Ever since reasonably priced drones equipped with stunning features have hit the shelves, drone lights are being used to lit up scenes and subjects by employing flashes and high-intensity LED lights as part of an emerging trend. If you are interested in getting to know about the latest experimentation, watch this 2.5-minute short film titled “memories”. The short film was entirely illuminated with drone lights.
Tim Sessler, Cinematographer at Brooklyn Aerials, believes this to be an innovative approach to film lighting with regard to technology as well as creative aspects. He says that this technique paves the way for a very convenient set up with a very tiny crew and also forging some otherworldly light effects as if they have been painted by professionals and never witnessed before.
Sessler along with his crew, captured the world’s first drone video to use the dolly zoom (also known as Vertigo Effect) to come up with this mind-bending video.
The team had to overcome a critical challenge in this regard to accomplish this project.
Sessler elaborates that the drone lights were hard mounted so all movements associated with a drone were to be translated into the light. This is, in his opinion, is not that big an issue while flying (it can be ignored) but when it comes to a static shot, every little movement of a drone can lead to a shift of the light beam which can be quite distracting.
This was overcome by mounting myriad 100W LED chips onto MoVI stabilization systems to ensure that the light beams remained stable while drones zipped around in the sky.
So, the crew ended up developing three drone lights: a 900W floodlight supported on a MoVI M15, a 400W spotlight with parabolic reflectors on a MoVI M15, and a Maxa Beam Xenon light with a spot as narrow as 1 degree on a MoVI M10.
Sessler adds that the crucial question at that point in time was how a drone light could be used in a unique way and how could it be used to replace conventional film lighting, subtly as well as imaginatively?
The crew had multiple ideas in mind such as using the drone light as a static key light or overhead static spotlight or revolving or moving key light or static panning spotlight or painterly light for creative effects.
Sessler opines that this kind of lighting could redefine the film industry and open new vistas of opportunities for indie cinematographers as well as high-end feature films, advertisements, and music videos. He remains optimistic that this technology has a massive role to play in the future.
Speaking of photographs, make sure that you look into the amp drone photography via drone lights today.
