Shooting Aerials with a Helicopter

 Shooting Aerials 

Whether you've never organized one or done a few, the following tips and techniques can save you a lot of time – and trial and error learning – when you’re planning the aerial segment of a shoot. These are the questions that need answering before you even start talking to a camera service firm like True North Entertainment Inc. or a helicopter company.

Let’s start with the basics.

The Cameraman. Location, Camera Mount and Cost

• Why use an aerial camera operator?

• How expensive is an aerial shoot?

• What kind of a shoot is it?

• How many shots are required?

• Where is the shoot location? A remote, scenic location or a big city downtown with tall office towers?

• What kind of camera mount is needed?

The Helicopter and Helicopter Company

• What helicopter should we choose?

• Which helicopter company?

• Do we need permits?

• How do we get permits?

• What time of day is the shoot?

• How many people need to be on board the helicopter?

What about the Weather? 

Watching the weather trends is the best way to plan your shoot and this generally works out well for production. But weather reports aren't foolproof as everyone knows by now, especially on the West Coast of BC.

No one wants to gamble on a costly aerial shoot if it looks as though it will be rained out. And its usually only rain that can thwart a shoot as one or two drops on the lens pretty much ruin the shot. Snow is fine as long as it is dry snow.

The helicopter company is in touch with Aviation Weather which is fairly accurate, but again, never perfect and this is the only info the pilots can relay to you. While the pilots are usually pretty clued in to the local weather patterns, they can only offer you the best of their local weather knowledge as a general average.

 A weather call to is a Production call. Not the helicopter company's call. They are not responsible for the weather on your proposed shoot day. Do not try to weasel out of the responsibility of making the weather call. Everyone gets the same forecast.

Also don't call every fifteen minutes for an update when the weather is lousy, especially if you are looking out the window at the same thing the helicopter company is seeing. They want to get the shoot done as much as you do but calling incessantly for updates will not affect the weather.

STEP 1: The Cameraman, Location and Camera Mount

Why use an aerial camera operator?

Many times the main unit DP or Director wants to shoot the aerials. If the DP has done aerials or the shots aren't that challenging, chances are the DP will be great on a simple mount such as the Tyler mount. (I’ll talk more about mounts below.) It's when the shots are technical in nature that this becomes a problem, especially if he or she has no experience with a particular system such as a Wescam or Cineflex. Your shoot is not the best place for them to try and learn how to use these systems and it definitely won't happen in a day. Just have them communicate the shot and leave it to the Aerial Operator.

An Aerial operator shoots aerials as a career. Therefore he or she approaches the shoot as a job and not a chance to go for a helicopter ride. It's a serious undertaking with a lot of pressure to get a very expensive shot.

An aerial camera specialist will also be able to address most of the concerns regarding the shot list very quickly because chances are he has already dealt with most of the situations the director is requesting.

How expensive is an aerial shoot?

How expensive is a car? Is it a Ferrari or a Ford Focus? There many inter-related factors that determine the cost. Where the shoot takes place,who the crew is, how many shots are needed, what type of aircraft is used, which camera mount, and what kinds of permits are needed all affect cost and of course twice as expensive if it's not successful the first time.

What kind of shoot is it?

A big screen motion picture or a rock video? What are the shots that are requested? Long smooth transitions or short lively shots for example. How much screen time are the shots expected to fill? Are they even physically possible?

These are important factors because many productions mistakenly think that a Tyler mount may be adequate -- usually because of cost -- when in fact a Cineflex or Wescam is required. Best to speak with an operator to help with these decisions. You can disregard the suggestions but at least you have been informed.

How many shots are needed?

This is important for three main reasons.

The first is time. How much time has the production allotted for the helicopter rental? The more shots there are, the more time is required in the air. This affects the budget.

The second reason is that helicopters have a limited time in the air before having to refuel. Sometimes the nearest airport is a half an hour away, which means you are burning one hours worth of fuel just to get to and from the location.

The amount of fuel on board is dictated by the weight of the helicopter payload. For instance a heavier mount and one extra person on board makes the difference of a few hundred pounds of fuel, which in turn shortens the time aloft.

Also the type of mount dictates the airspeed at which the helicopter can travel which in turn eats into the available time aloft at the location and how long you want to spend trying to perfect the shot.

Where are the shots located?

Where the shots will take place also affects permitting, altitude restrictions, aircraft type and time in the air -- and therefore cost. If they’re in a crowded downtown amid tall office towers, permitting will be more complicated than in a remote location. In either case, a helicopter or aircraft company with experience shooting aerials will be the best resource. See the sections below on permitting for more information.

