What are the best practices for shooting film with a drone or a GoPro?

1 Plan your shots

Before you fly your drone or mount your GoPro, you need to have a clear idea of what you want to achieve with your shots. Think about the story, the mood, the angle, the movement, and the duration of each shot. Scout the location, check the weather, and obtain any necessary permissions or permits. Also, make sure your equipment is fully charged, updated, and calibrated.

2 Adjust your settings

Depending on the type and model of your drone or GoPro, you may have different options for adjusting the settings such as resolution, frame rate, ISO, shutter speed, white balance, and color profile. Generally, you want to choose the highest resolution and frame rate that your device can handle, while keeping the ISO as low as possible to avoid noise. You also want to match the shutter speed to the frame rate, using the 180-degree rule as a guideline. For example, if you shoot at 24 fps, your shutter speed should be around 1/50. You can also use ND filters to control the exposure and create a cinematic motion blur. For white balance and color profile, you can either set them manually or use the auto mode, depending on the lighting conditions and your editing preferences.

3 Compose your shots

One of the challenges of shooting with a drone or a GoPro is to compose your shots in a way that is visually appealing and coherent. For drones, you want to avoid sudden or jerky movements, and instead use smooth and fluid motions that follow the action or reveal the landscape. You can also use techniques such as tilting, panning, orbiting, or tracking to create dynamic and varied shots. For GoPros, you want to avoid distortion and fisheye effects, and instead use the linear or narrow modes to correct the lens curvature. You can also use accessories such as mounts, poles, or gimbals to position and stabilize your GoPro in different ways.

4 Stabilize your footage

Even with the best equipment and techniques, you may still end up with shaky or unstable footage when shooting with a drone or a GoPro. To fix this, you can use software tools such as Adobe Premiere Pro, Final Cut Pro, or DaVinci Resolve to apply stabilization effects or warp stabilizers to your clips. However, be careful not to overdo it, as too much stabilization can result in unnatural or distorted footage. You can also crop or reframe your footage to eliminate unwanted edges or movements.

5 Edit your footage

The final step of shooting film with a drone or a GoPro is to edit your footage and make it look professional and polished. You can use software tools such as Adobe Premiere Pro, Final Cut Pro, or DaVinci Resolve to trim, cut, splice, or merge your clips, as well as to adjust the color, contrast, brightness, saturation, and other parameters of your footage. You can also add transitions, effects, music, sound effects, titles, or subtitles to enhance your film. However, be careful not to over-edit your footage, as too much manipulation can ruin the authenticity and quality of your film.