Digital SLR Photography - UK (2020-01)

Whattypesoffilmsdoyouproduce?

I’veworkedin everygenre,butthefilmthatI

findmostenjoyablebyfaris documentary.

I comefroma newsbackgroundandloveto

bepartofdevelopinga story; I liketomake

filmsaboutsubjectsthatI don’t knowsoI

candiscoverthemin the samewaya viewer

discoversthem.Ilike the storytocome

together ona shoot,whereasin narrative

fictionthestory’s alreadydonebeforeyou

setfootoutwitha camera.I stilllovedoing

workforTVandthingslikethat,butI getthe

mostsatisfactionfrommyownprojects.

Whendidyoufirstshootdronefootage?

I firststartedusinga DJIPhantom2 in early

20 14,andthequalityfromitsbuilt-incamera

wasn’tverygood.ThefirstthingthatI shot

thatIreallylikedwasactually usinga

Phantom 2 withaGoPro,it wasusedto

shoota travelfilmin Thailandthatwonme

theNewYorkDroneFilmFestival, which

mademerealisethepowerofdrones.I’ve

notbeenhappywiththequalityofimages

fromdronesuntilthePhantom4 Pro,which

cameouttwo-threeyearsagoandwasthe

firstonewitha 1insensor;theMavicProwas

OK, buttheMavic 2 Prois greatandthe

ParrotAnafiwasafunnyonebecauseasa

droneitselfit wasn’t verygood,notvery

reliableanddidn’thaveagreatrange, butthe

imagewasbeautiful andit wasthesamesize

sensorastheMavicPro.

Whatdrone(s)doyounowuse?

I’vestillgotquitea fewandthey’reallpacked

away,butit’sonlytheMavic2 ProthatI use

thesedays;I havea modifiedinfraredone

too.I thinktheMavic 2 Prois great,it’snot

perfect – I wanttofilm in low light and a 1in

sensorwhilegoodstillisn'tgoingtosuckin

enoughlight asalargersensorwould.

Whataccessoriesdoyouusetoenhance

yourdronevideos?The number one

accessoryyouneedis NDfilters.Without

question,that’sthethingyouneedforvideo.

Forstills,it’s lessimportantunlessyou’re

tryingtocapturesomemotionblur.Butfor

video,youneedtokeepyourshutterspeed

toa specific ratetogetthemostnatural-

lookingmotion,andthat’sdoubleyour

framerate.If you’reshootingat 2 5p,you

needtogetyourshutterspeedto1/50sec,

whichcanbe verydifficult.

Doyoumixaerialand‘standard’footage?

I dotheoccasionalmontage whereit’s

purelydronefootage,butveryrarely.With

mostofthedronework,thepowerofthe

droneisforit tobeusedwithnormal

cameraswhenyouuseit occasionallytoadd

productionvalue.Theproblemis, if you’re

justwatchingadronevideothatisjustdrone

footage,mostofthembecomerepetitive.

Youcanfinddronevideosthatlookreally

clever,butmostlythepowerofit – and

you’ll seethisin mywork– is whenyou

don’tseeanydroneshotsforages.I dida

seriesofthreefilmslastsummerabouta

charityinGreecethathelpswiththecat

problemoutthere,andIusedadronetoget

somenicesceneryshots,andit wasalso

goodtogetsometopdownsofourcar

drivingalongthroughthe scenery.

If I getenough(drone)footagethatI think

works asajourney,andaslongasIhavea

themesotheycanflowintoeachother,

thenI’ll put them together. But, I would say,

most of the time it’s occasional use. I worked

fortheBBC’s MoFarahdocumentaryin

2016 , andwewerefilmingin Ethiopia.I think

theyonlyusedfour(drone)shotsin the

wholehour.WhenIdida seriesinAmerica

calledtheWonderList,whichwasshot

aroundtheworldforthreeyears,theyuseda

lotmoredroneshots.Butit alldependedon

whetherwecouldgetpermissiontofly the

drones– oftenwecouldn’t.

Howhasaerialvideoenhancedyourwork?

Helicoptersaregoodforgettingyouto

remoteplacesandallowyoutoshootsome

widevistas,butwhattheycan’t dois closely

followyourpresenter.Oneofmyfavourite

shots,whichwasfromtheWonderList,is a

top-downshotofa glacierandyoucan’t

really tellwhatitis.AsIslowly getloweryou

canseea person,andasIcontinuetoget

lowerandtiltthecameraup,it’s onlythen

thatyoucanseeit’saglacierandI’mquite

closetotheguywalkingalong– it’s a shota

helicoptercouldneverdo.

Dronesenhancemyworkoncertainjobs

becauseit givesmeshotsyoucouldn’t get

anyother way,a uniqueperspective.As a

viewer,it’s allaboutwhatwecan’t seethat

works really well, whichis why welove

time-lapseandslow-motion– thedrone

producesa viewpointwe’renotnaturally

usedto.It’s themostexcitingcamera

technology for the past tenyears, for sure.

PROINSIGHT: PHILIPBLOOM

WETAKEFLIGHTWITHWORLD-RENOWNEDFILMMAKERPHILIPBLOOMTO

LEARNHOWHEINCORPORATES DRONEFOOTAGEINTOHIS WORK

ALLIMAGES:PHILPBLOOM

92 DigitalSLR Photography January 2020

PhilipBloomis anaward-winning

filmmakerwhohasworkedwiththe

likesoftheBBC,ITV,C4,Sky,CNN,

Discovery,FOX andNBCamong

manyothers.Hisuseofdronesin his

filmmakinghaswonhimBestTTravelFilmat the

2015 NewYorkCityDroneFilmFestivalforhis

shortfilminThailandcalled‘KohYaoNoi’,

strengtheninghisreputationasafilmmaker who

usesdrones.www.philipbloom.net

BIOGR APHY

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