(bright upbeat music)
- I created this video as a library of drone moves
that you can use when you are out flying.
Now, this video is gonna be a little bit different
than the other videos I've done on drone moves,
because I'm not just gonna give you
100 plus specific moves.
I wanna go through the different factors
that will change the feeling and the tone
of the content that you're creating.
So when you're flying a drone,
you can use the same shot,
but depending on a few different factors,
it's really gonna change that shot
and it's gonna become something entirely different.
So how I've broken down this video is into three parts.
Part one is going to go through
these four different factors
that's gonna change your drone shots.
The second part is gonna go through some common types
of shots that you're gonna use with your drone.
And then the third section is a drone move library.
Now, when we get into section three of the drone library,
I'm gonna show you on my controller
how you can actually do each one of these moves
so you can go out and practice them yourself.
Now this is not every move that you can make
with your drone.
However, there is a ton in this library
that you can pull from and actually see
how all these factors work together,
and between the library, the types of shots
and the different ways to use your drone,
you can create hundreds of different drone moves
in your own videos.
A couple of things before we get to section one,
first is that the type of drone
that you're using really doesn't matter.
Every drone is gonna have its benefits,
but most of these shots can be performed on any drone.
And it really comes down to shooting
at the right time of day
and understanding your camera settings
to be able to get the best looking footage
out of your drone shots.
And if you wanna learn everything you need to know
about how to fly your drone and get better looking footage,
I'll put my beginner's guide down below in the description
and also at the end of this video.
And the second thing is your story
is gonna dictate what you want to do with your drone.
You really wanna think through what is happening
with your subject or with the scene
that you're filming and then find a drone shot
that's gonna help tell that story.
I like to think story first and then focus on the visuals
and find a cool way to tell the story,
rather than just putting the drone up
to get pretty looking shots.
All right, let's get into section one,
which is the four factors that are gonna change your shot.
So number one is the height,
how high your drone will change,
how your drone is gonna look.
So with most drones,
you can now point your gimbal a little bit upwards,
meaning that you have a lot of flexibility
with how you can fly your drone.
So you could be a little lower
than your subject pointed up at it,
you could be at eye level,
you could be above eye level.
You could be way higher than eye level and pointed down.
And then ultimately, you can be right above your subject
or your scene looking straight down on it.
So the height is gonna make a big difference
in how the shot is gonna look.
The second factor is your speed.
So how fast is your drone going.
On all DJI products, you're gonna have three modes.
You're gonna have sceney mode,
your normal mode, and your sport mode,
which is like super fast.
And with most of these shots
that we're gonna talk about later in this video,
you can shoot in sceney normal, or sport mode
and it's gonna change the shot.
So a super slow shot is gonna feel cinematic,
it's gonna feel more dramatic.
It might make the scene feel more grand.
Whereas something super fast is gonna give
a frantic feeling or that sense of energy
within your footage.
And then normal is gonna sit somewhere in between.
So you might have a scene,
and if you wanna ramp up the energy,
you're gonna put it into sport mode
and try to capture that shot with lots of movement.
Whereas if you wanted to make something feel just big
and epic, you're gonna shoot at a slow speed.
And then also between those three speeds,
you can lightly feather your joysticks
so that you're not putting full force up or down,
and it's gonna change how fast your drone moves.
So a lot of times, I'll put it in the sceney mode,
the super slow mode,
but I'm only pushing the joysticks about half the distance
that they can go and it makes the shot even slower.
So you're gonna wanna work with your joysticks
and really learn how to move them in a way
where you can pull them slightly to one direction
and not having to go full force all the time.
Now, the third factor is distance.
How far away from your subject or your scene are you?
And that's gonna make a big impact.
So if you're right on your subject,
audience is gonna be focused in on that one thing.
Whereas if you're really far away and your subject's tiny,
then the focus is the scene in front of them.
It's the mountains in the distance where the ocean,
how big and grand it is.
