- In this video, we're going through 10 different things
that's gonna make your Mini 2 footage cinematic.
(upbeat music)
So flying a drone is super fun,
but when it comes to getting better looking shots,
you don't wanna just put the drone up
and expect to get the best results.
You have to do a few things to be able
to get better looking footage out of this drone
and especially with the Mini 2,
because you are limited with the footage
that you're able to capture out of it.
However, with that said,
this camera does shoot 4K in 100 megabits,
so you can do some cool stuff in post
when it comes to color grading.
So I just got back from off-roading out
in the mountains in Big Bear,
a snow storm seemed to have just hit us at the right moment.
And we got some awesome footage,
just exploring the mountains, going from the desert,
where it was super bright and sunny and a little bit windy
to the snow-capped mountains and everything in between.
And on this trip,
I shot a vlog and used the drone
to get a lot of different cinematic looking shots.
So what I wanna go through is 10 different ways
to get cinematic footage.
The first few are gonna be focused
on how to capture footage.
Then we'll get into some ideas around creative control
and shot perspectives and things like that.
And then the last few tips are gonna go through
some things to do in post when you're here and editing.
And all of this together
is gonna give you awesome looking footage.
Alright, so let's get into the first one,
which is use manual white balance
and lock in your exposure.
So when you're flying with this drone,
you can go into your menu system
in the upper right-hand corner, the three dots,
and there is a white balance setting
and you can change your white balance underneath
the camera setting.
Now you wanna lock in your white balance
because when you're flying and you have it on auto,
the camera's gonna decide your color balance.
However, when you're shooting,
you don't wanna have that fluctuation happen
in the middle of a shot.
So you can see right here,
I was shooting in snow and it couldn't decide
if the colors needed to be more warm or more cool.
And this just causes an issue in post because now I have
to go through and color grade these out.
So you wanna lock in your white balance
to whatever makes most sense in the setting that you're in.
Now with exposure, you have two options.
You either shoot full manual,
which you control your shutter speed and your ISO,
or you lock in your exposure in the lower right-hand corner.
You hit the little lock icon,
and then whatever exposure is currently set,
it's gonna lock there until you unlock it.
You don't want your exposure fluctuating throughout a shot,
unless you're going through a scene that's changing light.
And very rarely do I wanna shoot in that way,
but if I was circling around a car
and the sun hits the lens, yeah,
there might be some times
where I'll just leave auto exposure on.
But for the majority of the time when I'm flying,
I will lock in my exposure.
Number two is control your exposure
and make it a little bit darker.
What I've noticed is that when this camera exposes on auto,
it's a little too bright.
I always shoot at -0.3, -0.7 or -1.
And I've been able to get the best looking footage out
of this drone in those settings.
If I just leave it to auto at zero,
this is the kind of footage that I get,
it's a little bit overexposed in certain areas.
And it's not as easy to color grade.
If I bring down the exposure and lock it in,
I can get a much better look out of this camera.
And also if you're flying manual
and you just wanna make sure
that if there is anything bright in your image,
that that's hitting at 80%, rather than 90 to 100,
because once you get in that upper range,
when you bring it into your editing software,
it's much harder to color grade.
And you actually can't bring those highlights back as much.
You kind of lose everything.
Even though you have some exposure in those highlights,
I've noticed that I've not been able
to get very good color grades
when I expose a little bit too bright.
So error on the side of caution,
bring down your exposure a little bit.
Don't let your highlights get too close to 100.
But at the same time,
you also don't wanna have too much dark
in your image as well. So you gotta just play it balanced.
This camera has one color profile,
so you really only have this one to work with.
There's no log setting.
Now number three is use ND filters
and ND filters are basically sunglasses for your camera.
And they allows you to bring down your shutter speed
so you can get more motion blur in your footage.
This is not as noticeable when you're super high in the air,
but when you're super close to objects,
it'll become more jittery.
So using ND filters will smooth out your footage
and give you more of that cinematic look.
Number four, you wanna show scale,
but you also wanna fly close to objects.
So when you're showing scale,
that's when you get further away from the subject,
whatever it is that you're shooting
and you wanna show everything,
you wanna show the landscape in the distance.
You wanna show the horizon.
You wanna show this thing with this giant perspective,
that's the beauty of drones
is you can get these awesome perspectives.
Now at the same time, you also wanna fly close to objects.
You wanna get in there because a drone
can give you super stable footage
and it can stay in a consistent straight line
and give you these shots that you can't do
with a lot of other cameras.
So this kind of blends into my next point,
which is perspectives.
And you wanna get different perspectives
when you're flying.
You don't always wanna shoot the same angle,
the same direction.
You wanna use your camera in different ways
to be able to capture footage.
So shoot straight out the horizon
but then once you're done with that shot,
point the camera down and shoot straight down the ground
and then shoot at an angle.
This camera also allows you to shoot up a little bit
so if you get closer to the ground,
you can kind of point it up.
It will look somewhat like a gimbal,
but you can do these bigger sweeping moves
than you would be able to if you were running
with a camera in your hand.
So having varying perspectives is super important.
And that goes into my next point, which is sequencing.
