Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/663385
28 cgw m a r c h . a p r i l 2 0 1 6 Drones Sam Nicholson, ASC, CEO and founder of VFX house Stargate Studios, says, "We're working with [camera manufacturers] Sony, ARRI, and Canon, and with [UAV manufacturer] DJI, to use drones as a matter-of-fact tool for shooting and mapping." For an early episode of last season's Heroes Reborn series captured in Iceland, production crews relied on drones for dra- matic, overhead shots. "We used DJI's Inspire 1 professional drone, which was impressive," says Elan Dassani, owner and president of Stargate Studios. "It's powerful enough to fly in very high winds atop a glacier and be stable. It has its own 4 k camera with a three-axis gimbal, so it's rock steady for butter-smooth shots. And it fits in one piece of checked luggage. We captured huge, epic aerials, which are so crazy looking that viewers will think they are VFX." "What really brought [drones] to everyone's attention, even on the cinematic side of things – the professional use – unfortu- nately, has been the hobbyists and the misuse of the technol- ogy," says Robert C. Rodriguez, founder of Society of Aerial Cinematography (www.thesoac. com). "It's been over the past year and a half when everyone else started hearing about them – with the FAA involvement and everything. But, for years, drones have been on set. And they've been used and self-reg- ulated successfully, but because the technology is there and the affordability of the drones is there, they're now in the limelight due to good and bad publicity." Rodriguez, who has been working in the industry for more than 15 years and whose full- time gig is director of technical operations and editorial services at LA's Technicolor, says he established the society because he found that "there was a huge need for people to understand the right way to [work with drones] and there were way too many people with input whenever anything aerial came up that was drone-related. Those questions kept coming to me, and I kept getting in the middle of it. I realized that with the lack of information, no one person had all the answers, and I knew I personally didn't, so I started putting workshops together. I got the pros in every relevant field and asked them to do presentations and get their questions answered in one live forum. Basically, I created a place to come to and not depend on hearsay, but to get it from the horse's mouth, from all the relevant departments." D R O N E S G E T A B O O S T Another li to the drone mar- ket, and a move that simply screams, "we're taking this seriously," was the National Association of Broadcasters' decision to partner with Mannie Francis and the Drone Media Group (www.dronemediagroup. com) to officially add the Aerial Robotic and Drone Pavilion to its annual NAB show in Las Vegas last year (www.nabshow. com/attend/drone-technolo- gy-nab-show), complete with educational sessions and an enclosed "flying cage." "I think [its success] surprised us to some degree," says Chris Brown, executive VP of conven- tions and business operations, NAB. "We were actually almost coming in a little late in terms of how there was a buzz already around drones, so we weren't sure that we hit it with the right timing. But I think the Pavilion was extremely successful. If you were at the show, you certainly saw that we had GoPro right at the front of the hall and DJI with a big presence. And we had four or five other major drone com- panies taking their own space, separate from the Pavilion. It all sort of just came together with perfect timing last year." According to Brown, NAB launched the Pavilion because it was, in part, "trying to stay ahead of those trends. I think we saw that buzz building – that real interest and focus building around drones in terms of the great potential and possibilities it would represent for the fea- ture-film side of the equation, but certainly for the broadcast and news gathering application as well. There was a really strong surge in interest that we saw, and knew, one way or another, that we had to be able to high- light that at the show." At the same time, Brown says NAB was also speaking with ex- TEAM SCORPION LEADER WALTER O'BRIEN RECENTLY FACED OFF AGAINST WEAPONIZED DRONES IN THE CBS SERIES SCORPION. DJI'S INSPIRE 1 PRO FEATURES ZENMUSE X5 AND X5R MICRO 4/3 CAMERAS DESIGNED FOR AERIAL SHOOTING AND CAPABLE OF CAPTURING 4k VIDEO.