded the Olympic sports have somehow become both the most beautiful shots, as well as the most annoying audio situation. This shift might be the most obvious one of this winter.

What’s chasing me

These drones are a special class called “FPV”, or First Person View. That is, the operator has on a headset or a screen to see exactly what the drone sees in front of it. This type is used in racing, and also increasingly in video production.

Evidently they found that these tiny “ultralight” drones are not heard or seen by the skiiers, luge, or other athletes because of how they are positioned. By keeping them behind the athletes, it ensures athletes safety (can’t crash into them), and keeps the sound quiet enough that the wind is still way more prominent.

While they have used them in some relatively enclosed spaces of the luge track, the noise polution alone will probabily keep drones away from any indoor activities you may be thinking about anytime soon!

Getting live video

Most drones have a camera, and a way of sending that back to the operator, but the signal (wifi or proprietary) can glitch or have quality issues.

In order to have up to 10 of these in a single venue, and to keep any RF (radio frequency) noise from causing issues on a live international broadcast, they use a special multi-spectral radio. The radios transmit video redunantly, as well as with error correction, so any glitches can be easily corrected within milliseconds!

Having both a tiny broadcast quality camera and redundant video streams still needs one more technical thing most drones lack. That is the “shading”, or color and brightnes correction that is done by a dedicated engineer. They adjust the drone’s camera so that it’s color matches the other broadcast cameras despite having a different image chip.

White snow, white shoes, different times of day, and outfits all provide a huge technical challenge.

But, with careful planning and lots of technical improvement, we are in a time when these flying shots are virtually indistinguishable from the hundreds of thousands of dollars

Pulling this off

In the Olympics, each drone has a 3 person crew:

• Pilot - wears goggles and operates the drone
• Director - coordinates the shot and placement with the race and broadcast
• Technician - keeps batteries and equipment running on the field

While a different event might have a smaller crew, these roles are necessary in order to wow your audience with a live camera shot from the air.

So, how would you do this at your venue? Maybe you want a wide shot of the parking lot filling, a view of a city-wide celebration, or to show the live sunset as your event starts.

Bringing in a live feed from outside is a great way to make your production more dynamic. Use a professional drone that can hook into your video system, rather than a cheap consumer drone. And, as always, be sure that you comply with FAA guidelines.

Annoying fad or here to stay

While drones might not be the fit everywhere, the technology will continue to improve.

I think that the noise will take years to minimize, but the size, video quality, and battery life will continue to go beyond what the current cutting edge models can provide.

Let me know what you have done, or if you need ideas on how to use drones live or recording to enhance your visuals.