- Hoo, what is up guys?
Merry Christmas for all those that you celebrate Christmas
and Happy Holidays for everyone else.
In this video, we're talking
about some of the basic beginner moves
that you need to learn as a new Spark flyer.
(upbeat music)
Okay, I know a ton of you just got the Spark.
It's Christmas.
I actually sat down to shoot this video this morning
and checked my analytics for YouTube,
and my Spark beginners guide is like phew.
There's a ton of new flyers out there,
and I know there's a ton of you
that are wondering what are the moves that I need to learn
and what are the different skills that I need
to fly the Spark and get awesome footage.
So, I'm putting this together.
It's 10 moves.
They're the basic things that you should start practicing
and what I mean is that,
when you're flying a drone,
there's a bunch of different movement patterns
that get really cool shots.
So, things like going up, going down,
being right over your subject flying.
And unless you're really looking at how things are shot,
when you get up there and start flying the first time,
you wonder how you get some of these shots.
So, let's break down the basic movements.
These are things that you should practice at the beginning,
after you go through the beginner's guide,
after you get the drone flying,
you get it set up, you understand how everything works.
Then, you start practicing these moves.
And these are the moves that you'll use
to start getting some really awesome footage.
All right, so let's just get into it.
Okay, one note before we get started.
All your movements need to be smooth.
If you do anything jerky,
it's gonna pull the viewer out of the scene.
And your job as the film maker,
as the shooter, as the cinematographer,
is to create cool shots,
where people feel the emotion of the scene,
or they see something that's very dramatic,
but they don't necessarily notice the camera move itself.
As soon as someone starts thinking,
why is the camera doing that,
they're gonna be pulled out of the scene
and they're gonna be not as engaged with your video.
So, what you wanna do is create cool cinematic movements
that are smooth, buttery,
that aren't super jerky,
because that is what's gonna really captivate your audience.
Number one.
You're gonna be using the left joystick for this.
And you're just gonna be pushing up on the left joystick.
When you push up on that joystick,
it's gonna make you raise up into the air.
When you're learning to fly,
obviously that's how you get up.
You get the drone up, then you start taking off.
You can use this movement of just moving vertically upwards
to get some cool cinematic footage.
So, with this movement, what you're able to do
is go from the ground and go up to reveal a landscape.
Or you could be moving up an object, such as a building.
What it does is that it gives you the ability
to start with one frame,
and as you move up, it reveals the bigger picture.
Okay, number two is the opposite of that.
The opposite of that is pulling down on the left joystick.
When you do this, you can be high in the sky,
and the drone is gonna come down.
And this one is different than moving up,
because you're not revealing the bigger picture.
You're going to be coming down,
and so what that does,
is it could do a reveal in a way
where a subject could be on the ground,
or there could be something lower
that when you come down, it comes into frame
and it reveals it.
So, you start with this big open landscape,
and maybe you're coming down
and it reveals, like a person standing down on the ground,
or a bike moving, or a house.
There's a lot of different ways you can use this
to reveal something cool that's on the ground,
using a cinematic movement.
Okay, number three.
We're gonna stay in the left joystick.
You're gonna push the joystick left or right.
What that does is it pans the drone.
This is really cool because you can get high in the sky
and you can do a pan.
So, just like a normal camera on a tripod,
you can pan it left or right.
It's a great establishing type shot,
where you could see everything in the scene.
You get a movement, but also get to see everything.
The beauty is, with a drone,
you can get yourself high in the sky
and reveal a massive landscape.
You can see more than you normally would see
from the ground.
So, play with feathering left and right
to create a cool looking pan
to show an entire landscape.
Number four.
We're going to move over to the right joystick now.
And the first thing that you need to learn
on this joystick is just moving forwards.
And that is pushing up on the right joystick.
Moving forwards is like a very basic movement,
but it's a very cinematic movement
when you use it properly.
So, you gotta get yourself lower to the ground,
if you're way high in the sky
that you can't see the movement of the drone as well.
When you get yourself down lower,
you can skim things,
you can see the land moving underneath the drone,
and that's where this becomes very cinematic.
Moving forward with a drone is a very cinematic shot.
And something that I use all the time.
Okay, number five is moving backwards.