What kind of a mount is required for the shoot?

The types of shots required usually determine the type of mount. I say usually because more than often not, the choice is governed by the budget -- or by inexperienced operators making the decisions and thinking that they can get the effect of a Wescam from a Tyler mount. There are also different mounts for film and video.

If the production requires film, then most likely you will need a mount as the film cameras are too heavy to handle competently unless it's a simple hand held shot you want. There are two basic types of mounts for film shoots:

The Wescam Gyro stabilized platform or Spacecam Gyro stabilized platform are for shots that do require long, stable moves. The Tyler Middle mount and Tyler Major mount are for shots that don't require long, stable moves.

Tyler Mounts 

The Tyler mount is basically hand held, with the added benefit of a mount to hold the weight of the camera as well as preventing it from falling out of the helicopter. This mount can deliver fairly smooth shots as long as the wind is fairly calm and the pilot is smooth as well. It will almost never look like a rock solid shot, even with a wide lens and portable gyros bolted to it. Even so, stabilization applied in post-production can yield a very smooth shot. This comes at the expense of having to expand the image, which usually makes the final result a little softer to look at.

The popular Tyler Mounts are the Tyler Middle Mount and the Tyler Major Mount (a beefier middle mount). These are both mounted inside the cockpit with the door of the helicopter removed. Neither of these mounts gives you the rock solid shot a gyro stabilized mount will give you but depending on the pilot and the weather you can get very satisfactory results. These mounts offer a satifactory solution where the aerial shots are short in duraton and where you need to make very quick pan and tilt adjustments. Action shots for instance.

A third Tyler mount -- the Tyler nose mount -- can provide straight ahead point of view shots. But you should not even consider it unless there is negligible wind, the pilot is a very experienced camera pilot, and your budget can afford a gyro stabilized nose mount or, at least a side mount.

A Tyler side mount may not deliver those nice straight ahead point of view shots, but at least your subject will be in the shot. The reason I say this is because a helicopter fuselage pitches and yaws a lot. There are several factors affecting the aircraft’s stability, including power fluctuations, wind and other pilot inputs to the controls. Because the Tyler nose mount is bolted directly to the helicopter – with tilt being the only operator input – it’s up to the pilot to frame the shot. I have found the results very unsatisfactory – with few exceptions.

Gyro Stabilized Mounts for Film

Gyro stabilized mounts will give you very smooth shots, and will even be stable at the long end of the zoom lens, typically 25 - 250mm.

These mounts are not for inexperienced aerial camera operators. A production will waste a lot of money and most likely not even get the shots they are looking for if they’re unaware that gyro stabilized mounts require experienced cameramen. These mounts also require technicians to mount and unmount the camera systems. The joke is that even the worst operator will get something, but usually not the desired shot. It’s a costly joke, because aerial re-shoots are rare because of the costs and other factors involved.

Video Shoots

For video shoots specifically HD the mount of choice is the Cineflex. This mount comes complete with the Sony 1500 and has a 42x zoom lens that is sharp as a tack and rock solid even a full speed in rough air. This camera is capable of outputting 4:4:4 or 4:2:2 video signals to the deck of your choice. Typically this is the Sony SRW1 which runs HDCam SR tapes (4:4:4) or the Sony V280 ( 4:2:2 ) only and recently the Panasonic P2 Deck which records to digital flash drives( 422). Very convenient for playback and post. These decks can usually be rented separately from Panavision, Clairmont, Simm Video, or Vidcomm.

A Tyler mount can also be used for the Video cameras or you can go handheld for similar results without the expense of a mount.

STEP 2: The Helicopter and Helicopter Company

Most people know little about helicopters, especially their physical limitations and the rules and regulations that govern their operation. Inexperienced production coordinators, managers and producers lacking knowledge of helicopters can make poor decisions in choosing the right aircraft for the job.

• Eurocopter B2. If you are using any kind of gyro stabilized film system, this is generally the aircraft of choice. The B2 is a robust helicopter with a lot of lifting capability. It’s also usually the most expensive of the Eurocopters in a helicopter fleet per hour to run on an hourly cost.

• Eurocopter B. This model is second only to the B2. This helicopter looks very similar to the B2 but lacks its lifting capabilities. The B Model is slightly less expensive per hour, but can wind up costing much more than the B2 for the same job. I’ll explain why below.

• Eurocopter Twinstar. Another very popular choice, the Twinstar is a Eurocopter with two engines. Having two engines doesn't make the helicopter more powerful; the argument for the Twinstar is that having two engines is safer than just one.