So you're gonna use your distance from subjects
or from whatever it is that you're shooting
and play around with that.
You might be super close and you might be super far away
or somewhere in the middle.
And then the fourth factor is your gimbal rotation.
You don't always have to fly
with your gimbal pointed straight out
because you also want your gimbal pointed down,
pointed up, pointed straight down on the ground below you.
That's a big factor in changing up your shot
by just adjusting the gimbal slightly
and then moving the drone up or down
or further away from your subject.
It changes how the shot feels
and creates a completely different move.
So those are the four factors that you wanna I think about
in the back of your head when you're out filming.
And even if you're going out
and only trying to do five different shots,
you use those four different factors,
and you're gonna change those up and come up
with 30, 40 shots because each one of those
is gonna create a different style of movement.
Let's get into section two,
which is the different types of shots
that you can get using your drone.
Now, these aren't the only shots that you can get,
but these are some of the most common ones
that I keep seeing over and over again
when I've been researching different movements
with your drone.
So number one is the establishing shot,
and this is a type of filmmaking technique
to establish a scene.
It's gonna give your audience a bigger view of the scene
and it can be used as something to establish where you're at
in a scene.
And drones work super well
to get these big establishing shots,
because you can get them high in the sky far away,
and you can show everything in the distance.
And the number two is the reveal,
and this is where your focus is on one part of the scene
or one subject.
And then the drone moves in a way
that it shows something different.
So you're revealing something.
So for example, if you're coming out
from behind trees to reveal the beach in the background,
it's a great storytelling tool to build suspense
or to drive anticipation, or just to show something new
in the scene.
So it could be used as a transition.
The whole idea of a reveal is you're shifting focus
from one element to another.
So let's talk about a few different reveals
that you can do with your drone.
One is where the view is hidden,
and then the drone moves up and past something
to reveal what's behind it.
Another style of reveal is when you're super close
on a subject, it's filling the frame.
And then you pull out to reveal the scene
of where that subject is.
And then another type of reveal
is where something comes into frame.
So, for example, you could have a completely empty frame
and then a subject comes in,
like the Jeeps are doing in the shot.
Reveals are a great storytelling tool to keep
in your back pocket and something
that you should always be thinking
about when you're out flying.
Is there a need for a reveal in the scene
that you're shooting?
The third type of shot is a tracking shot,
and this is where you have a subject in your frame
and you're following that subject.
Now, you're gonna have to think about the relationship
between your drone and that subject
to figure out what type of shot makes sense.
So you can maintain your speed with that subject
and keep the subject in the frame the entire time.
It could be moving faster than subjects.
So you might blow past it with your drone,
or you might be moving slower than your subject
and the subject might cross frame
and leave or where the drone is not keeping up
and the subject is gonna move past the drone.
And you wanna think about this relationship
because you don't always
just want your subjects centered
and following them at the same speed.
It sometimes looks better if the subject is moving faster,
or if the subject is moving slower
and the drone is going past your subject.
And the fourth type of shot
that I see common is the fly through.
And this is where you're going through objects
or past objects really close.
And when you're flying through something,
you obviously wanna make sure that you don't hit anything.
You might have to turn your sensors off
if you're moving really close to something,
but when you're flying through something,
it's gonna create a different feeling
than if you're way up above it.
If you're a beginner, I'd highly suggest
not starting with this type of shot,
because you can definitely crush your drone pretty easily.
Let's get into section three, which is a shot library.
So I've put together a big list of different styles
of drone shots, and I've broken it up into beginner,
which is just one direction on your controller,
two directions on your controller,
which is more intermediate, and then three or more,
which would be more advanced.
And you're definitely gonna want to learn
how to use your drone in one direction
and really perfect it before you try doing
like three or four directions at once.
Flying your drone is a skill
and you wanna make sure that you're smooth
and there's no jerky movements,
because as soon as something's jerky
or it doesn't look right, it's gonna draw attention
to the actual movement of the drone,
and it's not gonna look very good.
