FPV drone video: Burberry’s 2021 collection at their flagship London store
Broadcast production legends Vivid Broadcast called us up to ask about our FPV (first-person view) drone services — particularly, our indoor flying skills. Before long, they got back to us to pencil in a site recce and a few shoot dates. We looked at the address of the location where we’d be filming — it was the flagship store of luxury fashion house Burberry!
When Jonathan and I headed up to London to see the site and start planning our shoots, we quickly realised it was a larger project than a simple FPV tour of the building! After getting a COVID swab and waiting 30 minutes for the all-clear, we entered the store, met the client, and set up some test flights.
The 121 Regent Street location had been transformed into an entirely beige catwalk space, with immaculate drapes, carpeted stairways, and plywood platforms all eliciting Burberry’s signature tan colour.
There was a literal ‘pull back the curtain’ moment when we slipped through the drapes and found ourselves amid a crew of 200 people operating like clockwork, with everyone paying meticulous attention to their specific roles. There was a whole team dedicated to keeping the curtains neat! Stepping in and out of the behind-the-scenes area was like leaping between worlds.
We were all there to capture a showcase for Burberry Chief Creative Officer Riccardo Tisci’s 2021 Autumn/Winter womenswear collection — a bold celebration of femininity, for which Tisci drew inspiration from his relationships with his mother and other ‘warrior women’ in his life. The show was directed by Partel Oliva, who ensured Riccardo’s vision was realised.
The world of fashion has, like every industry, turned to online-only presentations over the past year, in lieu of in-person events being cancelled during international lockdowns. Pre-recorded catwalk showcases have become the ‘new normal’ so quickly that creatives in France have coined a new word: ‘défilmé’, a contraction of ‘défilé’ (meaning ‘fashion show’) and ‘filmé’ (meaning ‘filmed’).
It was the first time a drone had been flown inside the Burberry store! There was a fair bit of legal work in getting the green light, as the property is owned by The Crown Estate.
Image by Jan Pavelka
After a day of rehearsals, during which we got a feel for the energy of the shoot (thanks to the brilliantly-mixed music thumping throughout the store!), the real shoots began. We called upon the help of our friend Graham Degg from Eyeup Aerial Solutions to fly the drone while we controlled the camera. It was the first time we’d done dual-ops on a Mavic Pro 2!
In addition to all our usual diligent safety measures, we housed the Mavic in a bumpcage made by Pete Bourne at the brilliantly-named Air Bourne Drones Ltd. The bumpcage keeps a drone’s rotor blades well away from anyone it might hit in the event of an accident. Pete’s cage design has made a name for itself — it’s light, durable, and doesn’t obscure cameras or sensors.
Image by Jan Pavelka
All of the models were very professional about the drone flying near them. Only one looked up at it, and the shot was used in the final edit — it comes across like some confident side-eye.
We had one opportunity to get quality shots for each of the runs. On the first run, we were capturing photos, flying high enough to stay out of the shots of the cinematographers filming video below. On the second run, we recorded video, flying the drone slightly lower. All with the Mavic Pro 2.
Image by Jan Pavelka
Then, we had three runs with our custom FPV tiny whoop only — no other cameras filming. All the while, we had a live feed streaming from the drone’s camera to screens in the ‘backstage’ area, where directors watched intently and offered guidance to fulfil their vision for the showcase.
A fun anecdote: we had to wear plastic wraps on our shoes whenever we walked on the carpet. Lots of static shocks during the shoot days!
Image by Jan Pavelka
The still photography we captured during the project has been featured at the forefront of the Autumn/Winter 2021 campaign, figureheading Burberry’s social media banners on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. It’s also the cover image for the collection on Burberry’s press website!
Jan, who we’ve worked with as an aerial camera operator and ground cinematographer for years now, has 15 years of experience with shoots like this one. He was right at home! Jan shot the behind-the-scenes images in this blog post, and did a spot of catwalk modelling while we were practicing during rehearsals!
It was an incredibly high-pressure, largely one-take production, but we delivered, and everyone present — including over 100 freelancers hired in by Vivid Broadcast! — did a stellar job.
Image by Jan Pavelka
Vivid Broadcast did a great job as the production company running the project. Here are a couple more clips Riccardo shared on his Instagram: