Shooting from a helicopter

[Jason Comparetto]

I'm going to be shooing some aerials, traditional overhead landscapes from a helicopter. The helicopter is not necessarily the type of helicopter that is best suited for cinematography (I'm a total novice to this type of cinematography. The pilot is experienced working with photographers but not with cinematographers). I'm mainly worried about VIBRATION.

I don't have the budget for a gyroscope with gears for all the controls (Although that sounds like the best way to go, of course)

1) What I can do, is possibly use a cine saddle or some other pillow/styrofoam type of arrangement. Will this make the picture clear enough?

2) I was wondering if I can use ANY type of gyroscope to help stabilize the camera if I hold it in my lap? For example, I have some cordless gyroscopes that I use in other industries. If I rig an arbitrary gyroscope to the RED, will it make a difference? I've seen some little handheld units. would that make a difference beyond just a cine saddle?

3) Am I crazy if I want to use the Red Drive? I could use CF cards if I really need to for the vibration, but it would be so much better if I could just run the drive continuously instead of swapping cards in and out every 10 minutes.

4) I'll use a higher shutter speed to control the sharpness. But I don't want to go overboard and have it looking like video. Would 1/96th make a difference? Or do I need to push it to 1/120th or beyond?

Of course the ultimate question is how good the footage needs to look, or what audience will it be for. The final product is a low-budget commercial, broadcast in 1080p. So the audience doesn't need to see perfect aerials, but of course it can't detract from the product by being so shaky and fuzzy that it looks like crap.

Most of my shots will be wide, so I'm hoping that works in my favor as far as the shakyness.

Any other suggestions would be highly appreciated. Thanks in advance

 

[Mark Phelan]

Jason,

I shot from a helicopter a couple months ago and the cheap setup I used worked fine for my needs. I used a cinesaddle in combination with a borrowed Kenyon 6 gyro mounted to the top cheeseplate of my R1. The whole combination sat in my lap and was stable enough for me to get decent footage inside the cockpit of the pilot. I didn't hold the camera per se, but rather the cinesaddle so the camera could "float" without me touching it and to allow the gyro to work.

Don't try to use the Red Drive, it won't play nice. I rented a Red RAM and it worked like a charm. You can certainly use CF cards also, if you wish.

As for camera settings, you might try these recommended to me by Steve Gibby, 4KHD at 29.97, 1/96 shutter. I also might suggest trying an even faster setting which could help in post if you use something like "Lock & Load" or SmootCam in FCP. What lens were you planning on using?

I will say this, the type of helicopter will make a HUGE difference in the quality of footage you ultimately get. Basically, the more rotors, the better. If your ride has two rotors, expect a bumpy ride and bumpy footage.

 

[Shawn Booth]

I recently shot from an A-Starr - handheld, to RED Drive without a single dropped frame.

Deciding on frame rates - What is your project? What does the story/scene call for? I did 72fps. Lots of room to play later.

 

[Nick Gardner]

The A-Star is about the most stable camera platform out there to be fair ;-)

Nick