Drone Video Production and Aerial Photography for Film & TV
Full-service aerial and ground filmmaking and photography for national ad campaigns, movies, series, and news broadcasts.
Every movie, short film, and TV or web series now features drone footage, from one-man-band travel vlogs on YouTube to billion-dollar blockbuster flicks on the big screen. We work with directors, writers, and cinematographers to capture cinema-grade aerial shots for productions of all scales, including films, ads, documentaries, and behind-the-scenes storytelling.
Drones are lighter, more flexible, typically more intelligent, safer, and quieter than other overhead filmmaking solutions, such as helicopters and cranes. They’re also far less costly, in time and money.
Zenmuse X9-8K Air: Cinema-Level Lenses
The drone industry is moving forward at such breakneck speed, this ‘Equipment’ page almost always feels outdated the moment we change it! But it’s not just the Zenmuse X9 itself that’s important — it’s what it represents. It’s a cinema-grade camera in the sky, with zero compromise made for the sake of aerial use. It’s the definition of cutting-edge.
We have the full Zenmuse lens kit. For video, this means up to 8K CinemaDNG and Apple ProRes, with several quick-swap lenses of different focal lengths for varied environments and shooting styles. For photography, the X9 supports RAW photos up to 44.7 megapixels (8192 x 5456). Using this system, we capture everything from the highest-quality videos for social media to truly cinema-ready footage for film crews.
DJI Inspire 3: A Pilot’s Powerhouse
Our industry-leading, cutting-edge, top-of-the-line beast. The DJI Inspire 3 allows us to capture aerial footage at up to 8K RAW quality on a full frame sensor — the kind of blisteringly sharp cinema-ready crispness your project deserves. It does everything: obstacle avoidance, object tracking, gnarly speeds, and 3D mapping for in-depth aerial surveys.
The DJI Inspire 3 enables us to repeat flights and camera moves with millimetre accuracy, perfect for those day to night sequences and specific requirements on set. The 3D dolly feature is spectacular and the improved FPV camera provides us with full screen options and a 161° field of view.
Interchangeable lenses afford effortless flexibility for all shooting scenarios. Our wide lenses snap picturesque landscapes, large properties, and huge festivals, with buttery-smooth stabilized perfection. Our zoom lenses capture close-up action, millimetres-accurate shots for surveys, and highly-detailed photos and videos of events. We do however frequently use our DJI Mavic 3 Enterprise RTK mapping projects.
FPV and Heavy-Lifting Cinelifters and Gimbal lifters for Cinema Grade FPV & 360º
When you fly FPV, you stream the drone camera’s view to a pair of virtual reality goggles — your eyes become the drone’s eyes!
The ‘Thicc’, created by Shen Drones, is a heavy lift drone with a top speed near 100mph. It weighs in at less than 3.5kg when fully loaded with a cinema camera, and flies with either the BMPCC6K or Red Komodo. It can also fly with lighter cameras such as the GoPro Hero 11 and our naked Black Magic Pocket Cinema Camera weighing only 620g including the lens.
This drone, much like the Inspire 3, is made for those Hollywood movie projects — but with all the benefits of an FPV (first-person view) drone!
Along with our 5-inch freestyle quad, 3-inch cinewhoop, and naked GoPro-carrying tinywhoop, we’re equipped for every kind of FPV project.
Our gimbal drone carries a re-housed DJI Inspire 2 which is capable of shooting 6k Cinema DNG or Pro Res and enables dual operator dynamic flights.
DJI Mavic Pro 3 : the Aerial Athlete
The Inspire’s nimble little brother. Pocketable, lightweight, and less of a head-turner than the Inspire, this nifty bit of kit is ideal for flying in tighter indoor and outdoor spaces. It’s also perfect for capturing secondary angles. A zoom lens on the Inspire + a wide lens on the Mavic = a filmmaking match made in heaven.
It doesn’t stop there, the Mavic 3 Pro has 3 focal lengths to choose from 24mm, 70mm and 166m tele lens. This enables us to be at a greater distance from subjects and create more depth of field in the images.