Now, the configuration that I'm using on my controller
to demonstrate these moves is the standard configuration.
And this is what comes out of the box.
So the left joystick is gonna raise the drone up
into the sky, drop it down, rotate it.
And the right joystick is gonna move the drone forward,
backwards, and side to side.
So if you have a different stick configuration,
just keep that in mind when you're watching
the rest of this video.
And one last thing,
I've color graded all of these drone shots using my Luts.
And you'll see in the lower left-hand corner,
I'll put which Lut I'm using.
And one thing to keep in mind when you're using Luts
is that you don't wanna use them always at full 100%.
You wanna play around with them
and you might do little tweaks on top of a Lut
to make it work for the scene that you're shooting in.
No Lut is perfect to just slap on and walk away.
Sometimes they'll look good,
but sometimes you'll need to do minor tweaks
to really make your footage pop.
All right, so now let's go through
all of these different drone movements.
Number one is the tripod.
And this is the easiest move.
All you need to do is fly into position, point the gimbal
at the right height for the shot,
and just let it sit there capturing the scene
or capturing the subject moving through the scene.
The next shot is the reverse.
And this is where you pull down on the right joystick,
and your drone's going to fly backwards.
Just make sure when you're doing this,
you know there's a clear path behind you
and you're not gonna run into anything.
A lot of drones have sensors to avoid crashes,
but you still wanna make sure
that there's not gonna be anything in your way.
The next move is the slide.
And this is also called a dolly.
And this is where you pull right or left
on the right joystick.
Now, your gimbal is gonna be facing forward
and you're gonna be moving left or right.
The next one is the push-in.
And this is where you push forward on the right joystick.
This is one of the most common moves used with a drone.
And it's one of the shots that I always capture
when I'm flying.
Next is the raise uP.
And this is where you push forward on the left joystick.
Your drone's going to ascend into the sky.
As I said earlier, in this video,
use your gimbal rotation to change up all of these shots.
And they'll give you a completely different look
from your footage.
The next shot is the dropdown,
and this is where you pull down on the left joystick
and your drone is gonna descend down in the sky.
It's always a good idea when you're landing
to make sure that you have a good shot framed up
so that you can always grab one of these shots
at the end of your flight.
Next is the rotation,
and this is where you push left or right
on the left joystick.
And your drone is going to spin in the sky.
Now this next batch of shots are all two directions.
Now, you might be using just one of your joysticks
and going in two directions,
or you'll be using both joysticks simultaneously
to be able to capture these moves.
The first is the angle push or the reverse push.
So you either pull to the upper corners or the lower corners
of the right joystick.
Now, this set of moves pushes the drone forward
while also sliding it to the left or right.
And you can also do this the reverse
where the drone is moving backwards
and also sliding left or right.
Next is the raise up and push forward.
This is where you push up on both joysticks
at the same time.
Your drone's gonna go high into the sky
while also pushing forward over the landscape.
Now, the next move is very similar to the last move,
but you're using the left joystick.
So you're pushing in one of the four corners,
and this will either raise up and rotate
or drop down and rotate.
So basically, your drone is going to be raising up
into the sky or coming down low, but at the same time,
you're spinning the drone.
So you create the spiral as you're going up
and coming down.
Next is the raise up with reverse.
So on the left joystick,
you're gonna be pushing forward, on the right joystick,
you're gonna be pulling backwards.
And what will happen is the drone's gonna raise up
into the sky while also moving backwards.
And this is a great reveal to use for your scene.
So you can start close on a subject and then pull back
and out to reveal the bigger picture.
Next is the raise up with the gimbal rotation down.
So you're gonna be using
the left joystick pushing forward,
and then your finger's gonna be on the gimbal,
and you're gonna be pulling it down.
And so, what will happen is your drone
is gonna go up into the sky
and you wanna try to follow a subject
with your gimbal as it focuses down towards the ground.
It's a cool shift in perspective.
