advice for shooting from helicopter.

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eddy_yz

New member
Hello Everyone,

This is my first post on those forums, and I post to seek guidance to an upcoming shoot that I have.
the shoot involves taking landscape shots from a helicopter, this will be my first time doing so and that's why I thought it would be best to ask for advice from other professionals.

Gear in my possession:
- Canon C100 hooked to Ninja 2 Prores 422
- Glidecam HD 4000
- Canon 24mm 1.4
- Canon 50mm 1.2
- Canon 85mm 1.2
- Canon 16-35 2.8
- Canon 24-105 4.0
- Canon 24-70 2.8
- Canon 70-200 2.8
- Canon 400mm 2.8
- Manfrotto 561 BHDV-1
- Manfrotto 055D with 701 Head.

I have been thinking of using the 24mm prime Only since will be in the chopper and everything is gonna be vibrating and moving, on a glide cam and shoot everything in 60i then retime it all to a 24p timeline, to get this smooth long gliding shots of landscape.
What are your opinions ?
Thanks for reading
 
David W. Jones said:
Skip the glidecam and either rent a gyro mount, or hire a helicopter that already has a nose mount.
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that would be ideal but i have no access to a gyro or helicopter with a nose mount, is handheld or glide cam with Lens IS and 60i retimed to 24p really out of question?
 
Unless the copter is crabbing, you're going to get a lot of footage and 50-90 degrees to the axis of travel. Not sure what you're looking to get landscape wise. I've never shot in a helicopter but have worked with helicopter footage. I'd also say frame a bit loosely as you'll probably want to stabilize in post and you're going to need some room.

Not sure how you plan to use the glidecam. That unit is going to need to be tethered.

Dress appropriately. :)
 
A gyro is optimal. You can rent them online and have them in 2 days rather cheaply: http://www.lensrentals.com/rent/video/support/stabilizers/kenyon-ks-4x4-gyro

That being said, the last time I did this, I had the C100 mounted on a Fig-Rig type device resting on a foam lap-pad and used the 24-105mm lens with the IS and a deep aperture. A zoomed in shot can look pretty cool mixed in with the wide. Shooting 30p at high shutter speed (1/500) gave me adequate results after retiming to 24p and using a stabilization plugin. I got decent footage from higher altitudes at lower speeds. Higher speeds in the chopper turned things to rolling shutter mush. It was usable, but having the gyro would have made my footage even MORE usable. When you think about what it costs to go up in the air, a few extra bucks for the right gear is well worth it.
 
Nate Haustein said:
A gyro is optimal. You can rent them online and have them in 2 days rather cheaply: http://www.lensrentals.com/rent/video/support/stabilizers/kenyon-ks-4x4-gyro

That being said, the last time I did this, I had the C100 mounted on a Fig-Rig type device resting on a foam lap-pad and used the 24-105mm lens with the IS and a deep aperture. A zoomed in shot can look pretty cool mixed in with the wide. Shooting 30p at high shutter speed (1/500) gave me adequate results after retiming to 24p and using a stabilization plugin. I got decent footage from higher altitudes at lower speeds. Higher speeds in the chopper turned things to rolling shutter mush. It was usable, but having the gyro would have made my footage even MORE usable. When you think about what it costs to go up in the air, a few extra bucks for the right gear is well worth it.
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Hello Nate, I came across your name during my research , and I saw you had uploaded a video taken from helicopter, I was literally blown away, it looked fantastic , the post you had written has really helped me understand what I would need once i'm up in the air and it was actually you who had made me think it could be done without the hassle and cost of a Gyro. especially since the duration of each shot is going to be around 7-8 seconds. so technically I would just need 4-5 good stable seconds of each scene i'm shooting.
you think 30p to 24p is better than 60i to 60p to 24p for those shots? is the quality lost at 60i really dramatic as compared to 30 pfs?
 
PerroneFord said:
Unless the copter is crabbing, you're going to get a lot of footage and 50-90 degrees to the axis of travel. Not sure what you're looking to get landscape wise. I've never shot in a helicopter but have worked with helicopter footage. I'd also say frame a bit loosely as you'll probably want to stabilize in post and you're going to need some room.

Not sure how you plan to use the glidecam. That unit is going to need to be tethered.

Dress appropriately. :)
Click to expand...

I was going to hook the glide cam to the wrist support/brace , it would remove a lot of of shakiness from me dancing around inside the helicopter.
 
eddy the steacam are crazy to handle in heli shooting! I guess you did your aerials yet as a couple of months left...
How was your footage? Where can we see it?
 
