Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/663385
30 cgw m a r c h . a p r i l 2 0 1 6 Drones batteries, and travel cases. It's the company's largest rig de- signed for heavy payloads. According to Domecq, also one of the "better brands known in the industry is Freefly – they make phenomenal stuff." Domecq says the Freefly aircra has what it calls a Mōvi, the company's camera gimbal sys- tem, which can be under or on top of the drone, "so a user can choose two different, distinct viewpoints if they want." Freefly's systems have been used on a range of projects from feature films and documenta- ries to sports and live broadcast, including Mad Max: Fury Road and The Wolf of Wall Street. According to Tabb Firchau, pres- ident and co-founder of Freefly, "Drones allow filmmakers to put cameras in very interesting positions and create shots the world has never seen before. One can combine elements of a handheld shot, with a jib shot, with elements of a full-size aeri- al shot. This is what excites me most about flying/filming, being able to say 'yes' and create the director's vision." Currently, Freefly offers its ALTA cinema drone, which car- ries such cameras as the Alexa Mini and Red Dragon (Weapon), and It boasts a series of features. For instance, it folds down into a custom Pelican case in under five minutes, it mounts Mōvi gimbals on the top or bottom of the aircra, and offers a Synapse flight controller that gives pilots "precise" control of the machine. DJI, headquartered in Shen- zhen, China, offers a range of makes and models at varying price points, though most in the industry are familiar with the company's Phantom and Inspire lines. "I think if you ask most people to draw what a drone looks like, they'll most likely draw one of the Phantoms because that copter format is what people are thinking about," says Adam Najberg, global director of communications for DJI. There are four models in the Phantom line – including its Phantom 3 Professional camera at the top end. "Here, you have to bear in mind that this drone is 1.2 kilograms in weight, so it's not particularly heavy and it's got a 4 k camera on it," Najberg says. "You can fly this thing out five or six kilometers, and you're still able to receive a 720p video signal while it's recording it, so it's pretty astounding what a $1,259 drone can do. If you move up from the Phantom, you're now talking about somewhere in the $3 k to $6k range, depending on what kind of camera you have on the drone. I'm talking about the Inspire 1 line of drones. So there's the Inspire 1, and the Inspire 1 Pro. It's incredible. It's definitely not a toy – it's a professional tool." Intuitive Aerial, a Swedish- based manufacturer of the professional cinema drone Aerigon, recently opened a new Los Angeles office in 2015 that is headed up by its VP Eric Bergez. "When we opened our LA office, we thought everyone was going to love the Aerigon," Bergez says. "Helicopter Film Services in the UK had just finished Avengers: Age of Ultron. Around 80 percent of the aeri- als were shot with the Aerigon. We have Dubai Film flying our aircra. We feel like Hollywood is ready, and broadcasters are ready, for the Aerigon. It has this beautiful construction – a car- bon-fiber exoskeleton, and all the components are inside. You can fly it in extreme cold and in extreme heat, and we feel our gimbal technology is as good as anything else." DRONES, SUCH AS THE FREEFLY ALTA, CAN CAPTURE FOOTAGE FROM HARD-TO-REACH AREAS. THE CANON 5D MK III (LEFT) AND GOPRO HERO (RIGHT) ARE POP- ULAR CHOICES FOR CAPTURING AERIAL FOOTAGE USING DRONES.