So, when you move backwards with the drone,
that is taking your right joystick
and pulling down on it.
It's the same type of movement as moving forward,
but moving backwards.
Now, the difference is than when you move backwards
into a scene, play with your audience
and start with one idea and then as you pull back,
it reveals something bigger.
So, for example, if you're shooting one scene,
and you pull back, well maybe the ocean is behind you,
and you reveal a beach and you reveal the water crashing.
There's ways where, using your forwards and your backwards
really create these cool cinematic shots
when you bring the drone closer to the ground,
and show more of the scene,
rather than being way high in the sky.
Okay, number six is gonna be the last movement
with the camera straight up in the air,
shooting horizontal.
And that's pushing left or right on the right joystick.
And what that does is it makes a dolly shot.
And what I mean by a dolly shot
is a movement from left to right, or right to left,
where the camera's facing straight out.
It looks really cool and it's very cinematic.
I often use it in my videos,
just because it's a cool way to show the landscape.
Number seven.
We're gonna do something with just the camera itself now.
If you watched one of my other videos
on the best settings for cinematic results with the Spark,
then you'll have your gimbal already set up.
However, what you wanna do is drop the speed
of your gimbal down low,
so that when you use your gimbal wheel,
it has a very slow movement up and down.
What you're gonna do is pan the camera
from up to down and down to up.
And what you get to do is show your scene
just as you were panning left to right,
a big establishing shot, but showing from up to down,
so you can look straight down on an object
and then pan up, to reveal the bigger picture.
Make sure you dial in your settings
to where it feels smooth and buttery and it looks great.
Okay, so now we wanna take our camera
and point it straight down.
Because we're gonna change the perspective
and now do some motions with the camera straight down,
that give a really cool cinematic look.
So, number eight, we're gonna be using the right joystick.
Your camera's pointed straight down.
You got your drone a little bit of distance in the sky.
And now you're gonna push
forwards, backwards, left, or right.
It's gonna show the landscape in a really cool way.
When you're high above an object
and you're pointing straight down,
it's a perspective that most people don't get to see.
And it's really cool to see places from the sky.
So, use your right joystick to do some different movements
to show the landscape, and to show what it is
that you're shooting from this top down view.
And this is a shot that people love seeing.
So, this is a really cool one to play with.
Number nine is the same shot,
except you're gonna be moving down or up.
Now, use your left joystick.
Now, if you pull down on it, or you push up on it,
you're gonna float down into a scene, or up into a scene.
This is cool because you can really get
that top down perspective,
and then float down into a scene,
where there's something specific
that draws the viewer's attention.
So, play with this, play with that top down view,
and going into a subject or out of a subject.
And number 10, is kind of a jumping off
to more advanced style of drone techniques.
And that is you're going to start putting
these techniques together.
What I want you to do for number 10,
I want you to pull back on the right joystick,
and push up on the left joystick.
And what that's gonna do
is your drone's gonna fly backwards and up.
And the reason I wanna show you this movement
and why I think you should practice this,
is that this is a movement
that people love getting with drones.
It's those shots you see
where you have a person standing there
on like a cliff, or an edge, or something,
you pull back to reveal the bigger landscape.
You're not just pulling straight back,
you're pulling back and up.
So, doing this, you get a dramatic shot
that reveals the landscape, and you get the bigger picture.
And this is your introduction to more advanced drone flying.
These are the kind of shots
that are really gonna make your footage shine.
So, you wanna do compound movements.
Where it's two or three different movements
at the same time.
You could be using your gimbal,
your left joystick, and your right joystick,
to create these compound movements
that are more dramatic and more cinematic.
Guys, I have another video that is all
about my favorite movements,
where you take two or three movements
and create these dramatic shots.
I'll make sure to link that in the description below
so you can check that out.
But remember guys, slow, smooth movements
are the best to create cinematic footage.
Hey, there's a spider on our ceiling.
All right guys, I hope that was helpful.
Stay safe flying and have fun with your Spark,
because it is an awesome piece of equipment.
If you haven't already, make sure you hit
that subscribe button.
I've got a lot of awesome drone
and cinematic technique videos for you.
Also, if you haven't already,
check us out on Instagram @Waterworks,
and guys, I'll see ya on the next one.