Don't assume your helicopter pilot will be able to fly sideways. Helicopter flying hours, for commercial pilots, is rarely anything other than straight and level, and unless your pilot is experienced with video requirements, I'd be worried about this one. Plenty of accidents where the cameraman has indirectly caused them by asking for simple manoeuvres that the pilot hasn't done before. If it's a private pilot, doing you a favour, then I'd be very worried about expecting him to be able to fly safely in any other direction than forwards. In particular, flying in tight circles in a 360 is a very nasty one - if there is a breeze, then at one point in the circle, there's a phenomenon know as loss of tailor rotor efficiency - when the prevailing wind is end on to the blades. At this point, there will be a sudden tendency to suddenly yaw. Video pilots practice this - commercial pilots who do A-B work don't. My friend is a helicopter pilot who has thousands of hours flying from where we live out to oil and gas platforms offshore. He has never practiced flying sideways for any period other than hover positioning. Lots of the standard aerial techniques used in video work are completely alien to the normal pilot.

I would expect you to need to spend most of your time on wide shots that are passing by. Small cushions and bean bags can let you balance the camera on an open window - but door off flying again is something the pilot will decide for you. It's damn cold, noisy and very difficult. You will need to do some quick tests to establish how steady you can hold the camera. You also need to secure absolutely everything - nothing whatsoever loose. My first one years ago was door off, legs out, belted in, and camera on my lap - and I was terrified. Shots through windows, even open ones are a pain, when you catch the camera on the frame and the vibration ruins the shot.

After going on a course - her win the UK, I know I'm pretty poor at helicopters, but I can cope with the practicalities. Wide angle that you can stabilise if necessary, and higher shutter speed if the vibration is ok.
 
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My brother is a Medevac pilot and trainer. He recommends eating bananas for breakfast before a helicopter flight.

Apparently they taste the same on the way up as well.
 
A simple rig for a door-off flight is a Bungy cord rig attached to the top of the door frame in a diagonal configuration.

Set up so you have to apply a bit of down pull but still allowing the camera to be in suspension.

Expect it to be windy unless the chopper has a deflector attached.

The pilot should be able to crab slightly and even fly sideways. (Its what they do)
 
Dramamine… I usually don't get motion sick, but every time I've shot handheld in a helicopter without taking it, I felt like I was going to hurl by about 10-15 minutes into shooting.

They make a non-drowsy version, too.
 
Shooter - did you not read what I said? Flying sideways is NOT part of the training for PPLH or CPLH pilots? It's been the cause of a number of high profile accidents including on where a BBC cameraman had his career cut short in Australia when the pilot with thousands of hours in the logbook couldn't carry out the manoever the cameraman asked for. Flying sideways is what people THINK they do. Would you really want to trust a pilot who does it for the first time. The often seen shot flying around a lighthouse is one of the most dangerous things a helicopter pilot can do. From 50 ft to 500ft is the danger zone for a helicopter pilot. Get it wrong in this area and recovery is rare. Too low for autorotation too high for a safe hard landing.

Anyone who has been serious 4x4 driving with an expert knows that having a driving license doesn't prepare you whatsoever for this. The good friend of mine who does fixed wing aerial work with a commercial license took me up with a friend of his in the front seat. The friend was a USAF guy on his day off. I didn't get a single usable shot. The guy flew like a crazy man. Straight and level was not on the list. I didn't know Cessna's could do this sort of stuff.


The only rule of shooting safe video from a helicopter is to check the pilot is experienced at video requirements. As I said, most aren't! Would you really want to be flown by somebody doing it for the first time? Did you actually ask him if he has done it before?
 
I have flown many hours with the best aerial camera ship pilots and I have flown with "lesser" ones.
I have flown with military pilots. (the most cautious and rule bound)

Of course it is obvious and logical to check the "pilot out". The production company always gave me the choice who to fly with.

I believe that I have said in the preflight briefing to every pilot I ever flew with... "you are the skipper and you never do anything I ask ...that you cant do or wont do". That includes the passengers ( eg Director).

Safety begins on the ground! We would discuss with the use of a model chopper I kept in my kit ...every shot before leaving. We would rig he mount to the side of the chopper that allowed the shots we needed. It was very rare that I would be on the opposite side of the machine to the pilot. We both sat in the cold open door with clear view sideways.

That said I know what the pilots and their machines are capable of. Together we have safely done many hours of sideways, 3/4 slew and backwards flying. Spiral down and arounds. Nose downs and chases.

We have filmed from 12,000+ feet up down to 3 metres of the deck ( mountains , sea and land). Cars, boats, aircraft, skydiving stuntmen, aerial stunts.

I would never fly with a chopper pilot who can not fly sideways. Never found one in NZ that cant.
 
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