Drone & Directorial

§ Directing Reshoots and Supplemental Footage

The Walking Dead: Dead City

Directed all the VFX plate shoots and drone work for the movie.

Swan Song

Directed all the VFX plate shoots, splinter and drone work for the movie.

Directed three days of shoots with a drone and RED camera teams getting supplemental footage for the film. These vary from establishing shots to supplemental footage required by the Director, Dennis Gansel to maintain the pacing and flow of story telling. Directed drone work for the film.

Expendables 3

Directed the reshoot for a helicopter sequence with Sylvester Stallone, Harrison Ford, Victor Ortiz and Rhonda Rousey with DoP, Jeffery Kimball. In addition, directed drone work for the film.

Homefront

Directed supplemental footage, drone footage and plate shoots.

Expendables 2

Drone surveys and supplemental footage.

§ Drone Work

As a drone pilot and an early adopter, I've been deeply immersed in the world of drones and filmmaking since 2008. Initially, I harnessed drones to capture VFX plates and collect on-set data. These aerial marvels also served as my "eye in the sky" when working on expansive locations. My current VFX on-set workflow and kit includes drones for reference photography, mapping and photogrammetry.

One of my earliest applications of drones for VFX was to scan and create a detailed terrain covering sixty hectares—an undertaking that would have been impossible using conventional surveying tools at the time. As drone technology evolved and cameras improved to deliver digital film quality, I transitioned into directing drone shoots to capture establishing shots and supplemental footage for feature films.

My experience extends across diverse regions, including North America, Europe, Africa, South America, and Asia, where I've collaborated with skilled drone teams. I've orchestrated and scheduled numerous drone shoots for various feature films.

As a partner in a production drone company, my shooting expertise contributed to the development of an award-winning and best-selling production drone series back in 2012. Drawing from our R&D and on-set experience, we ventured beyond entertainment and began crafting custom drones for various industries. From mining to LiDAR scanning, delivery services, law enforcement, fire and even search and rescue, our bespoke drones have made a significant impact in the industrial and commercial sector. Notably, we dispatched a custom search and rescue drone to Nepal after the devastating earthquake, which played a crucial role in detecting survivors buried under rubble.

Here's a glimpse of some of the feature films I've directed drone shoots for: Swan Song, The Yellow Birds, The Mechanic 2, Homefront, Expendables 3, Expendables 2.

Wall Street Journal: Drones Invade Hollywood ↗