Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/691665
www.postmagazine.com 36 POST JUNE 2016 Drones INTERDRONE RETURNS TO LAS VEGAS BZ Media will present InterDrone (www. InterDrone.com) this September in Las Vegas. Now in its second year, InterDrone has grown by an estimated 30 percent since the 2015 conference. Set to take place from September 7 th through 9 th at the Paris Hotel, the show will see an increase in the number of exhibitors this year — 135, up from last year's 99 — as well as an increase in the num- ber of panels and presentations attendees can take part in. Ted Bahr is the president and CEO of Long Island-based BZ Media, and believes InterDrone differentiates itself from other shows in a number of ways. "All of the drone shows are trying to position themselves against others," Bahr explains. "The definition of our audience is anyone using a drone to make money, to save money or to save lives. They are professionals." This is not a consumer show, says Bahr. It's not being held on a weekend, and exhibitors will not be bringing volumes of inventory to sell on the show floor. Last year, 2,800 attendees representing 48 countries attended InterDrone, and one-third of those attendees identified themselves as a professional who uses a drone for cinema- tography. A large part of this year's show will revolve around sessions and classes. The show will host approximately 125 sessions, up from 102 the inaugural year, with topics cov- ering what drone users need to know when working in different states or overseas, and the legal requirements for selling drones in different locations, among other things. SMPTE presents 'Drones for Storytelling' Webcast The Society of Motion Picture & Television Engineers (www.smpte.org) hosted an hour-long educational Webcast in late May focusing specif- ically on "Storytelling with Drones." Ben Kreimer (benkreimer.com), a self-described 'drone jour- nalist,' spoke of his use of drones for a range of applications, as well as his experience with different technologies and the regulation restrictions he's faced in the US and abroad. First off, he recommended checking out the Drone Journalism Lab (dronejournalismlab.com) for those looking for a resource that keeps tabs of the constant changes around drone regulations and news. Kreimer found out first hand about FAA regulations back in 2012 after he produced a video package using a drone. He was working with a school in Nebraska, covering one of the worst droughts since the Great Depression. The video package was ultimately published to YouTube, which caught the attention of the FAA, which sent a letter stating that drones were not allowed to be flown at the university. Kreimer found that outside the US, most countries had little if any regulation, so he went to India, where he worked on documentary projects, as well as took on sports journalism duties for soccer and cricket matches. DJI's Phantom is the system he used back then, and still uses today. The drone's sim- plicity is a plus, particularly for a single operator like him, who controls both the flight path and camera coverage. He dubbed the Phantom "the iPhone of drones" and said its compact design allows him to easily travel with it from country to country. In East Africa, he worked with the drone journalism team, AfricanSkyCam, taking on assignments for media outlets and universities. He also did his share of shoots for wildlife conservation efforts. "The equipment issues have been ironed out," says Kreimer. Drones, he adds, are "delicate, flying computers" and users need to know "what to do when something happens." He suggests keeping set- ups "as simple as possible to prevent downtime." Kreimer has experience with DJI's Phantom 1, 2 and 3 models, which he likes for their ability to launch in just a moment's notice. The trade off from using DJI's Inspire 1 or Phantom, he says, is losing the abili- ty to carry a larger camera. Larger platforms, he notes, such as the Freefly Alta 8, can often carry up to 15lbs of gear. Kreimer also spoke of his experience using drones for live broadcasts. He points to solutions such as the Connex Wireless HD link, Lightbridge 2, and DJI Phantom 3, but adds that range is affected consid- erably by trees and structures, such as buildings. The DJI platforms, he notes, have streaming capabilities integrated into the app, which can be run on Android or iOS devices, allowing users to live stream to YouTube, Periscope and soon Facebook Live. Beyond aerial videography, Kreimer has also ventured into virtual reality work and the use of photo- grammetry to reconstruct environments. Some of the projects he cited were an archeological dig in southern Turkey at a third-century Roman temple, and a landfill at a slum in Nairobi. He'll take hundreds of photos of the surface of a structure or environment and then reconstruct them into a seamless image using Agisoft Photoscan ($179). Other software options he has experi- mented with include Pix4D, Autodesk Memento, Capturing Reality and Drone Deploy, which he found to be the easiest to use. He will deploy the drone on a path and send the camera to take photos every few seconds. He has found success in stitching images together by shooting with 60 to 70 percent overlap. The end user can then explore these sights using a VR headset. For pros looking to work overseas, he recommends visiting drones.newamerica.org, which provides insight into international regulations. — BY MARC LOFTUS InterDrone will present 125 sessions at the September show in Las Vegas.