As a filming location in the United States, Georgia is tied for third place. The Peach State is the biggest land-mass-state east of the Mississippi River with beaches, forests, mountains and cities and a healthy tax break for filmmakers to further entice their coming here. This industry now contributes more than $6 billion a year to the Georgia economy. In most every movie, to establish those wonderful locations, whether it is a high-budget film like Spiderman: Homecoming or a low-budget independent film for the Atlanta Film Festival – the filming takes to the sky.
Capturing and creating scene specific and stock footage aerials is something we’ve been doing for more than 25 years. It’s our specialty. To save filmmakers time and money, especially in Georgia, we’ve likely already captured some of those majestic aerial scenes that are being planned into production. Our early filming jobs were from a jet ranger helicopter with the WESCAM gyro-stabilization camera mount, the 35mm Arri camera and Panavision lenses. Today’s industry standard is more in high definition tapings – where we have migrated. Repeatedly, we are asked about using drones, which is something we can accommodate, but always remind clients they have serious limitations in both air space and the quality of footage.
We’ll admit drones have their advantages, but if you’re looking to take your next film to a more professional level, you’ll need professionally filmed aerials.
1. Higher Quality
The cameras we use for our aerials offer high quality, cinematic video. Major motion pictures are shot with high definition cameras such as the Arri Alexa– the cameras we use for our aerial videos. When you take this equipment to shoot aerials from a helicopter, the detail and imagery you get is phenomenal. If you want your video to look professional, this is how your aerial video should be shot.
2. More Access
Unlike drones, we’re able to capture video from areas that have restrictions on drones such as near airports, more than 400 feet in the air and anywhere around people. Recently, the FAA released even more rules to regulate drones. Drones can now only fly during daylight hours, operators must be certified to fly them and drones are now required to stay within an operator’s line of sight. Drones are also under speculation about privacy concerns and property damage concerns. If you’re shooting your own video with a drone, you’ll need to learn the regulations. With 25 years of experience in helicopter aerials, we know the guidelines and regulations. We’ve done that work for you so that all you have to do is purchase the footage.
3. It’s Convenient
We already have thousands of shots from New York, Chicago, San Francisco and of course, Atlanta as well as several other sites and cities in Georgia. We have footage on 35 mm, Cineflex and Arri Alexa as well as shots from varying times of day – day, night and Golden Hour. Why wait for the weather and the risk of hiring someone who is not licensed and has no insurance? Select the shot that’s perfect for you from our extensive library.
You get out what you put in. If you want a higher return on investment, a higher quality video is what you need, and we’re here to help.