The Twinstar may be the helicopter type required in order to secure a permit to fly in specific situations, such as low, over a city and within a thousand feet of a the highest structure. Another situation might be over water, for which flight regulations dictate that the aircraft must be within gliding distance of the shoreline.

There are many more factors that affect the choice of the aircraft for the job and the best thing to do is discuss what your needs are with the helicopter or fixed wing aircraft company in order to make the best choices.

Which helicopter company should you use?

Even though the operator may have a pretty good knowledge of the helicopter aspect of a shoot, it’s best to contact the aircraft company directly about the aviation side of the shoot.

Often aerial operators have a list of various helicopter companies and camera pilots they like to work and can quickly suggest a great choice for a helicopter or fixed wing company.

My advice: don't go with a company that has little or no aerial experience. The first question you should ask is, “Do you have experience?”

Aerial camera flying is a specialty that requires a special pilot skill set and mindset. If you get an inexperienced camera pilot for instance he or she won't understand what the shots are about and how to make the important adjustments required to get those winning shots.

Training a pilot during the job is frustrating and adds to the time it takes to complete the shots on the shotlist. This creates a huge risk of not getting your day or getting a satisfactory shot.

Often you’ll hear pilots say, "Well I've been flying for x number of years; how hard can flying a camera be?" The pilot may very well be an awesome pilot, but if he hasn't flown a camera before you could be asking for problems. It truly is a skill, in much the same way that longlining is a vertical reference skill for precision placing and picking loads with a 100 foot or longer lanyard that not all pilots are capable of right away. Ask any helicopter pilot if this requires a lot of practice to become good at.

Lack of experience with aerials is no reflection of a pilot’s ability. It just means that they don't know what flying an aerial camera is all about and to be honest probably don't care. I can speak from experience. Enough said.

I fly with some of the Best Pilots in the Business and having flown professsionally myself I know who the good camera pilots are here in Vancouver. If you are interested in talking to me about my recomendations for your shoot, please call me directly.

A camera-savvy helicopter company will also understand the intricacies of the mounts required and be able to give you factual data about whether or not the required mounts will even fit on their helicopters.

I’ve known situations in which a company promised the world, but when the crew showed up the mount wouldn't fit on the helicopter. As you can imagine, this is very expensive and really cuts into that morning sunrise shot.

What Time of the day is the shoot?

This can be important depending on the location. Restrictions may prevent flying in populated areas at night because it is disruptive or if flying in a remote area it may be impossible or illegal to fly after dark. Being unable to return will require such things as accommodation considerations and can effectively double the budget if the crew and helicopter can't get back in the time allotted.

Do we need permits?

It's important to decide on the shotlist and locations as soon as possible so that if permits are required there is enough time to acquire them.

Helicopter companies that do a lot of aerials are very familiar with the permits that are required. While permits are not required on every job there is a process to follow and time constraints that may be blown if you don't handle the applications correctly.

In general if you want to fly below permitted altitudes and proximities to structures, you will most likely need a permit and require a twin engine helicopter. This is a side mounted Wescam on a Eurocopter Twinstar. Do you think there was a permit required here?...you bet!

How do we get permits?

It's usually best to request that the helicopter company completes the permits for you. Not only will they get done correctly but because permits are a common occurrence for them they most likely to be able to facilitate last minute changes if required.

Permits do cost money and there may be a nominal fee for getting them done, but this will vary with individual companies.

Be upfront with the helicopter company about the desired shots. Try not to change them or add to them last minute. In many cases they will do their best to accommodate but there are factors involved that could be disappointing for you on the shoot day if this communication is not kept current between production and the helicopter company. Permits for instance allow you specific heights and corridors within which to shoot within designated time periods. Failure to comply by the helicopter company can lead to severe fines as well it ruins the opportunities to for future shoots.

If possible, have a face-to-face meeting with everyone involved. Specifically production, the director, aerial camera specialist and the pilots involved in order for the director to convey what the production wants. An experienced cameraman will be a huge asset for working-out shots with the Director.

How many people need to be on board the helicopter?

It's great to have the Director ride along in the helicopter for the shoot. This way he can assess and adapt the shots as he or she needs to do. A Director will also be able to sign off on the shot knowing it was what he or she wanted. It's always preferable to have minimal people on board for reasons already stated. Generally, the pilot, the operator, and the director if required. If just the pilot and operator are shooting the aerials in the location of the main shooting location, an on board recorder can usually show production the shots in a timely manner.