Our Mavic really comes into its own for live social media coverage. While our Inspire 3 is capturing maximum-quality footage, we’ll work with the marketing teams at events and festivals to shoot and publish aerial visuals in real-time. Files can be transferred to phones/iPads in an instant, edited, and then shared online within minutes.
Qualified FPV Pilots
You’ll be working with legally-approved pilots. We have Permission for Commercial Operations from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). We’re also a member of Drone Safe Register.
FPV Drone
Flights
We’re qualified for first-person view drone flights, using our Mavic Pro 2, cinewhoops, and seamless 360º camera setup to capture agile, exciting, freestyle aerial footage — indoors, outdoors, and at sea.
National Coverage
Our pilots and ground team work all over the UK, in the busiest and the most remote places. We’re familiar with staying in cities far and wide for multi-week production schedules.
Serious About Safety
Risk assessments, pre-flight plans, and specialist PPE: we ensure every shoot is safe, and closely adhere to rules on flying near busy sets bustling with production crews.
Behind the Scenes
Our ground crew use Blackmagic cameras, RØDE mics, DJI stabilisers, and other gear to capture and edit behind-the-scenes featurettes — strong marketing content, primted for social.
Press Contracts
We offer retainer contracts for quick-response aerial filmmaking work, capturing drone footage of ongoing events for news broadcasts, and photography for print.
Cinema Quality
With our Xenmuse X7 full frame lenses docked on our DJI Inspire 3, we capture 8K CinemaDNG and Apple ProRes at varied focal lengths. Our Blackmagic ground cameras shoot 6K, and our Mavic Pro 3 achieves 5.1K.
All-Day
Aerial Filming
We’re equipped with battery charging generators to keep our drones running all day. We can fly continuously in 20-minute intervals, and switch batteries in under five.
Part of
the Crew
We‘re people people! We’ve worked with crews of all sizes and structures, and operate efficiently and professionally as part of larger productions.
Ground-To-Air
Communication
Our whole team is equipped with Eartec headsets, so we remain in constant contact for the entirety of each shoot. Good for safety. Great for collaboration.
Shooting at Sea
We’re professionally insured for and confidently experienced with launching and catching drones by hand while working on film and TV projects from vessels and platforms out at sea.
Multi-Date Deals
for Long Productions
Lengthy production schedule? No problem. We’re open to negotiating discounted rates for multi-week, multi-location shoots, suited to your needs.
Showcase: TV & Film Projects
Paddy Power’s Brexit Bunker
Working with former professional footballer Eric Cantona was a thrill — and on one of the Solent Forts, no less! Agency Officer & Gentleman and production firm RadicalMedia hired us to shoot the aerial sequences for this hilarious and timely ad, which pokes fun at Brexit and its Parliamentary figureheads. It aired on national television, and has (at the time of writing) accumulated over a million views on YouTube.
Danny Boyle’s ‘Pages of the Sea’
22 drone crews joined 32 film crews on 32 beaches all over the UK, to shoot and broadcast live footage of Danny Boyle’s commemoration of the centenary of Armistice Day.
We were called upon by Sky News and Bad Madam to capture the Weymouth site. Over two-million people watched the Facebook Live feed as portraits of individuals from the First World War were etched into the sand, then washed away by the rising tide in a collective ‘thank you, and goodbye’. News channels — including the BBC, Sky News, and ITV — showed the striking aerial clips. The footage was also wrapped up into a captivating BBC documentary.
We faced bad weather, strong winds, the unrelenting rise of the sea, tight broadcast schedules, and unofficial drone pilots trying to fly in our airspace, but we nailed it. It was truly an honour to be involved.
Behind the Scenes for Hello What’s ‘Cutman’
Cinematic lighting manufacturer Aputure hosted a filmmaking competition in 2019 named ‘Light This Location’. The rules for entry required that the main short film be accompanied by a behind-the-scenes video, detailing how shots were lit and directorial decisions made. We joined filmmaker Aram Atkinson on set to shoot the BTS for his submission, Cutman.
We produced an award winning short film in 48 hours ‘The Last Chronicles’
We signed up for the DV Mission 48 hour film challenge and produced a short. We had the script, storyboard, actors and location confirmed within 5 hours and were thrilled to have been nominated for best story and film at this years Pompey Oscars. Read more on the blog.
