Filming power station demolition

[Andrex]

Next Friday (6 December), weather and airspace permitting, I hope to be able to take my Mavic 2 Pro to Ironbridge in Shropshire to film the demolition of the four cooling towers of the power station.

Aside from the busy location, 350 m exclusion zone, probable police helicopter enforcing the exclusion zone and other drones in the area, I'm also looking for some advice on audio.

Obviously the M2P cannot record sound, but missing the explosion of the towers being detonated will be a bit of a negative in the footage.

What would be the best way to capture the audio and synchronise it to the video? I may have to record from the ground, but am mindful of the potential for other sounds to intrude on the footage, such as people, which would make it obvious that it wasn't recorded in exactly the same location.

Thoughts and advice would be appreciated. Would also be interested to hear from anyone else who has used a drone to film large-scale demolitions.

 

[AnzacJack]

I would imagine recording sound from the ground will give best results. Any airborne recording will have to much noise from the drone you would be recording from. Ideally find a spot a reasonable distance from the site so that it would match the distance your drone would be from detonation. How close will you be permitted to film from?

 

[old man mavic]

sounds like a great spectacle ,only issue for me would be from your viewpoint a thousand feet from the towers, you are not going to have a large image of the towers to work with good luck anyway i hope it all goes well

 

[Andrex]

Yes, there's a 350 m exclusion zone but I feel the image will be big enough.

This photo was taken 1,100 m away, and the towers aren't too small, so I will try to go c. another 500 m closer on the day.

 

[dirkclod]

Cool history of that. Coal then 100% bio matter fueled.
Do hope your successful in your efforts and hope you do share it here.

 

[old man mavic]

Yes, there's a 350 m exclusion zone but I feel the image will be big enough.

This photo was taken 1,100 m away, and the towers aren't too small, so I will try to go c. another 500 m closer on the day.

thats better than i was expecting to be honest look forwards to your vid

 

[Dave Maine]

There are many good portable sound recorders available with decent microphones. Mount on a tripod and locate as close to the site as possible, making sure that any wind blowing will not hit the microphones. Wind noise is the biggest problem you will face. Crowd noise will suggest a location as far from the crowd as possible, consistent with wind protection.

Using a highly directional microphone aimed at the blast site will reduce the ambient noise off the axis of the mike.

you can fairly easily sync the blast to your video using a video editor that displays the sound waveforms. The explosion will be quite distinctive and can be visually aligned with the towers starting to fall.

 

[Joe Collins]

Next Friday (6 December), weather and airspace permitting, I hope to be able to take my Mavic 2 Pro to Ironbridge in Shropshire to film the demolition of the four cooling towers of the power station.

Aside from the busy location, 350 m exclusion zone, probable police helicopter enforcing the exclusion zone and other drones in the area, I'm also looking for some advice on audio.

Obviously the M2P cannot record sound, but missing the explosion of the towers being detonated will be a bit of a negative in the footage.

What would be the best way to capture the audio and synchronise it to the video? I may have to record from the ground, but am mindful of the potential for other sounds to intrude on the footage, such as people, which would make it obvious that it wasn't recorded in exactly the same location.

Thoughts and advice would be appreciated. Would also be interested to hear from anyone else who has used a drone to film large-scale demolitions.

I look forward to your images!

 

[Andrex]

Will have to hope the weather forecast improves before Friday, currently only forecast to rain around the time of the demolition...!

 

[old man mavic]

sods law wouldnt you just know it

 

[DanMan32]

Go app does let you include audio into the cache video.

 

[brettbrandon]

Go app does let you include audio into the cache video.

I think the problem with that will be it uses the phone or devices microphone. I tried recording with my iPhone and there is no low end in the recording. I imagine the OP is going to want some solid bass for the explosion.

 

[brettbrandon]

This type of unit makes pretty decent recordings. There are other similar offerings but I think this is the least expensive.
https://www.amazon.com/Tascam-DR-05X-Handheld-Recorder-Interface/dp/B07N3FC7N3

 

[Andrex]

Not going to hold my breath too much because of the lack of change in the forecast...

But assuming that there is a chance and I capture the footage / audio, what is the best method or software to synchronise the two?

 

[AnzacJack]

Most video editing suites have the ability to separately adjust sound and video

 

[Andrex]

A NOTAM restriction has been issued, so I will have to observe further back than originally planned, if I even take off depending on the weather.

 

[Andrex]

Mavic 2 Pro footage:

Ground footage:

Just working on trying to synchronise an audio track to the drone footage now.

 

[old man mavic]

Mavic 2 Pro footage:

Ground footage:

Just working on trying to synchronise an audio track to the drone footage now.

great stuff love those cattle blissfully grazing in the field, totally unaware of whats coming, and their reaction when the towers fall

 

[Andrex]

As you can probably tell in the footage, the wind was a bit on the strong side - there was a lot of attitude on the drone, but it managed. It was touch and go with the rain - a shower about 20 minutes before 11:00 could easily have scuppered things!

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

Whoa, nicely done.
I think at that distance it gave you a good overview, but maybe you needed to use zoom a little?
No one told the cows about the exclusion zone [emoji51]