You can do the same thing in reverse
so you can drop down and rotate the gimbal up.
And this is where you'll start from a higher perspective
and you drop down to see that more eye-level perspective.
Next is the orbit.
This is a classic shot with a drone.
This is where you have a subject centered
or a spot in the landscape center
and you're rotating around that point.
There's two ways to do this move.
You either pull right on the left joystick
and left on the right joystick,
or you do the reverse where you pull left
on the left joystick and right on the right joystick.
You can make this move super slow and big,
or you can make it really fast and small.
Play around with your distance and your speed
to really change up this move
and give you some different styles of orbits.
Now, next is a push-in with a gimbal rotation down.
So this is where you're flying across a landscape.
And then you're going to focus in and down on something
that you're flying over.
It's a cool shot to drive your attention
to something in the landscape.
And you can also do this in reverse.
So you can pull down on the right joystick
and rotate your gimbal up.
And this, you can start looking down on something
and then reverse out while also pointing up
to reveal the scene in the distance.
Let's get into the advanced section,
which is combining three or more movements
to create your shot.
The first is a reverse slide with the rotation.
So you're gonna pull right or left
with the left joystick.
And then you're gonna pull down to one of the corners
on the right joystick.
And this type of movement is gonna give you
a much bigger sweep than if you were
to just go in one direction on the right joystick.
Now, that same type of shot is a push and slide
with the rotation as well.
So instead of moving backwards using this arcy motion,
you're gonna be moving forwards and towards something.
Now to take this a step further,
you're gonna add a gimbal rotation
with one of these movements.
So for this sample, I'm reverse sliding backwards,
rotating while also moving my gimbal upwards.
Now next, let's take an orbit and add a rotation
with the gimbal.
So you're gonna be centering around a subject,
and then you're gonna change your perspective.
So for this sample, I'm going left on the left joystick,
right on the right joystick
while also rotating my gimbal up.
So you're seeing this change in perspective.
Now, next we're gonna drop down
and rotate while also sliding.
This is another big arcy motion,
but we're gonna be descending while we're doing it.
So you're rotating down and around a point on the horizon.
So for this sample, it's the pier.
So this is like an orbit moving downwards.
So you're spiraling around something while also descending.
Now, next is a very similar shot,
but you're moving upwards
and we're also adding forward motion.
So for this one,
the left joystick is pointed up to the upper right corner
and the right joystick is pointed to the upper left corner.
So you could do these same types of shots
while also pushing forward and pulling back.
Now, let's add a gimbal rotation to that.
This next sample is an orbit.
We'll also bring in the gimbal downwards.
So the left joystick is going in the upper left-hand corner,
right joystick's sliding to the right,
and you're rotating the gimbal down.
And that allows me to create a big spiral around a subject
while also changing perspective.
And take that a step further,
we're also gonna push forward
while doing that same movement.
Now a similar shot,
but in reverse is descending down
doing the same type of movement patterns.
So, bottom corner on the left joystick
while pushing right on the right joystick
with a slight rotation upwards on the gimbal.
Now the next shot is pushing forward while descending
and also rotating the gimbal upwards.
So you're gonna be moving in and towards
a point while also rotating the gimbal up.
So the horizon is gonna change in your shot.
Next is an orbit with a push end.
So you're gonna push up in either corner
and it's gonna create this big spiral helix style motion.
And you can also do this moving backwards.
So this is the same thing,
but pulling backwards on the right joystick.
A lot of these moves in this last section are much harder
to pull off, but with a little practice,
you'll be able to combine these movements together
and create really awesome looking drone shots.
So between all of these drone movements
and all of the factors that we talked about
at the beginning of this video,
you can come up with hundreds of combinations
of drone movements to use in your videos.
Like I said earlier,
the key thing is thinking through your story
and what movement is gonna best tell that story.
Now, next, I highly suggest you check out this video here.
It's a beginner's guide on how to fly your drone
and get better-looking footage.
I'll see you over there.