9 months, 64 locations, 19 hours of video: our documentary in numbers
‘A Different Perspective of Portsmouth’ is, by far, the biggest project we’ve ever undertaken at Solent Sky Services. Quantifying just how mammoth the production was can be difficult, but we’ve got some hard and fast numbers to put everything into perspective.
9 Months
We started capturing ‘Portsmouth under lockdown’ in March 2020, and evolved the project into a full-length feature documentary in May 2020. Shooting mostly wrapped up around August, and we’ve been editing since then! So, from the idea to the render, the film has taken nine months to create.
64 Locations
Shoots took place at 64 different spots in Portsmouth. We flew the drone at 23 of them.
8 Batteries (per location)
On average, we used four sets of batteries (they come in pairs on drones) for each of the 23 shoots where we captured drone footage.
19 Hours of Footage
We ended up with 19 hours of video clips to cut into a two-hour documentary. And we’ve absolutely nailed it.
6.1 Terabytes
That’s how much storage we took up with all of our 6K/5.2K/4K ProPres/CinemaDNG video files. Ultimate cinema-quality crispness.
2 Terabytes (for scratch disks)
We also needed a hefty 2TB scratch disk, where we stored our proxies for the post-production process. Proxies are lower-resolution versions of video files that lighten the load of real-time rendering in video editing software.
1 (new motherboard)
The motherboard we had installed on our main editing PC at the beginning of the project gave up the ghost halfway through post-production!
2,148 Cups of Coffee
It’s a filmmaker stereotype for a reason. We probably snuck a couple-hundred teas in along the way, too. And biscuits.Probably looking at around 10,000 for the biscuit count.
982 Meal Deals
You know the drill. Main. Snack. Drink. Repeat 982 times.
8 (weird new vintage lenses)
We added a selection of vintage Zeiss and Helios lenses to our arsenal to introduce some stylistic flair to certain parts of ‘A Different Perspective of Portsmouth’. They were very interesting to use.
Babies Born: 1
Welcome, George!
Concerned Wives: 1
Yes, we went slightly over budget… by quite a lot…
£10,000,000 (insurance coverage)
We’re covered up to £5,000,000 as standard for all flights. We upped that ceiling to £10,000,000 for one the hardest flights we conducted for the documentary, in Gunwharf Quays.
Dogs in Documentary: 9
There’s a ‘dogumentary’ joke in there somewhere.
Cats in Documentary: 0
At risk of sounding like we’re picking favourites, none of the cats we encountered seemed to like us pointing a lens their way.
Interrupting Seagulls: 216
They’re always very interested in drones. Sometimes they try to dive-bomb it. Thankfully, they realise they’re dive-bombing a mini helicopter at the last second, and quickly pull up to go find some chips to thieve instead.
Goatees Grown: 1
It’s true.
Goatees to be Shaved: 1
Soon.
All-Nighter Editing Sessions Pulled: 22
The bags under our eyes could probably store just about as much as that 8TB Samsung drive.
£2,500 crowdfunded by you
Half of the figure we crowdfunded came from people pledging directly, or paying for certain services and drone work in advance. Very proud of that figure.
£2,000 from the Solent LEP
The Solent Local Enterprise Partnership agreed to match our crowdfunding campaign up to £2,000 — and that’s just what they did! Enormously grateful to them.
Number of Uplifting Documentaries: 1
This is what it’s all been for. ‘A Different Perspective of Portsmouth’ shares the stories of key workers, business owners, and local residents as they remained resilient in the face of an unprecedented crisis. It immortalizes the selfless spirit that can be felt throughout our island city during challenging times. Our documentary is your documentary.