When you're flying your drone,
you really wanna think about how these shots
are gonna play back to back. You wanna think story.
So how can you best capture the scene from beginning to end,
show all the different perspectives
and you get a full picture of whatever it is
that you're flying.
So for example, it's snowing,
I'm out in the middle of nowhere.
So I wanna show our trucks climbing through the mountains.
I wanna show the Joshua trees getting covered in snow.
And then I wanna pull back and get these big perspectives
that really show the landscape of where we're at.
So a good rule of thumb is go close, medium, wide.
And then on top of that, once you have a sequence of shots,
think, okay, what are some different perspectives
that will really make this situation unique?
It could be top-down.
A lot of times getting that top-down shot
will make everything look so cool
because drones are the only camera
that really allows you to get that kind of perspective.
So don't forget to grab these different perspectives
and don't forget to think about
how the shots play next to each other.
Number seven, you wanna create contrast with your light.
So when I was shooting this scene here,
you can see the truck is being blasted with light.
But if I flip to the other side,
all of a sudden you get this crazy contrast
and it just looks more cinematic.
This is because cinematic looking footage generally
has more contrast in the frame.
You don't wanna just blast everything with light.
So when you're flying, think of, okay,
where's the position of the sun in relation
to the subject of what I'm shooting?
Try to put the sun off to the side,
try to put it at 3/4 that way or 3/4 this way,
just so you can see the bright parts and the dark parts
of the scene that you're in.
And this goes right into number eight,
shoot early in the morning or late in the day.
And if you could shoot at golden hour,
that's gonna give you the most cinematic looking footage.
The reason is the sun is low in the sky.
So you have these long shadows and you also have
this different quality of light
than if the sun is right up above.
Like right here, this scene,
the sun is right up above and it's just not that exciting.
Just everything is being washed with light
and shadows are right below.
Whereas if you shoot early in the morning or late at night,
you get these cool long shadows
that give you more of the cinematic feel
and everything has this warm glow to it.
It's just more pleasing to the eye.
And then when you add some of these other concepts
to the shoot, all of a sudden you're gonna
have really cinematic looking footage.
Now, if you're in a scene where there's clouds
or in this situation it's snowing,
and it's just kind of all white,
then it comes down to more of your perspectives
and the way that you're sequencing
to get cinematic looking footage.
It doesn't always come down to where the sun is
because sometimes the sun is covered.
But when the sun is out, bright blue sky,
try to shoot early in the morning or late at night.
Now number nine is an editing technique
and it gets into color grading.
So what I've noticed with this footage
is that the mid-tones tend to ride a little bit hot.
So when I'm color grading,
what I find is that first thing I always do
with this footage is I bring the mid-tones down
and bring my shadows up a tad.
And then I'll play around
with my highlights depending on the shot
and depending on what's in the scene.
I found that just doing this tweak alone,
will make any footage coming out of the Mavic Mini
a little bit more cinematic.
Everything seems to be a little bit bright.
So all you have is this one contrasted look,
and you have to play within this contrasted profile.
So if you shoot it a little bit darker
and then you bring it into your software
and bring down your midtones,
you'll see all of a sudden
that your footage just feels more rich.
And for me, this is where I've really been able
to get the best look out of this camera.
Now, number 10 is another editing technique.
You wanna stabilize your footage or reframe.
So when you're out flying, it's not always perfect.
So look at this shot for example, it's a pretty cool shot.
I'm flying with two directionality,
flying in as well as in turning around the Jeep,
but I kinda missed the mark, so I kind of jerk a little bit.
You don't want jerky footage.
So what I did is I actually stabilized this footage
and centered in on the truck itself.
And you can see just right here,
all of a sudden the footage looks that much better.
The beauty is you're shooting 4K,
you can crop in a little bit.
It's not gonna be the end of the world
unless you're a pixel peeper
and you're really focused on that resolution,
the cropping and a little bit on your 4K
is not gonna be a problem and I do it all the time.
So you can crop in, you can stabilize,
you can reframe and doing these little tweaks
will help make your footage more cinematic
because you can really perfect each of the moves
that you were trying to do.
When you're out flying, yes,
you'll get some good looking footage,
but it's never perfect.
So there's always times where you can go
and tweak a little bit and all of a sudden, boom,
you have amazing looking footage.
I'm gonna give you one more bonus tip.
And that is start building a library of clips
that you think are cinematic and that you really like.
So when you're watching another creator,
when you're watching a film and you see
this awesome aerial shot, what about that shot is so epic?
Where's the light coming from?
Which perspective is that creator shooting from?
Are they straight on, are they straight down?
How is the subject interacting with the drone
and how is the drone moving? Is it in one directionality?
Is it fast? Is it slow?
And a good practices to just pull clips
and keep a library of these so you can refer to them
and start practicing them because the best way
to get good at flying a drone and get good looking footage
is to practice, practice, practice.
Alright, guys, next I highly suggest you check out
this video right here.
It is my complete beginner's guide to the Mini 2.
So if you're new to flying,
this is definitely the video that you need to check out.
And down here is another video,
all about color grading
and how to make your Mini 2 footage pop.
Alright guys, I'll see you over there.